Flamboyants! Brings Reunion Island, New Orleans, and Puerto Rico Together on Stage at Tulane University

Flamboyants! is the result of a multi-year exchange between Reunion Island, New Orleans, and Puerto Rico.

The performance brings together Big Chief Juan Pardo of the Golden Comanche Tribe and a cast of performers from Reunion Island (Florient Jousse, Frédéric Madia, and Zélito Deliro) and Puerto Rico (Marien Torres Lopez and Ivelisse Diaz) to explore themes of insularity and resilience. Woven through Creole, French, English, and Spanish, this multilingual production gives voice to Bulbancha—a land of many tongues—and celebrates the imagination as a bridge between worlds.

The Tulane performance marks a milestone in a 48-day tour across numerous U.S. states, and the culmination of a multi-year journey that Villa Albertine has supported from its very inception.

Company director Florient Jousse, a former Villa Albertine resident, is a Reunionese actor and director whose documentary theater practice explores the concept of the “world-island.” His signature “patchwork” aesthetic draws out cross-cultural echoes between isolated territories through music, language, and movement.

From New Orleans to Reunion Island by way of Puerto Rico, Flamboyants! blends documentary theater, music, and performance into a vibrant dialogue between territories shaped by shared histories of colonization, slavery, and cultural resistance. In doing so, it celebrates the richness of Creole heritage and the enduring ties that connect communities across borders.