Bruce Allen is a professor of art at Centenary College of Louisiana (where, by the way, both All Y’all organizers, Chris and Sara, received Bachelor of the Arts degrees). He grew up in Shreveport, where he graduated from Centenary and worked as a traveling wholesale drug salesman while waiting to enter graduate school. As a salesman, he’d drive to places with poetic names like Paris, Texas and Stuttgart, Arkansas, offering pharmacies exclusive discounts on drug products sold by Morris and Dickson, his employers.
On the surface, his story is a simple tale of a professional blunder that could have cost his employers a great deal of money. But, on another level, the story is a tragic warning. He sees a brief, horrifying glimpse of the human wreckage left behind when a salesman’s usefulness dries up, and he must decide for himself whether that path is right for him. In Bruce’s voice – which trembles once or twice, at telling moments – we heard horror, pathos, empathy and conviction. I did not hear any regret. Do you?
Tickets for our next live taping event, “All Y’all: Under the Influence,” are selling fast. If you’d like to join us for this special fundraiser night, benefiting the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse of Northwest Louisiana, please purchase your tickets in advance. Tickets will sell out in advance. The event will be held, 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 13 at Marjorie Lyons Playhouse on the campus of Centenary College of Louisiana. Admission is $10.
A few of the people making “Under the Influence” possible are: our seven fearless storytellers; Alan Berry, Don Hooper and the staff of Marjorie Lyons Playhouse; Andrew Parsons of Lagniappe Foods of Shreveport; and volunteers John and Nicole Durbin.
