Critically Acclaimed Musical UPSTAIRS Brings Forgotten LGBT Tragedy to LA Pride & Hollywood Fringe

In 1973, an arsonist set fire to the Up Stairs Lounge, a gay bar in New Orleans, Louisiana, claiming 32 victims in what was, until the Pulse nightclub shootings in Orlando, the deadliest mass murder of LGBT people in U.S. history. The arson remains unsolved and was largely forgotten in the intervening years.

Now, more than 40 years later, a new movement has begun to reclaim the lost stories of the fire's victims and survivors. At the forefront of this movement is UPSTAIRS, a musical dramedy that will play at the Davidson/Valentini theatre at the Los Angeles LGBT Center as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival beginning June 2.

"Sadly, Upstairs has never felt more relevant than it does today. We'll be performing this show almost one year to the day after the tragic Pulse nightclub massacre, which happened the Sunday morning of the LA Pride festival. And we're bringing this play to Fringe as an act of remembrance and defiance. In a political regime that that wants to erase history and silence dissent, it's more important than ever to claim our stories. So many felt that they had to be silent after the Up Stairs Lounge Fire. We won't be silent again."

UPSTAIRS follows three survivors through the night of the fire and catches up with them a few years later, as they evoke memories and ghosts, attempting to cope with unspeakable loss. The play deals with themes of forgiveness, damnation, guilt, and redemption as the characters' views on love, religion, and their place in the world challenge their capacity to heal.

Written and composed by Louisiana native Wayne Self, UPSTAIRS begins its two week run with previews on June 2 at 8:30pm, June 4 at 2:30pm, and June 5 at 6:30 pm, and a premiere on June 8 at 10:30pm. The event is part of WeHo' One City, One Pride celebration. Performances throughout LA Pride weekend include June 9 at 6:30pm, June 10 at 6:30pm, June 11 at 12:30pm, and June 11 at 8:30pm.

UPSTAIRS made its debut in New Orleans in 2013 as the first dramatic work to deal with the fire and its aftermath. In various incarnations, UPSTAIRS has appeared in New Orleans, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, though this is its first full run in Los Angeles. Theatremania has called the show "a force of nature" and Hugo Award-Winning author David Gerrold called it "both heartbreaking and heartwarming."

The Up Stairs Lounge Fire had faded into obscurity until the recent emergence of several dramatic and historic works, foremost among them Clayton Delery-Edwards' award-winning history, The Up Stairs Lounge Arson. UPSTAIRS draws heavily on Delery's book for historical accuracy, adding imaginative elements to explore the characters' inner lives. Delery-Edwards will attend the June 10 performance of UPSTAIRS and give a brief lecture prior to the show on the history that informs it. In New York, a musical called The View UpStairs that touches on the tragedy that happened at the Up Stairs Lounge wrapped a successful run, whetting the appetite of musical theatre fans to learn the whole story.

UPSTAIRS writer and composer Wayne Self is a Louisiana native and has been active in the gay community as a GLAAD media spokesman and a Huffington Post blogger. He received an MFA in Musical Theatre Performance with an emphasis in Composition from Notre Dame de Namur University and has studied at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. He first learned of the 1973 tragedy while working as Music Director for the Metropolitan Community Church, a gay-affirming denomination, whose New Orleans congregation lost many of its members to the fire.

Tickets for UPSTAIRS are available for $20 at upstairsmusical.com. UPSTAIRS will play at the Los Angeles LGBT Center with previews on June 2 at 8:30pm, June 4 at 2:30pm, June 5 at 6:30pm and performances on June 8 at 10:30pm, June 9 at 6:30pm, June 10 at 6:30pm, and June 11 at 12:30 and 8:30pm.

To post a comment, you must register and login.