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THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS

Splendour Harmonies

Droopy Lukes

(1977)

Vernel Bagneris, Tommy St. Cyr, Adelle Gautier and Josephine Sacabe

[ Press Photo ]

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf

(1979)

by Ntozake Shange

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf (1979) – Ntozake Shange

Gautier toured with New Orleans-based Junebug Productions, Dog and Pony Theater Company, Chakula cha Jua Theater Company and the Boston-based CityStage Company. She also performed on stages at Southern Repertory, Anthony Bean Theater Company, Ethiopian Theater, Contemporary Arts Center, and Spoleto Festival / USA. She has had lead roles in Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf, August Wilson’s Fences, Gem of The Ocean, Rob Florence’s Burn K-Doe Burn (Katrina: The Mother-In-Law of ‘Em All), and Having Our Say [The Delany Sisters’: First One Hundred Years.]

Having Their Say

by Emily Mann

Adelle Gautier and Carol Sutton – Arthur W. Tong (Photo)

[Adelle Gautier and Carol Sutton portrayed the Delany sisters in the play, Having Their Say by Emily Mann.]

Carol Sutton and Adelle Gautier

Carol Joan Sutton *****

(December 3, 1944 – December 10, 2020) was an American actress of theater, film, and television, best known for her appearances in the films Steel Magnolias, Monster’s Ball, and Ray.

Biography

Carol Dickerson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. She attended the Xavier University Preparatory School and then later enrolled at Xavier University but dropped out after marrying Archie Sutton, whom she later divorced. She worked for Total Community Action and earned certification in early childhood development from Texas Southern University in Houston. She was also a parishioner at St Francis de Sales Catholic Church in New Orleans.

Acting career

She joined the Dashiki Project Theatre in the 1960s. Her acting debut came in the 1974 television show The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.

Sutton devoted much of her career to the theater and also served as an acting teacher in her hometown. She recorded a large number of supporting roles in American film and television, participating in productions such as The Pelican Brief, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, American Horror Story: Coven, True Detective, Kidnap, The Last Exorcism, Outer Banks, and Killer Joe. In 2012, Sutton received a New Orleans Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2019, Sutton played Lena Younger in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry.

Sutton died on December 10, 2020, due to complications from COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in New Orleans at age 76, seven days after her birthday. She is interred at Mount Olivet Cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana. The sixth episode of the second season of Outer Banks, titled “My Druthers“, is dedicated to her memory.

[ Historical, (adapted from the book Having Our Say by Sarah L. and A. Elizabeth Delany and Bessie Delany ]

“African-American sisters Sadie and Bessie Delaney, both over 100 years old, tell their stories, including growing up as the daughters of a former slave turned respected professor, maintaining professional careers, and integrating a New York suburb, in this adaptation of the real-life sisters’ book of the same name.” ]

Spell #7

by Ntozake Shange

Boston Center for the Arts

THE AMEN CORNER

by James Baldwin

“THE AMEN CORNER” by James Baldwin – Jose L. Garcia (Photo)

Nevis Mountain Dew

by Steve Carter

Dashiki Project Theatre

Nevis Mountain Dew (1983). Dashiki Project Theater production at CAC, New Orleans.

(standing) Harold Evans, Barbara Hunter, Earl Nelson, Gwen Foxworth, Eddie Bolds.

Adella Gautier (seated).

SPLIT SECOND

by Dennis McIntyre

Eugene Lee and Adelle Gautier in Dashiki Project Theatre’s production of Dennis McIntyre’s SPLIT SECOND. New Orleans, LA (Oct. 1984)

FENCES

by August Wilson Tommye Myrick
LePetit Theater

Ted Jackson (Photo)

Adelle Gautier acts alongside her daughter, Amber Zu-Bolton in FENCES.

The Petit Theatre (1992)

Joe Turner’s Come and Game

by August Wilson

2006

Donald Lewis, Wilbert Williams, Charles Bosworth, Coti Gayles, Adella Gautier, and Harold Evans, from the 2006 production of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.

The Pittsburgh Cycle

August Wilson’s crowning achievement is The Pittsburgh Cycle, his series of ten plays that chart the African American experience throughout the twentieth century. All of them are set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District except for one, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which is set in Chicago. The cycle is also known as his ‘Century Cycle’.

PHOTO BY GUS BENNETT

GEM OF THE OCEAN

by August Wilson

2007

“Gem Of The Ocean”
(5/2007) – Donald Lewis, Jr. · Harold Evans · Wilbert Williams · Coti Gayles · Adella Gautier – Photo: (Cahill Archives)

Vieux Carre

by Tennessee Williams Marigny Opera House 2018

Jake Bartush, right, plays the Writer (representing the young Tennessee Williams) in ‘Vieux Carre.‘ Others in the cast include, from left, Levi Hood, Adella Gautier, Tracey Collins, Janet Shea, LaKesha Glover, and Megan Whittle. – (James Kelley)

Vieux Carré
Marigny Opera House.
August 25, 2018 · New Orleans, LA ·

Janet Shea and Adella Gautier

Measure for Measure

by William Shakespeare Directed by Frederick Mead 2015 Anthony Bean Community Theater

Anthony Bean Community Theater

Adella Gautier, Marie Becnel, and Martin Bats Bradford

Martin ‘Bats’ Bradford and Adella Gautier are two of the stars of the Anthony Bean Community Theater’s production of William Shakespeare’s ‘Measure for Measure.’ (Courtesy of the Anthony Bean Community Theater)

Anthony Bean Community Theater & Acting School was established in the spring of 2000. As of 2016, the company was New Orleans’ only African-American community theatre. Founder Anthony Bean established the theater and drama school to represent those who “have no voice”.

Anthony Bean

Anthony Bean grew up in New Orleans’ Seventh Ward. Words have long been a passion for Anthony Bean. While attending John McDonogh High School, he founded the Ethiopian Theater with a group of students in the drama club. He moved to Los Angeles in 1985 and continued working with what had now become a professional theater company.

Upon returning to New Orleans, Bean opened the Anthony Bean Community Theater and Acting School in a former school building of St. Matthew United Church of Christ on Carrollton Avenue. It has produced noteworthy shows like the critically acclaimed comedy “Steal Away,” Regina King’s story about ladies of the Negro Women’s Organization for Youth Education who find inventive ways of sending girls to college; “Good Night, Irene” starring Grammy-winning blues artist and actor Chris Thomas King; and “Simply Irma,” a musical drama about the life and times of the music queen of New Orleans, Irma Thomas, who also starred as herself.

Anthony Bean is multi-faceted as he boasts a full professional portfolio including an ABCT clothing line, youth theater, after-school program, adult acting classes, and video DVD Productions. Bean also operates a summer day camp, in conjunction with the New Orleans Recreation Department. Anthony Bean Theater buys St, Raymond Catholic Church, February 2016. Pending school board approval, Bean also hopes to open a Creative Arts Academy for middle school students.

Anthony Bean and his company have received numerous awards and recognition throughout its 13 years of existence in the New Orleans area. Awards include Anthony Bean’s Day in New Orleans by the New Orleans City Council. 2012 Trailblazer Award at the Southern Black Theatre Festival. More than 20 Ambie Awards and 15 Big Easy Awards for Theater excellence. In 2010 they received the Community Arts Award by the New Orleans Arts Council and Data Newsweekly Trail Blazer Award. If you have seen New Orleans youth in the movies and commercials recently, you can bet most of them came out of the Anthony Bean Community Theater and Acting School.

While drawing from a regional and national talent pool, The Anthony Bean Community Theater remains committed to a strong local presence and are forging partnerships with local organizations that are working to reach beyond the barriers of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation.

Carol Sutton, Adelle Gautier and Anthony Bean

Make Mine Bourbon

by Teddy Sciacca

Le Petit Theatre (Children’s Corner stage”

Teddy Sciacca’s original New Orleans comedy “Make Mine Bourbon“, transferred from the Le Petit Children’s Corner stage

Le Petit Theatre

Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré, a 501(c)3 organization, is passionately dedicated to presenting the highest quality theatrical performances to entertain and educate the diverse population of the region and enhance the economic vitality of the greater New Orleans area. By offering a full season of contemporary and classic dramas, comedies, musicals, and children’s productions, as well as master classes and special events, the theatre embraces the work of the city’s professional artists both onstage and backstage, all the while nurturing and mentoring up-and-coming talent with its array of outreach programs.

HISTORY

New Orleans’ most historic playhouse, Le Petit Théâtre Du Vieux Carré, has played an important role in our nation’s theatrical history since 1916. Located just off of Jackson Square, we have called our current stage at 616 St. Peter Street, New Orleans LA home since 1922.

Since moving into its current home in 1922, the “Little Theatre” has entertained thousands of audience members in a wide array of dramas, comedies, and musicals. Hundreds of actors, designers, directors, and technicians, both locally and nationally, have shared their talents to make Le Petit a true shining star in the theatrical world.