The View UpStairs

The UpStairs Lounge in New Orleans was a rare safe haven for the gay community—a gathering place that offered fun and refuge from pervasive ignorance and homophobia—until it was destroyed in a deadly arson attack. Playwright Max Vernon gazes backward through time at this venue and the self-made family of colorful characters, immense talents and queer activists who flocked to it. The star-studded cast features Frenchie Davis (Rent, American Idol), Michael Longoria (Jersey Boys), Jeremy Pope (Choir Boy, Invisible Thread) and Nathan Lee Graham (Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Zoolander).