Melanie Maria Goodreaux’s New Play, The Popes of Farragut Street, Premieres at Theater for the New City
The Popes of Farragut Street (Image Credit: Melanie Maria Goodreaux)
Blending the mix-ups and crossed affections of Shakespeare’s finest comedies with the soulful storytelling of August Wilson, The Popes of Farragut Street is a lively exploration of regret and romance, family, faith, and identity set against the vibrant backdrop of New Orleans’ cultural and spiritual life.
In Conrad Patsy’s “Shade Tree” auto shop, a tight-knit crew of mechanics, dreamers, and spiritual seekers buzz with excitement over news that the newly elected Pope Leo XIV is an American—born in the 7th Ward of New Orleans and, some say, a Black Creole. As gossip, pride, and speculation fill the air, this small community wrestles with questions of belonging and belief while a hurricane looms. At its heart are intertwined searches—for acceptance, forgiveness, and self-knowledge—spanning generations and genders: a nonbinary child yearning to be seen, parents torn between duty and desire, and clergy and lovers struggling to reconcile passion with faith. Infused with Creole culture, Catholic ritual, and the music of everyday life, the play transforms the Seventh Ward into a sacred stage where grease-stained labor meets divine revelation.
The cast includes Benjamin Rowe (Conrad Patsy), Hollie Harper (Rachel Patsy), Zus Santos (Lester Patsy), Christian Neal (Mable Preston), Derick Storme (Father Omar), Aristotle Stamat (Shade / Tucker), Marco Antonio Cunha (Ducky), Javán Robinson (Pee Wee), and Vienna Carroll (Pope Violet).
The creative team features prop and set designers Lytza Colon and Gregory Paul sound/visual designers Luke Santy, URB ALT/Boston Fielder, and Anthony Harper; lighting designer, Alexander Bartenieff, costume/wardrobe director Billy Little; Movement/choreographer Kristina King, casting director Linda Greene; and graphic designers Tim Fielder and Diane Sullivan. Stage managers are Christopher Bello and Taylor Bertman. Producers include Mark Holloway, David Kahl, Norah Lawlor, Anthony Harper, and Bruce Morrow. The executive producer is Crystal Field, Executive Director of Theater for the New City.
The Popes of Farragut Street celebrates the messy, humorous, and redemptive ways people love each other — even when they get it wrong.
Don’t miss The Popes of Farragut Street at Theater for the New City, 155 1st Avenue, New York, NY 10003.
For tickets and further information please visit: www.theaterforthenewcity.net
About The Playwright and Director:
Melanie Maria Goodreaux is an award-winning playwright, director, and poet whose work spans theater, poetry, and performance. Her plays have been featured at Chelsea Playhouse, the House of Tribes Theater, the Abingdon Theater, Studio Players Theater, the Linhart Theater, the Lillian Theater in Los Angeles, the Nuyorican Poets Café, HOWL! Festival, the New York Theater Festival, the Hudson Guild Theater, Theater for the New City, and The Foundry. Goodreaux received the American Woman Project Solo-Play Development and Production Award (2020–2021) with Dramatic Question Theater. A fixture of New York’s downtown theater scene, she has taught creative writing and drama at Urban Arts Partnership, Creative Theatrics, and Theater for a New Audience. Known for crafting deeply emotional, socially aware, and spiritually resonant narratives, Goodreaux’s work often explores identity, love, and redemption through distinctly Black and Creole lenses.
For more information please visit: www.melaniemariagoodreaux.com
IG: @melaniemariagoodreaux | F: melanie.goodreaux | X / T: @Melaniethemaria
About Theater for the New City:
Since its founding in the 1970s, Crystal Field and Theater for the New City (TNC) have championed emerging playwrights for the American stage—regardless of race, sexuality, economic status, or gender. The Emerging and Presenting Playwrights Program supports artists as they forge their paths in the arts. Over the years, hundreds of playwrights—including Suzan-Lori Parks, María Irene Fornés, Harvey Fierstein, Bina Sharif, Charles Busch, Andrea Fulton, Eduardo Machado, and William Electric Black—have found their home at TNC.
For more information please visit: www.theaterforthenewcity.net
IG: @theater_for_the_new_city | F: theaterforthenewcity | X / T: @TNCinNYC
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