St. Ann

Andrew Scott in “Vanya” at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, Adam Driver in Kenneth Lonergan’s “Hold on to Me Darling” also at the Lortel, Lily Rabe in Mark O’Rowe’s adaptation of Ibsen’s “Ghosts” at Lincoln Center Theater’s Mitzi E. Newhouse and Nina Hoss and Adeel Akhtar in the Donmar Warehouse production of “The Cherry Orchard” at St. Ann’s Warehouse left me feeling, as only theater can, more consciously alive and connected.

A downpour intervened then as well, but over the festival’s two weekends, the Mobile Closet was a hit, inspiring the company to do a stop in Brooklyn at St. Ann’s Warehouse and then travel halfway across the country to South by Southwest in Austin, Texas.

Conventioneers from across the country gather around nachos at the Hard Rock Café at the corner of Iberville; gay men pack the dance floor at Oz at the corner of St. Ann; hip-hop fans turn out for late-night DJ sets.

When I started dating my partner, who lived in a second-floor apartment at Bourbon and St. Ann, I started spending time more non-work time there: Some nights we’d go sing karaoke with bachelorette parties, or do the electric slide when someone played Maze in the street.

Police asked that the public stay clear of Bourbon Street between Canal and St Ann streets.