The Tennessee Williams Festival ended with the STELLA shouting contest. Shouting contestants met at Jackson Square to shout for Stella, who was standing on a balcony. Women could participate by shouting for Stanley, but I didn't hear any women this year. At Jackson Square I couldn't get into a position that would allow me to see the participants - I could only hear them. Each contestant shouted STELLA three times, ever louder.
Five contestants were chosen as finalists. The final round of the STELLA shouting contest took place on the mainstage of Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre in the 600 block of St. Peter Street. Sitting in a theater seat, I could easily see the five finalists. As in the preliminary round at Jackson Square, each contestant gave three increasingly louder shouts for Stella.
Third place went to a French Quarter mime, dressed and body-painted all in gold, who elaborately mimed shouting for Stella without making any noise. After all, he was a mime.
Second place went to the first ever duo to enter the STELLA shouting contest: a tall guy and a short guy. The tall guy yelled, "Stel-," and the short guy yelled, "-la." They did this twice. For the third shout, they dropped to their knees and in unison shouted, "STEEEEEEEELLAAAAAAAA!"
First place went to a guy who truly did shout loudly, dropping to his knees and tearing his shirt on the final shout.
Each winner won an array of prizes. I don't know what the prizes were because I couldn't keep up with the long recital of prizes as they were being announced!
After the STELLA shouting contest, we went out to the courtyard to celebrate Tennessee Williams' 99th birthday with birthday cake.
And that's it till next year, which will be Tennessee's 100th birthday and the Festival's 25th anniversary!
I enjoyed reading this so much and hope to attend the event in the future. I want to send a message to our state listserv reminding them about the TESOL Conference in New Orleans next year. Wish that I could cut and paste this info about the Stella contest into their message to let them know in case they have a spring break the week following TESOL.
ReplyDeleteDeborah, I'd love for you to be at the Tennessee Williams Festival and the STELLA shouting contest! It's fine with me for you to cut & paste this post, or to give the link.
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