Leslie Castay

On Sunday, March 17 at 2 pm, the beloved Stella Shouting Contest will take place in Jackson Square.

Looped, a three-person play about Hollywood’s original diva Tallulah Bankhead, is now playing at Westwego Cultural Center. Performances run from November 9th through November 19th, 2023.

Get ready for a hilarious Halloween treat! Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein comes to Jefferson Performing Arts Center, directed by Leslie Castay. Don't miss this award-winning Broadway musical.

Jefferson Performing Arts Society kicks off its Westbank 46th season stage productions with Steel Magnolias this month at the Westwego Cultural Center on Sala Avenue in Westwego.

Jefferson Performing Arts Society will host a “Party for the Performing Arts” featuring longtime JPAS performers and other special guests, at Jefferson Performing Arts Center on Saturday, January 14, 2023, from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Guests will dine onstage inside the JPAC theater; seating is limited to 250 people due to this unique and rare experience. 

Jefferson Performing Arts Society presents the musical Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn for a two-week run. Performances run December 2-11.

Jefferson Performing Arts Society presents the musical Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn for a two-week run, from December 2 through December 11, 2022.

Jefferson Performing Arts Society proudly announces its 45th season mainstage directors, featuring directors based in New Orleans, New York, and San Antonio. Several directors are returning to JPAS after directing or performing with JPAS in recent seasons; two make their JPAS directorial debut this season. The following overview includes shows that are part of JPAS mainstage season subscription packages, currently on sale. Single ticket sales open June 6th for all 45th season shows. For a full schedule of the entire 2022-2023 season which includes season specials such as ballets, concerts, and other special performances in addition to those listed below, please visit www.jpas.org.

Southern Rep Theatre will present MANDATORY MERRIMENT:THIS TIME ITS VIRTUAL, created by Leslie Castay and Ian Hoch. Directed by Leslie Castay, with book by Ian Hoch and Musical Direction by Ainsley Matich, the production begins performances Thursday, December 11, and runs through Sunday, December 26 in a special all new virtual reunion! 

Nationally acclaimed new play development theatre, Southern Rep, finds itself in a heartbreaking situation. Ticket sales and mainstage subscriptions are at an all-time high. Arts education programming is thriving. Audiences are raving about the work and the company's new venue, the former St. Rose de Lima Church on Bayou Road. And still, Southern Rep finds itself in an urgent financial crisis as it navigates the expenses of moving into their new home.

The New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane is now preparing for its 26th summer season. The Festival continues to be one of the south's premier producers of Shakespeare's plays.

Southern Rep Theatre (Producing Artistic Director Aimee Hayes) has announced plans for the 2019-20 Mainstage Season and the future of Southern Rep, now located in its permanent home at 2541 Bayou Road, New Orleans. The 2019-20 Mainstage Season, its 33rd, will feature Regional Premieres of AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY by Tracy Letts, NATIVE GARDENS by Karen Zacarias, and Bertolt Brecht's MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN, translated by Ntozake Shange. In addition, back by popular demand and updated for the holiday season will be MANDATORY MERRIMENT (PART DEUX): A NEW ORLEANS HOLIDAY MUSICAL created by Leslie Castay and Ian Hoch. The season will also feature the NNPN (National New Play Network) Rolling World Premiere of REYKJAVIKby Steve Yockey (in partnership with the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival), and the home-grown World Premiere of CHEMIN DU BAYOU by local New Orleans playwright Pamela Davis-Noland.

Having just completed a production of Macbeth that reached over 5000 area middle and high school students in January, the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane is now preparing for its 26th summer season. The Festival continues to be one of the south's premier producers of Shakespeare's plays.

Southern Rep Theatre has announced that its Regional Premiere production of A DOLL'S HOUSE, PART 2, by Lucas Hnath, will extend one additional week, running now through October 28. The production opened Monday, October 8 to rave reviews and is the first Mainstage production of Southern Rep's 2018-19 season in their new permanent home located at 2541 Bayou Road, New Orleans. 

Southern Rep Theatre today announced that it has commissioned Louisiana playwright Pamela Davis-Noland to lead a team of artists, neighbors (past & present), and vendors from the historic Bayou Road of New Orleans, to create an interactive, multi-disciplinary play that will premiere next year as part of the theater's 2019-20 season. The announcement of the project, titled BAYOU ROAD: A JOURNEY, A VISION, AND A PLAY, was made live at the re-opening celebration of The Rose Collaborative Campus (formerly the St. Rose de Lima Campus), where Southern Rep is now located permanently at 2541 Bayou Road. At the event, local performance artist Tonya Boyd-Cannon debuted a moving song and monologue from the play in development, which can be viewed here.  

Southern Rep Theatre announces updated schedule and cast details for its fall 2018 Mainstage productions, which will kick off the company's "soft opening" in its permanent new home on historic Bayou Road, New Orleans.

Ragtime, one of the most powerful and vibrant musicals of this era, will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this July on the Dixon Hall stage.  Based on the E.L. Doctorow novel, Ragtime tells the story of a restless America at the turn of the twentieth century where everything is changing and anything is possible.  It is a timeless celebration of life - what it could and should be. It tells the stories of an upper-class wife, a Jewish immigrant and a daring Harlem musician - All three characters are united by their desire and belief in a brighter tomorrow.  The Tony-winning score by Ahrens & Flaherty will be brought to life with the 38 member cast and 26-piece orchestra.

Southern Rep Theatre announces its 2018-19 Mainstage Season, its 32nd, featuring the regional premieres of THE WOLVES by Sarah DeLappe and A DOLL'S HOUSE, PART 2 by Lucas Hnath as well as three world premieres: AZUL by New Orleans native Christina Quintana, FLOWERS FOR HALLIE - a celebration of Mahalia Jackson written by and starring Troi Bechet - and MANDATORY MERRIMENT: AN UNTITLED HOLIDAY MUSICAL created by Leslie Castay and Ian Hoch with book by Ian Hoch.

Now entering its 28th year, Broadway Theatre Project (BTP), a program described by Playbill as "The world's most prestigious musical theatre arts education program for high school and college students", congratulates BTP's own Program Director Blake Coheley for winning 'Best Director of a Musical' for his work with Southern Rep and The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) Stage Company's production of FUN HOME the musical last fall.