Anita Vatshell's latest play is titled "Bastard Nation," and it's the final live art piece of a trIlogy addressing women's reproduction rghts in a post-Roe vs Wade landscape in the so-called "beacon of democracy."

The lack of actual diversity in the New Orleans theater scene is quite real, and it's one plagued by segregation that the theater community prefers to ignore. Rarely, does one experience a diverse cast here, and actual actors and themes that are relevant to this multi-racail port city at the mouth of the mighty and murky Mississippi River.

Ms. Vatshell does her best to offer up plays with an actual diverse cast of ensemble collaborators and actors that address the complications of racial issues in the sometimes hard living in the "Big Easy."  a moniker that haunts this petite town. I was first introduced to her previous play titled "Open Up the Kingdom, Mama" two years ago in 2024. It addressed the abortion issue in this deep red state of Louisiana, and the surprising pregnancy of a fifty-year old protagonist played by Jennifer Pagan of Honduran heritage and a New Orleans hybrid.

Pagan serves as the dying matriarch in this 3rd part of the Trilogy. She was exceptional in the previous play with the shining skills of a veteran performer negotiating the comedy and drama adeptly, Here is what I had to say about the 2024 production. "It may sound like a downer to go see a play about abortion, but it's exemplary of the kudos that playwright Anita Vatshell deserves for exploring this poignant theme with sensitivity and wit. Pagan delivers a strong performance, and she and this entire cast cast at is on point with their performances in "Bastard Nation." 

Pagan plays a dying matriarch, whose will creates all kinds of unforeseen challenges for a dysfunctional family--grappling with the death of a complicated mother. The brilliant production takes place at the Marigny Theater on Marais Street, and it's also known as the Church of Arts & Sciences.   

Anita is a 2025-2026 Season Resident Artist, and this production is also funded in part by the 2026 Carol Sutton Memorial Grant. This is the kind of funding that such a play deserves by a local playwright making her mark "on the boards" of New Orleans,

Other cast members include Claudia Duran as Evy, Andrea Dubet. as A, a character that appears to be gender fluid and who continuously to changes from one colorful outfit to another in each scene she inhabits. 

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