Local teen pens play

Parker Felterman is a talented 17-year-old who grew up in Patterson.
He has not only has placed nationally in writing competitions, but has written and will be co-directing Techeland Arts Council’s latest production, “Shades of Shadowlawn” premiering July 16 at 7 p.m. for one night only at the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium.
Parker was a student in Berwick schools through his sophomore year and now attends the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts in Natchitoches and is in his senior year. Parker loves to read and write, evidenced not only by, “The Revolver”, a novel he wrote while still in the seventh grade, but also in the upcoming TAC production.
“Shades of Shadowlawn” draws on the stories of local folks and local history, set in the late 1920’s and is a murder mystery with a “who-dunnit” plot that will have the audience riveted to their seats.
Parker first fell in love with theater at the tender age of seven. He performed with the Morgan City Children’s Theater in several productions, including “A Christmas Carol” and “Krazy Kamp”, which he said were directed by a person from Franklin, Mark Lunsford. “I loved theater and was in every production for the next nine years,” he said.
Parker became involved with Techeland Arts Council in the fall of 2013, when he was contacted and asked to play the part of a relative, a great uncle by the name of Ben Laws in an upcoming TAC fundraiser. “That’s when I met Ms. Judith Allain, president of TAC,” he said. Allain played the role of Parkers’ great aunt, Alfreda Laws in the same production.
Not long thereafter, Parker received a call from Diane Wiltz asking if he would come to Franklin to audition for the production “Bayou Belles” written and directed by Wiltz and produced by TAC. “I will never forget, I was told it would only be a minor role, and as I sat down to read the script my eyes nearly popped out of my head,” he said.
The play was set in 1960’s Franklin amidst racial tensions and included many racial comments as part of the dialogue. “My audition included calling Ms. Diane, in character of course, several of these racial slurs,” Parker said. “I felt really uncomfortable at first, but I learned that a lot of acting and theater is about getting out of your comfort zone and the production ended up being brilliant and everyone loved it!” Parker has been actively involved with TAC ever since.
Parker says he holds dear the mission of Techeland Arts Council, that is to share people’s stories from all over St. Mary Parish. He says he made it a subliminal point in the plot of “Shades of Shadowlawn” that everyone has a story. This murder mystery involves a plantation owner and a diverse array of characters each with their own motive and narrative. The play explores some of the history and culture of this area and Louisiana as a whole. He says what excites him most about the production, “is watching the actors bring life to the script that I wrote. When someone asks me how I want them to play a certain character, I tend to recommend that they use their own imagination and we go from there. There is so much history around us, so much to explore and help people become aware of what exists, that’s what excites me most about this production. I am facing a new side of theater I’ve never dealt with, directing. Thus far, seeing what I wrote come to life has been a marvelous experience that I would love to do again. On a separate note, most people don’t seem to realize all that.”
Parker served as a gubernatorial intern for Cong. David Vitter last year, participating in the third party campaign when Sen. Bill Cassidy was running for Senator and reports his favorite experience outside of theater last summer was serving as a Senate Page for Sen. Bill Cassidy in Washington D.C.
“It’s difficult to say for sure what I will be doing in the future, but optimally I’d like to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point and double-major in Economics and Philosophy, or a combination of either with Political Science or International Relations,” he said. “I want theater to be in my future, but not necessarily as my primary career. I am also looking to apply to Wesleyan and Yale because I want to have broad horizons. And of course, I want to work in the Arts whenever possible.”