Above:A 360-degree photo shows a rusted boat and other wreckage at Bayou Caddy, a port west of Waveland. (John Brecher / MSNBC.com)
About this project
In the coming months, MSNBC.com will focus its coverage of the Hurricane Katrina recovery on two cities on the hard-hit Mississippi coast.
Though Bay St. Louis and Waveland are far from the media spotlight on New Orleans, the intertwined fates of the people, businesses and institutions in these towns tell the story of an entire region's struggle to recover from the most destructive storm in U.S. history.
WAVELAND, Miss., -- Joe Williams is a bit like the Expedia.com for volunteers on Mississippi's Gulf Coast. As Hancock County's volunteer and donations coordinator, Williams makes sure good-hearted visitors to the area have a safe place to sleep and a steady stream of productive assignments.
In his office is a massive white board covered in red and green ink indicating who's coming and where they're staying. In the hallway outside is a printed spreadsheet taped to the wall that’s nearly 9 feet tall and perhaps twice as wide. It lists hundreds of volunteer groups and their specialties. On his desk are thousands of work orders to be filled, an endless pile of requests for "debris clearing" or "roof work." The amount of human help down here is truly inspiring. But organizing it all is no cakewalk.
Those are the slogans that seem to be plastered everywhere in Bay St. Louis and Waveland these days. They can be found on signs planted in the yards of houses that still lie in ruin; and they’re heard on everyone’s lips. And yet, the need to say these words implies that not everyone here -- or every resident scattered around the South -- believes it. These two towns now are very much teetering on the half-way point between renewal and ruin.
BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- Like so many other landmarks in the batted Gulf Coast, the Bay St. Louis community theater was completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Correction: The building was destroyed; the theater lives on. This month, even though the building still lies in place as a pile of rubble, the local acting troupe is putting on its first production since last August -- “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”
The Bay St. Louis Little Theatre is a bit more than your average community playhouse. It’s been staging plays and musicals for 60 years, and normally performs 4 major productions each year. Of course, in Katrina’s aftermath, there were questions about the Little Theatre’s future.
We asked two members of the theater’s board of directors -- Cheryl Grace and Michelle Kessling -- to show us what happened to the Little Theatre, and just what the group is now up against. We think you’ll find the tour we received both tragic and inspiring, as Grace picks through the rubble and feels ghosts left behind by 60 years of performances. And, ultimately, you’ll understand why this troupe is so determined that the show must go on.
Imagine this nightmare for small towns along the Gulf Coast like Bay St. Louis and Waveland.
Soon after hurricane season begins on Thursday, a gathering storm takes aim at the area, reaching tropical storm or even hurricane force just a few days from landfall. The evacuation order is given by local authorities. And that's when the trouble starts.
Discuss (76 comments) 
Email this | 
Link to this
