Actor Clarke Peters discusses the HBO series Treme at a panel discussion at Kendall Cram Lecture Hall at Tulane University Thursday evening.
Two overaching concerns dominated the creation of HBO’s Treme: to depict the culture of New Orleans with unprecedented accuracy, and to tell the specific story of that culture through the people who live and make it.
For most viewers around the country, the moment when Clarke Peters’ character Albert Lambreaux first appears wearing his Mardi Gras Indian regalia would have been nearly impossible to understand, a panel of the show’s creators and Tulane professors said Thursday night. But unlike most television shows, it is the mystery of what that costume signifies – of what New Orleans culture is – that forms the central narrative of the series, and is intended to keep viewers coming back, they said.
Co-creators David Simon and Eric Overmyer were already trying to figure out how to tell that story prior to Hurricane Katrina, but the subsequent flooding, destruction and the national attention gave their concept “an immediate gravitas,” Simon said, “a city that had suffered a near-death experience.” But the disaster recovery remains the backdrop for the primary narrative, that story about the extraordinarily unique culture of New Orleans.
“The city came back one second line, one trombone solo, one Mardi Gras Indian suit and one etouffee at a time, because people couldn’t imagine living anywhere else,” Simon said to enthusiastic applause from the audience.
Simon, Peters and Overmyer were joined by Tulane professors Beretta E. Smith-Shomade and Joel Dinerstein and New Orleans writer and poet Gian Smith for a wide-ranging panel discussion that touched on suicide, post-Katrina volunteers, the difference between black people in New Orleans from the rest of the country, the show’s intimate visual aesthetic, the artifice of perfectly captured performances and some indications of what Season 2 might have in store.
Click in the box below to read full coverage of the event.
The Art of "Treme": An Evening Symposium with the creators of "Treme" at Kendall Cram Lecture Hall at Tulane University Thursday evening. HBO and African & African Diaspora Studies presented the event.
Tulane students and New Orleans residents wait to see the Treme panel.
Actor Clarke Peters and Treme creators Eric Overmyer and David Simon speak at Kendall Cram Lecture Hall at Tulane University Thursday evening.
Poet Gian Smith (left) and Tulane Professor Beretta Smith-Shomade.
Treme co-creator David Simon answers questions.
Actor Clarke Peters.
Treme co-creator Eric Overmyer.
Thanks so much for this. 😎
It was a great event – we were happy to share. I found Clarke Peters’ comments about tradition particularly interesting.