Despite visual and hearing disabilities, Paul Sullivan of Destrehan found a place where it doesn’t matter.
In his performance as Linus in the play, “You’re a good man, Charlie Brown,” there was only Sullivan and the audience.
“He’s a fun character to play,” he said of the role. “You get to do this really smart guy. He’s a cool dude. It was really fun to embody him.”
Sullivan got the opportunity to play Linus and many other characters in the nearly 12 years he’s been with the River Region Drama Guild, also in Destrehan.
It’s because it is a nonprofit organization’s mission that “welcomes all and provides everyone with the opportunity to increase existing talents and creates an environment to learn new ones. Maybe the best thing that the River Region Drama Guide can provide is a chance to expand unknown potentials – the chance for individuals to explore and display the talents that are within, their talents that may otherwise never be discovered on their own.”
This is certainly true for this 18-year-old who has always been drawn to the performing arts.
His mother, DeAnn Sullivan, costume chair for the Guild and president of its affiliate River Region Ballet, said it allowed her son, who attends Destrehan High School, to pursue the performing arts despite disabilities.
“A lot of people don’t want to take the time to deal with him,” his mother said. “He’s worked backstage and this year he’s the Mouse King in the Nutcracker ballet.”
Smaller performances are held at the Guild Performing Center and larger ones at Destrehan and Hahnville high schools.
For Sullivan, being a part of the Guild along with his mother, has turned out to be convenient.
“She’s done it so long that’s just all I know,” he said. “It makes it easier and she has to be there when I have to be there and that just helps really.”
Also, as a music lover, the performing arts are very appealing to him.
“I’ve always done the arts programs at school,” Sullivan said. “The hearing and the visual really don’t make it tough in that world. I’ve never really been the athletic kid … I’m the performing kid.”
Performing helps Sullivan connect with the audience in ways more suitable to him.
“When you’re on a football field, they watch you run around, but no one really remembers that one guy on the corner of the formation,” he said.
Sullivan fondly recalled the time he portrayed an earthworm. People told him it was the funniest thing they’d ever seen, Sullivan said. “There’s much more personal connection. You entertain.”
The River Region Drama Guild is a nonprofit organization funded by the United Way of St. Charles that has been in St Charles Parish for more than 25 years.
In addition to theatrical productions and Children’s Theatre Workshops, the Guild publishes a quarterly newsletter “Callboard” mailed to about 600 households announcing audition dates and cast listings, as well as other theater-related subjects.
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