It's Theatre - With Heart!

The Name of the Rain is a stage play which recounts the true experiences of the first responders and evacuees from New Orleans who took refuge at Broadmoor Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge in the early days after Hurricane Katrina. The Name of the Rain is written by Broadmoor’s minister, Rev. Hawley Wolfe. Professional actors will tell the real stories of these hurricane survivors brought together by the chaotic circumstances following this disaster.

Background Story

Baton Rouge, like other communities in the Gulf Coast Region, was swamped with displaced people after Hurricane Katrina (Monday, August 29, 2005). These included thousands who evacuated after the levees broke in New Orleans and the city was flooded. Broadmoor Presbyterian was a general shelter, accepting all comers. About 200 evacuees came to Broadmoor, over a period of 15 days (August 31-Sept. 14, 2005). They stayed in the church’s 6000 sq. foot gymnasium, which was equipped with an institutional-style kitchen, one shower, and two “youth” rooms upstairs. One of the upstairs rooms was used for interviews and medical assessments, while the other had a television on 24 hours a day, so that residents could keep up with hurricane news.

The hurricane arrived while the pastor and his wife, Hawley and Anne Wolfe, were in England. In their absence, five college students took the initiative to open the shelter, with the consent of Session elder Dave Snyder (chair of the church’s property committee). The students were Sarah Wolfe, Leah Wolfe, Nathanael Wolfe, Stephen Cummings, and Jordan Peak. Mr. Snyder called the Red Cross and had the shelter listed; five days after the shelter opened, a Red Cross coordinator came to take over its direction.

Most of the shelter’s residents dealt with their great trauma and loss in this temporary home with the help of worship services held at the shelter and guidance by a therapist. Months after the shelter closed, it seemed that many of the evacuees held fond memories of their days in the Broadmoor Church gym, nicknaming it the "Prez Ritz."

The outpouring of help from around the country was an experience that no volunteer at the shelter will ever forget. This help was represented in a personal way by a visit to the shelter on September 11 by the Moderator of the General Assembly of the PCUSA, elder Rick Ufford-Chase, accompanied by the General Presbyter of South Louisiana Presbytery, the Rev. Dr. Michael B. Mann. The pastor of the church, Rev. Hawley Wolfe, says of this period, "Running this shelter was a transforming experience for all of us. Setting aside our differences, we found a way to connect with people we had never even met. Most of all, we found out that our God is real—our God is a 'here and now' God. We could never have done it without the Lord!"