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Event
Upstairs New Orleans Premiere
UPSTAIRS is a new dramatic musical about the deadliest crime against gays in U.S. History, the 1973 Arson fire at the Up Stairs Lounge in New Orleans, Louisiana, a tragedy that languishes in obscurity, its victims seldom remembered, its perpetrator unknown.
UPSTAIRS will have its World Premiere in New Orleans June 20-24, 2013, coinciding with the New Orleans LGBTQ Pride Celebration, with a special performance on Monday, June 24, the 40th Anniversary of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire. Proceeds from the special performance for the NOLA LGBTQ Community.
Date/Time:
June 20, 8:00pm
June 21, 7:00pm
June 22, 7:00pm
June 23, 2:00pm
June 24, 8:00pm
Location:
Cafe Istanbul, 2372 St Claude Ave, New Orleans, LA 70117
Ticket Price:
$35
Running Time:
Two acts with a 15 minute intermission totaling 2:00
Book, Lyrics, Music Wayne Self
Wayne Self is an activist playwright and composer whose theatre, music, advocacy, and writings have inspired, educated, and entertained thousands. He is a GLAAD media spokesman and a Huffington Post blogger, whose own website provides a needed platform for thoughtful, compassionate LGBT voices.
UPSTAIRS, Wayne's third musical, was inspired by his time as a Music Director for a Metropolitan Community Churcha gay-affirming denomination whose New Orleans congregation lost many members to the Up Stairs Lounge Fire.
Wayne has an MFA in Musical Theatre Performance with an emphasis in Composition from Notre Dame de Namur University and is a candidate for a MTS from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley.
Director Zach McCallum
Wayne's longtime collaborator, Zach last served as stage manager for Wayne's original musical Cadillac, and director of both the workshop and full productions of Wayne's first original musical, Wise Up!, in San Francisco.
A graduate of University of Michigan's theatre program, he was a performer with the Brecht Company before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he has worked with TheatreWorks as a stage manager and the Menlo Players Guild as a director.
Previous productions he's especially fond of include The Measures Taken, Mauser, The Exception and the Rule, Elmer Rice's Dream Girl, The Good Doctor, A Normal Life, and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
Garrett Marshall (Buddy)
Garrett (@TheGarrettPM on Twitter) is absolutely thrilled to part of such a wonderful piece of new work. Garrett is a graduate of the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts. He lives in LA where he has performed such roles as Edward Rutledge in 1776, Berger in Hair and Lorenzo in The Merchant of Venice. Garrett would like to thank his mother, his friends and family, Wayne and Zach for allowing him to be a part of their process, and of course you, dear reader, for supporting the arts. Without you we would have no way to exist.
Nicholas Losorelli (Adam)
Nick recently appeared in the leading role of the West Coast premiere of My Big Gay Italian Wedding, which has been wildly successful Off-Broadway. He has sung with groups such as Opera on Tap LA/SF, Bay Area Classical Harmonies, Verismo Opera, and has worked in a directing/composing capacity with Subterranean Shakespeare on a production of As You Like It. He has participated in masterclasses with Jonathan Khuner, Malcolm Martineau and Zachary Gordin. Nick has performed in a workshop production of The Last Five Years and will be appearing in a production of Rent with Beyond the Stage Productions later this year. He is thrilled to be part of Upstairs, and believes in works such as these that highlight social justice issues within the Community. Nick received his BA from UC Berkeley.
Alxander Jon (Agneau)
Alxander has had the good fortune to work and study with professionals in just about every performance medium, from Broadway to major feature films to the Metropolitan Opera. Utilizing the skills accumulated through his training, he has been able to support himself as a working actor in theatre, musical theatre, and film. Some favorite roles on stage include Lancelot in Camelot; Harold Gorringe in Black Comedy; and Frederic inPirates of Penzance.
Brian Brown (Uncle, Mitch)
Brian has been acting since the age of 8, but since his recent graduation from The Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts (PCPA), his career really started to take off. Some of his favorite productions include: Geeks Vs. Zombies (The Ruby Theater @ The Complex), Tsarina: A World Premiere Musical (The Grove Theater), The Rocky Horror Show (Bakersfield Community Theater), Hair (PCPA Rep), Enron (PCPA Interplay), Our Town (PCPA Project), Comedy of Errors (PCPA Project) and many more. He would like to thank his girlfriend Dawn for all her love and support, PCPA LA for their continued support of great art, and Wayne Self for writing (and casting him in) such an incredible piece of musical theater.
Charles Romaine (Reginald)
Charles is thrilled to be performing again in the Bay Area. He was last seen at San Francisco's Herbst Theatre in 2007 performing with The Kinsey Sicks in Oy Vey In A Manger (Trampolina.) He has appeared in Equus (Horse) w/ George Takei ; Sweeny Todd (Jonas Fogg/Swing) with East West Players in Los Angeles and this past summer performed in his very first musical made for YouTube, Once Upon A Twilight Musical (Carlisle/Mr. Banner.) Charles was also the resident singer with The Village Variety Pack which just ended its three year run benefiting the LA Gay & Lesbian Center. An aspiring foodie, in his spare time he enjoys cooking, swimming and the CW Network! Special thanks to Wayne and Zach for the opportunity to work on original material and new music!
Sean Alexander Bart (Jean)
Sean Alexander Bart has worked in the music and acting worlds his whole life. The general scope of his work includes piano, singing, acting, composing, song/lyric writing, conducting, musical/vocal direction and acting coaching. The index of his musical experiences includes opera, classical, musical theater, rock, reggae/ska, jazz, salsa and a whole lot of original work. He has performed in professional theater venues, music festivals, on syndicated radio and even an experimental production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Burning Man festival. His students have worked with premier theater and opera companies across the country, and have been accepted to top theater programs and colleges. He is an avid and accomplished singer/songwriter, and has composed music soundtracks for two short films, one of which also featured his acting. Other acting work includes The Buddy Holly Story (Post St. Theater, SF), The Ultimate Warrior(Spike), a J-Lo music video, and various other short films and videos. If anyone can make sense of his career, please contact him after the show.
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LocationCafe Istanbul (View)
2372 St. Claude Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70117
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 18 |
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
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