Gabrielle Geiselman-Milone
Micaela Almonester, the Baroness de Pontalba, led a life of fantastic wealth, power, patriarchy, marital strife, and violence, one that lent itself to countless works of literature, visual arts, and theatre. And as alive as a character may seem when you’re under the covers and 100 pages in, or when you’re hearing a belted aria on stage at the Mahalia Jackson Theater … imagine the chance to share a table with the Baroness herself, to hear all about her troublesome in-laws while enjoying a glass of fine French wine.
This is how Jeanne Faget teaches New Orleans history—going a step beyond the sentiment of “bringing characters to life,” and inviting them to dinner. At Country Roads’ September Supper Club, “The Pontalba Experience,” Faget and her theatre company Belles Fetes Productions will coordinate an immersive theatre experience for our guests, featuring iconic members of the Pontalba family, enchanting voodoo rituals, and even a mythological creature or two. “It’s important to me to share the stories of New Orleans for people who don’t know a lot about our city but are intrigued by it,” said Faget. “In my personal experience, I’ve found that immersive theatre allows me to experience the story being told on a more heightened level, captivating more of my senses, allowing me to be a part of it.”
Gabrielle Geiselman-Milone
Celestin Pontalba
Sitting inside the Cabildo, the site—funded by the Baroness’s father Don Andrés Almonester—where the Louisiana Purchase was signed, dining on Louisiana French cuisine and surrounded by artifacts of the Pontalba family, our guests will take part in dinner table conversations about Andrew Jackson and his relationship with the Baroness, about her dowry, and about the beginnings of Jackson Square as we know it.
“As much as possible, I want to share these stories so that people walk away with a better understanding of Jackson Square,” said Faget. “But also to do it in a surreal, whimsical, and fantasylike way.” History certainly becomes more approachable when your guide is a magical fox.
Gabrielle Geiselman-Milone
Allowing the audience into a performance is powerful, said Faget. It can make theatre feel more casual and unrehearsed in ways that make the stories being told more human and believable.
“It’s got to look very effortless and whimsical in a way that it is in fact not,” she said, explaining that the coordination and choreography of such a performance has to be remarkably precise and intricate to achieve the transformational effect she is going for.
Gabrielle Geiselman-Milone
“When you are on a traditional stage, it’s pretty straightforward,” she said. “But when you’re working with nontraditional spaces, it becomes a very geographical piece. It takes a lot of planning to get the moving parts to happen in synchronicity and to happen well.”
Actors in such a work have also got to be prepared to adapt and occasionally improvise. “There’s an art to observing different attendees and how they react to certain experiences and exchanges and rituals,” said Faget. “There is a lot of unpredictability when the story involves the audience so intimately, a bit of it that is left up to them.”
The ink isn’t fully dry on this biography of the Baroness. Should you choose to be transported, to settle into your seat in 1834—well, you may have a hand in changing history, just a bit, for just this one unforgettable New Orleans night.
We hope you'll join us for Country Roads' "The Pontalba Experience" Supper Club on September 7 at the Louisiana State Museum Cabildo in Jackson Square. Tickets are available at bontempstix.com.
Learn more about Belles Fetes Productions, and their upcoming November production at this article from our August 2019 issue, and at looktdonttell.com.
