Vernel Martin Bagneris (born July 31, 1949) is an American playwright, actor,
director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''Di ...
, singer, and dancer.
Early life
Bagneris was born in
,
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, U.S.
[
] He is the third child of Gloria Diaz Bagneris and Lawrence Bagneris, Sr. Bagneris's mother was a housewife and a deeply religious woman who "quietly outclassed most people,"
[Wendi Berman: Interview with Vernel Bagneris, March 2, 2007 for ''The African American National Biography'' (Oxford 2008).] and his father was a playful, creative man, a
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
veteran
A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military.
A military veteran that has ...
, and a lifelong postal clerk.
Bagneris grew up in the tightly knit, predominantly
Creole Seventh Ward in a family of
free people of color
In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not ...
that had been in
since 1750. From the age of six, he had a knack for winning popular dance contests, and during christenings and
jazz funeral
A jazz funeral is a funeral procession accompanied by a brass band, in the tradition of New Orleans, Louisiana.
History
The term "jazz funeral" was long in use by observers from elsewhere, but was generally disdained as inappropriate by most New ...
s, he learned more traditional music and dance.
By the mid-1960s the once-beautiful, tree-lined neighborhood in which he was raised fell victim to the U.S. government's program of
urban renewal
Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...
, known colloquially in the area as "Negro removal." A freeway
overpass
An overpass (called an overbridge or flyover in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries) is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and ''underpass'' together form ...
was constructed over a thriving neighborhood, inviting crime and eventually shuttering businesses and changing the community. The Bagneris family ultimately moved to
Gentilly, along with many other residents of the Seventh Ward.
Bagneris was in the advanced placement track at
St. Augustine High School The name St. Augustine High School could refer to:
In the United States:
* St. Augustine Academy (Lakewood, Ohio)
* St. Augustine High School (Laredo, Texas)
* St. Augustine High School (New Orleans), Louisiana
* St. Augustine High School (San Di ...
. At fifteen, he and his compatriots were encouraged by the school leaders to quietly protest segregation at
bowling alley
A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a Meetinghouse, clubhous ...
s and drugstore counters citywide.
Bagneris graduated from high school in 1967. In fall of the same year, he headed directly to a seminary to study for the priesthood where he stayed for three days.
Bagneris was admitted to
Xavier University
Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 studen ...
, a predominantly-black, Catholic university in New Orleans, at which his older siblings had also
matriculated
Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination.
Australia
In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now. ...
. Bagneris declared sociology as his
major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
, but during his second year, his girlfriend persuaded him to audition for the university's theater program. To his surprise, Bagneris was cast as Gremio in ''
The Taming of the Shrew
''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken ...
.'' Based on his success in that production, Bagneris decided to pursue a career on the stage. Though he'd never even attended the theater before his first audition, by his
junior
Junior or Juniors may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959
* ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009
* ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010
* ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019
Films
* ''Junior'' (1994 ...
year he was writing, directing, and producing his own plays.
The
Free Southern Theater
The Free Southern Theater (FST) was a community theater group founded in 1963 at Tougaloo College in Madison County, Mississippi, by Gilbert Moses, Denise Nicholas, Doris Derby, and John O’Neal. The company manager was Mary Lovelace, later Cha ...
, which toured in rural, underprivileged areas of the South (and eventually based itself in New Orleans), performed two of Bagneris's plays while he was an undergraduate.
Career
Bagneris became interested in
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
theater methods and, upon his graduation in 1972, traveled to
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
to learn more about the Bread and Love
experimental theater
Experimental theatre (also known as avant-garde theatre), inspired largely by Wagner's concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, began in Western theatre in the late 19th century with Alfred Jarry and his Ubu plays as a rejection of both the age in particular ...
group. He later returned to New Orleans and worked day jobs. He had brought back experimental scripts from Europe and staged them in his hometown.
He produced and directed
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...
's ''
Endgame
Endgame, Endgames, End Game, End Games, or similar variations may refer to:
Film
* ''The End of the Game'' (1919 film)
* ''The End of the Game'' (1975 film), short documentary U.S. film
* ''Endgame'' (1983 film), 1983 Italian post-apocalyptic f ...
'' on a double bill with
Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...
's ''
The Lesson
''The Lesson'' (french: La Leçon) is a one-act play by French-Romanian playwright Eugène Ionesco. It was first performed in 1951 in a production directed by Marcel Cuvelier (who also played the Professor). Since 1957 it has been in permanen ...
'' in a photo gallery, was awarded an artist-in-residence grant by the Arts Council of New Orleans, and made a foray into integrated theater company in the
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Squ ...
called Gallery Circle. By 1972, he had won two Best Actor awards in New Orleans.
In 1976, Bagneris saw
Will Holt
Will may refer to:
Common meanings
* Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death
* Will (philosophy), or willpower
* Will (sociology)
* Will, volition (psychology)
* Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will
...
's ''
Me and Bessie
''Me and Bessie'' is a musical revue about the life and career of blues singer Bessie Smith. The basically one-woman show, conceived and written by Will Holt and Linda Hopkins and performed by Hopkins, features songs by Lil Green, Clarence Willi ...
,'' a one-woman show about the
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
legend
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock and ...
, in New York City. After seeing the show, Bagneris determined to produce a show in a similar style that would feature the City of New Orleans as the main character. Bagneris spent a year creating the show, during which he conducted research, developed oral histories, and interviewed his own grandmother. At the same time he was also acting in
independent movie
An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, in ...
s and producing and starring in
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), '' The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), '' A Delicate Balance'' (1966) ...
plays.
Then, for six months, Bagneris and his troupe prepared for a one-night-only production of ''
One Mo' Time,'' a musical he had written based on
Black Vaudeville
Black Vaudeville was based on performances that came out of the movement and style of African Americans. The vaudeville years were the early 1880s until the early 1930s. These acts were unique on the vaudeville scene because the performers brough ...
performers in New Orleans. Their limited run show quickly turned into three nights a week at the Toulouse Theatre in the
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Squ ...
, with
James Carroll Booker III playing piano in the lobby before each show.A New York producer saw the show and promised to move it to the city. In October 1979 ''One Mo' Time'' went to the
Village Gate
The Village Gate was a nightclub at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Streets in Greenwich Village, New York. Art D'Lugoff opened the club in 1958, on the ground floor and basement of 160 Bleecker Street. The large 1896 Chicago school (architec ...
in New York, where it played for three and a half years, spinning a host of internationally touring companies, including a royal command performance in Britain for
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
. The show earned a
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
nomination for Best Cast Album in 1980 and was nominated for a
Society of West End Theatre Award for Outstanding Achievement in a Musical, Best Musical, and Best Actress in a Musical in 1982.
Through ''One Mo' Time,'' Bagneris met the dance masters
Honi Coles
Charles “Honi” Coles (April 2, 1911 – November 12, 1992) was an American actor and tap dancer, who was inducted posthumously into the American Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2003. He had a distinctive personal style that required technical prec ...
and
Charles "Cookie" Cook.
Bagneris has cited
Pepsi Bethel
Alfred "Pepsi" Bethel (August 31, 1918, Greensboro, North Carolina – August 30, 2002, New York City) was a jazz dancer, choreographer, and leader of his own dance troupe, the Pepsi Bethel Authentic Jazz Dance Theater, which he founded in 1960.T ...
of the Pepsi Bethel Authentic Jazz Dance Theater, who had worked in independent
black film
Black film is a classification of film that has a broad definition relating to the film involving participation and/or representation of black people. The definition may involve the film having a black cast, a black crew, a black director, a black ...
s during the 1930s and 1940s, as his dance mentor. After they first met, Bethel choreographed every show Bagneris directed.
Bagneris's father, after seeing ''One Mo' Time,'' encouraged Bagneris to work on Creole themes.
After the success of ''One Mo' Time,'' Bagneris continued stage explorations with ''Staggerlee'' in 1985; ''Further Mo','' the sequel to ''One Mo' Time,'' in 1990; and
Cy Coleman
Cy Coleman (born Seymour Kaufman; June 14, 1929 – November 18, 2004) was an American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist.
Life and career
Coleman was born Seymour Kaufman in New York City, United States, to Eastern European Jewish parents ...
's ''
The Life'' on
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
in 1998. In 1995, Bagneris received a
Lucille Lortel Award
The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatre ...
for Outstanding Musical
Lucille Lortel Awards
The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatre ...
br>Recipients by Category
/ref> as well as an Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...
Obie Awards
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...
br>1995 Winners
/ref> for ''Jelly Roll!,'' his portrait of jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a gen ...
. Other notable performances included a 2004 revival of ''Bubbling Brown Sugar
''Bubbling Brown Sugar'' is a musical revue written by Loften Mitchell based on a concept by Rosetta LeNoire and featuring the music of numerous African-American artists who were popular during the Harlem Renaissance, 1920–1940, including Duke ...
,'' in which Bagneris starred with Diahann Carroll
Diahann Carroll (; born Carol Diann Johnson; July 17, 1935 – October 4, 2019) was an American actress, singer, model, and activist. She rose to prominence in some of the earliest major studio films to feature black casts, including ''Car ...
.
During this time, he also worked in film, including ''French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Squ ...
'' (1978), '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1981), '' Down by Law'' (1986), and '' Ray'' (2004), the award-winning film adaptation of Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...
's life. In this film, Bagneris worked as choreographer and played the character Dancin' Al. Bagneris also played opposite Ossie Davis
Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, director, writer, and activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death. He and his wife were named to the NAACP ...
in what was to be Davis's last film, the independent feature ''Proud
Proud may refer to:
Music
* ''Proud'' (Heather Small album), the debut album by Heather Small
** "Proud" (Heather Small song), a song by Heather Small that was the official song for the London 2012 Olympic bid
* ''Proud'' (compilation album), ...
'' (2004). ''One Mo' Time'' was revived on Broadway in 2002 and again in New Orleans in 2006. Bagneris acted as the voice of numerous jazz figures on Public Radio International
Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States.
PRI was one of the main providers of programm ...
's Riverwalk Jazz program in 1993, recreating the lives of Bunk Johnson
Willie Gary "Bunk" Johnson (December 27, 1879 – July 7, 1949) was an American prominent jazz trumpeter in New Orleans. Johnson gave the year of his birth as 1879, although there is speculation that he may have been younger by as much as a dec ...
, Danny Barker
Daniel Moses Barker (January 13, 1909 – March 13, 1994) was an American jazz musician, vocalist, and author from New Orleans. He was a rhythm guitarist for Cab Calloway, Lucky Millinder and Benny Carter during the 1930s.
One of Barker's earl ...
, Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a gen ...
, and others. In the program for a special performance in the new auditorium at the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
, Bagneris was proclaimed "a master of the American vernacular."[Jelly Roll!](_blank)
Library of Congress concert series 1997–1998 season, April 25, 1998
In October 2005, just two months after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
, Bagneris returned to live in New Orleans, ultimately settling in the French Quarter.
Bagneris had a recurring role as Judge Bernard Williams on the first three seasons of the ''HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
series Treme'' (2010 to 2013).
References
Sources
* Bagneris, Vernel, and Leo Touchet. ''Rejoice When You Die: The New Orleans Jazz Funerals'' (1998).
* Hay, Samuel A
''African American Theatre''
(1994).
* Woll, Allen L
''Black Musical Theatre: From Coontown to 'Dreamgirls''
(1989).
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bagneris, Vernel
1949 births
Living people
Broadway theatre directors
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
St. Augustine High School (New Orleans) alumni
Musicians from New Orleans
Obie Award recipients
Singers from Louisiana
Male actors from New Orleans
Writers from New Orleans