Set in the summer of 1969, NOLA ‘fore The Flood is a semi-autobiographical, fictional story of a young man's last night as a civilian. He wanders through the streets of the French Quarter in New Orleans, retracing his steps again and again. In the morning he must report for induction into the U.S. Army, and eventual deployment to Vietnam. Before the morning light arrives, he walks through the night remembering, reviewing, and reliving some of the moments he spent in N'awlins. The piece culminates in a final scene at the Induction Center - in the old U.S. Customs House in New Orleans. The narrator of the story must choose between a two-year 'imprisonment' in the military or the continuation of his 'freedom' as a tender creature.
