Bunk Johnson Out of the Shadows

The Shadows-on-the-Teche and the Bunk Johnson Jazz Arts and Heritage Festival invites you to attend the theatrical performance of Bunk Johnson Out of the Shadows: A Blues Poem on Saturday, November 10^th at 3pm in the gardens of The Shadows. Following the performance, attendees will second line down historic Main Street to the Sliman Theatre for the Performing Arts with New Iberia’s own Bunk Johnson Brazz Band for a concert featuring music by Bunk Johnson.

Written by award-winning theater artist and novelist Ifa Bayeza, Bunk Johnson is a one-act dramatic work that focuses on William G. “Bunk” Johnson (c. 1880-1949), an accomplished jazz trumpeter, who performed in concert halls and on stage from California to New York with the Charles “Buddy” Bolden band and jazz legends Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet, and Louis Armstrong. After his travels, Johnson always returned to his chosen hometown of New Iberia where he was known to practice his trumpet and work odd jobs including as yardman at the Shadows-on-the-Teche.

Bunk Johnson Out of the Shadows is funded through a grant from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Advance purchase of tickets are encouraged. 

Student, senior, and group discounted rates available. Please call (337) 369-6446 for information. Discounted rates are for the PLAY ONLY and DO NOT include the concert following the performance.

Creative

Book and Lyrics: Ifa Bayeza

Music: William Geary "Bunk" Johnson & Ifa Bayeza

Director: Carl Hancock Rux

Choral/Musical Director: Shawn Wallace

Cast

Young Bunk & Evan Thomas: Elias Defils

Young Maud & Black Dot: Aname Rose

Bunk Johnson: Baron Kelly

Maud: Susan Dorsey

Bunk & Buddy Bolden: Trey Gonsoulin

Maud: Dar'Nesha Smith

Maum Teresa & Sis: Jalana Durall

Weeks Hall, Compton LaBauvre, & Bill Russell: Trevor Chapman

Louis Armstrong: Morrell Broussard

Young Satchmo: Sean Moore