[StBernard] Barry Lemoine will be honored as St. Bernard's Man of the Year during gala in Chalmette

[Westley Annis]

Barry Lemoine will be honored as St. Bernard's Man of the Year during gala
in Chalmette
Print Annette Phillips By Annette Phillips 
on August 28, 2014 at 10:36 AM, updated August 28, 2014 at 10:37 AM

Barry Lemoine, a Chalmette High educator and one of the "Men of PENN TV,"
has been named by the St. Bernard Business and Professional Women's Club as
its Man of the Year. Lemoine, of Arabi, will be honored at the club's
Business Women's Week Gala October 22 at the Sigur Center, 8245 W. Judge
Perez Drive in Chalmette.

Tickets and table reservations will be available September 1. Tickets are
$55 per person. For tickets or reservations, call Wanda Alcon at
504.451.3694.

For more than 50 years, the women's club has annually honored two people for
their contributions to the parish and professional accomplishments.

Nora Eagan of Arabi will be honored as Woman of the Year. She will be
highlighted in an upcoming Around Arabi column.

Lemoine said he is pleased and proud to have been selected Man of the Year.
"I love the people of this parish and to be honored in front of my family
and friends this way means a lot to me," he said.

Playfully regarded as the "Bard of St. Bernard," Lemoine has spent most of
his adult life as a teacher, writer, and producer of theater and educational
television for PENN-TV.

I've been lucky that my work and my life have been so intertwined. Barry
Lemoine
Lemoine also promotes the parish each week as a neighbhorhood columnist for
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.

"I've been lucky that my work and my life have been so intertwined," he
said. "As a writer, teacher, producer and performer, I've been able to meet
and collaborate with so many talented people. Someone once said that I had a
golden touch, but I told them I just try to surround myself with golden
people."

Among his many accomplishments, Lemoine is president of SHINE Productions
LLC, St. Bernard's only professional theater company. Since 2001, SHINE has
brought entertainment and education to venues across the metro area. His
original play, "An Evening with Betsy, Voices from the Storm," garnered two
Big Easy nominations, the only time a St. Bernard production was ever
recognized.

As an educator, Lemoine has inspired many students and has been recognized
as Andrew Jackson's High School Teacher of the Year.

As a writer, Lemoine has had a number of plays produced in St. Bernard and
across the country. Including his 2006 "Voices of Louisiana" which told the
story of the history, and heartache of his hometown. Another one of his
original works, "The Somewhat True History of St. Bernard Abridged: A Love
Story," had a sold-out run.

"My next show will be a comedy about the Battle of New Orleans or as I call
it, 'The Battle for New Orleans-in Chalmette,'" he said. He said that it
will be historical and hysterical.

Months after Hurricane Katrina, Lemoine started a nonprofit organization,
the Voices Foundation. Its mission is to preserve the history and culture of
St. Bernard. Under his leadership, the Voices Foundation has hosted art
workshops, senior citizen performances, and has awarded over $10,000 in
scholarships to aspiring actors and artists.  

Lemoine said he is grateful  to Angelle Lailhengue and other members of the
BPW for the honor. "I am really looking forward to the gala next month and
hope all of the special people in Nora Eagan's life and mine will come
together for an unforgettable evening," he said. "And, as guest of honor, I
wont have to sit at the kid's table this year."