Selene Perez

THE VIEW UPSTAIRS, a musical by Max Vernon, whose musical KPOP won Best Musical honors in off-Broadway's Lortel Awards and was also nominated for seven Drama Desk awards, is inspired by real life events of the 1973 arson attack at the UpStairs Lounge, a vibrant gay bar in New Orleans. Now accepted as a targeted anti-gay attack, the arson resulted in the deaths of 32 people and was, until the 2016 Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting, the deadliest assault on a gay club in U.S. history. The show is inspired by and pays tributes to many of the patrons that frequented the venue.

THE VIEW UPSTAIRS, a musical by Max Vernon, whose musical KPOP won Best Musical honors in off-Broadway's Lortel Awards and was also nominated for seven Drama Desk awards, is inspired by real life events of the 1973 arson attack at the UpStairs Lounge, a vibrant gay bar in New Orleans. Now accepted as a targeted anti-gay attack, the arson resulted in the deaths of 32 people and was, until the 2016 Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting, the deadliest assault on a gay club in U.S. history. The show is inspired by and pays tributes to many of the patrons that frequented the venue.

Complete cast and crew were announced today for Circle's Chicago premiere production of THE VIEW UPSTAIRS, a musical by Max Vernon, whose musical KPOP last week won Best Musical honors in off-Broadway's Lortel Awards and is also nominated for seven Drama Desk awards. THE VIEW UPSTAIRS, which opened off-Broadway in February 2017, is inspired by real life events of the 1973 arson attack at the UpStairs Lounge, a vibrant gay bar in New Orleans. Now accepted as a targeted anti-gay attack, the arson resulted in the deaths of 32 people and was, until the 2016 Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting, the deadliest assault on a gay club in U.S. history. The show is inspired by and pays tributes to many of the patrons that frequented the venue.

Haven Theatre will present its third DIRECTORS HAVEN, the company's ever-growing initiative showcasing the talents of three early career directors. This season, Kristen Johnson directs Vaclav Havel's riveting political satire THE PROTEST, Ian Martin helms Amiri Baraka's THE TOILET, a powerful look at love and empathy, and Lexi Saunders directs Rachel Dubose's sharply funny and biting new play THE DEPARTURE. The three fully-produced productions will run back-to-back in one program. DIRECTOR'S HAVEN 2017 will play October 16 November 1, 2017 at Haven Theatre's resident home, The Den Theatre (2A), 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood.

Haven Theatre will present its third DIRECTORS HAVEN, the company's ever-growing initiative showcasing the talents of three early career directors.

Two years ago, with funding from The James Irvine Foundation and in partnership with Latino Health Access, South Coast Repertory launched a play-development project in Santa Ana called Dialogue/Dialogos. The project captured the stories and memories of nearly 1,000 of the city's Latino residents, which created the core of a new bilingual play, The Long Road Today/El Largo Camino de Hoy,written by Jose Cruz Gonzalez.