Richard J. Guidry *
Video producer, screenwriter, and playwright in the French language.
Inducted on June 2, 2001
Guidry earned his BA degree in Education from USL in 1972 in French and Spanish. He earned his Masters Degree in 1985, after transferring from a year’s study at McGill University in Montreal, Québec, Canada. He then received a Second Language Specialist Degree from USL in 1977. While at USL, he earned recognition in honors’ programs such as Pi Delta Phi, French Honor Society, Kappa Delta Pi, and the Education Honor Society.
He is currently employed as the Education Programs Coordinator, Foreign Languages and Bilingual Education, Louisiana State Department of Education, Region. He has authored La Famille Richard, Les Jeunes Louisianais, La Cuisine Franco- Louisianais, Le Français Louisianais (Louisiana French Lexicon), Le Pont du Nez-piqué, La Police des Animaux, “Beaux Rêves” in Voyages, for use with C’est Ça, texts for teaching Louisiana French culture and language within the Immersion Programs. He has also written: Une Journée aux Pièges, a children’s story in French using Louisiana French cultural themes and terms for teaching French in the elementary classroom and published in Editions de la Nouvelle Acadie through the Center for Louisiana Studies, USL, Lafayette, Louisiana.
He has participated in creating several educational videos for LPB. Among these were “La Sauce Pimentée,” “La Butte de Coquilles,” “Le Chien de Lune,” and “The ABC’s of French and Spanish” to be used in schools throughout the Francophone world.
He had been a member of Le Théâtre ‘Cadien, writing, acting, and directing plays in Cajun French such as Mille Misères, 1981; La Table des Veuves, 1982; Le Charivari, 1984; Les Deux Sourds, 1985; Grosbecs, 1987; Les Attakapas, 1988; La Dernière Couilte, 1989. In 1984 he wrote the screenplay of a 30 minute film, “La Légende de la Butte de Coquilles,” in collaboration with Via le Monde, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and UNESCO based on a story from his book, Les Jeunes Louisianais.
His theatrical play Le Charivari was presented at the World’s Fair in New Orleans in 1984 and Grosbecs was presented at Le Festival International de Café Théâtre de la Francophonie at Évry near Paris, France, May 1988.
He does volunteer work for the Jean Lafitte National Park, Vermilionville, Acadian Village and Le Théâtre ‘Cadien. He is a Bilingual tour guide for Acadian Creole Tours of New Orleans, Acadiana To Go, Allons-à-Lafayette and Cajun Country Tours of Lafayette. Guidry is frequently sought after as a consultant for French produced radio and TV documentaries
* Asterisk after a person’s name indicates that the person is deceased.