NATCHITOCHES – The 17th Annual Louisiana Studies Conference was held this past weekend at Northwestern State University. The conference was a great success, with 42 scholars, creative writers and cultural authorities participating in 11 separate panels. Conference participants came from Florida, New York, Tennessee, and Texas as well as from throughout Louisiana. Several of the presenters were NSU faculty, students, and alumni. In addition to the keynote presentation, some of the many topics discussed included Louisiana archaeology, dance, foodways, history, indigenous peoples, language, literature, music, narratives, politics and symphonies. Creative writers also addressed the conference theme, including playwright John P. Doucet, poet Bernard Gallagher and musician Max Turner.
This year’s conference theme was “Louisiana Dramas.” The Saturday morning keynote, “A Mythical State We Call Louisiana: Place, Politics, and Performance in Louisiana Purchase,” was given by Dr. Sean Bartley, associate professor of theatre history at Northwestern State. His presentation discussed the 1940 play “Louisiana Purchase” by legendary Broadway composer Irving Berlin and his collaborators, librettist Morrie Ryskind and producer B.G. DeSylva, which savagely satirized Huey Long (known to his allies and enemies alike as “The Kingfish”) and the corrupt Democratic Party officials who dominated Louisiana politics in the late 1920s and 1930s. The show is paradoxically a quintessential “Louisiana Drama” and a total imposter, created by collaborators who had never visited the Pelican State who based their depiction on the popular culture depictions of earlier eras. Bartley explored how in Louisiana Purchase, Berlin, Ryskind and DeSylva twisted the conventions of the Broadway musical comedy and used the simultaneously real and imagined setting of New Orleans to soften the sting of their satirical take on political life.
Bartley’s lecture was punctuated by video clips of musical numbers from the 1941 Paramount Pictures film adaptation as well as two live scenes directed and performed by NSU Theatre and Dance students KeShaun Bridgewater, Jezek Maxwell, Haleigh Miller, Amaya Perkins and Tyler Sibley. The NSU students also performed readings of short plays written by winners of the 2025 NSU Louisiana High School Essay Contest. The plays performed were “Bayou Secrets” by first place contest winner Lalani Williams of Southside High School in Youngsville, “The Haunting” by third place winner Liss Gabriella Navarro Hernandez of Chalmette High School and “Ghosts” by honorable mention winner Ellise Bryant of C.E. Byrd High School. Second place contest winner Ashlyn Underwood of West Monroe High School performed the song “Cabaret” as her entry.
Conference co-chairs were Donna J. Baker, director of the Cammie G. Henry Research Center and university archivist and records officer; Jason Church, chief of Technical Services at the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training; Daniel Gordy, assistant professor of criminal justice and English; Dr. Charles Pellegrin, director of the Southern Studies Institute and professor of history, and Dr. Shane Rasmussen, director of the Louisiana Folklife Center and professor of English. Church and Rasmussen also served as Conference programmers, with Church serving as chair of conference programming. Daphne Hines, director of publications, designed the conference program cover and poster. Scott Burrell, director of the Dear School of Creative and Performing Arts and professor of theatre; Leslie Gruesbeck, chair of the Department of Fine & Graphic Arts and associate professor of art, and Dr. Fran Lemoine, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of Biology, served as conference hosts. The staff of the Louisiana Folklife Center, administrative coordinator Shondrika Johnson as well as student workers Kenna Beloso and Rook Vasquez, kept the Conference running smoothly. Gordy and Ryan Wright served as Conference technical support. Chris Reich served as conference photographer.
The Conference was co-sponsored by the Louisiana Folklife Center, the Department of English, Languages, and Cultural Studies, and the Northwestern State College of Arts and Sciences, as well as a generous grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program did not necessarily represent those of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.
The 18th annual Louisiana Studies Conference will be held in September 2026. The 2026 Conference theme will be “Remembering Louisiana.” For more information contact Dr. Shane Rasmussen at rasmussens@nsula.edu or (318) 357-4332.