When Paul Chan visited New Orleans for the first time in 2006, the gutted houses, abandoned streets and bare trees reminded him of Samuel Beckett’s legendary play Waiting for Godot.
“The sense of waiting is legion here,” Chan said. “People are waiting to come home. Waiting for the levee board to OK them to rebuild. Waiting for Road Home money. Waiting for honest construction crews that won’t rip them off. Waiting for phone and electric companies.”
The artist and activist says the desolation in New Orleans inspired him to “create art in places where we ought not have any.” This weekend, Chan’s vision comes to fruition in the Lower Ninth Ward, where the New York public arts group Creative Time and the Classical Theater of Harlem are staging free, outdoor performances of Waiting for Godot. They will continue next weekend in the city’s Gentilly neighborhood, in front of a flooded home.
Haven’t the good people of NO suffered enough without having to endure performances of ” Waiting For Godot”
Well, watching “Godot” should certainly cheer up the locals of the Ninth Ward! (does my sarcasm show?) Somehow I doubt it’ll be difficult to find a seat.