Vernel Bagneris

Vernel Martin Bagneris (born July 31, 1949) is an American playwright, theater director, and entertainer. Early life Bagneris was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, the third child of Gloria Diaz Bagneris and Lawrence Bagneris, Sr. His mother was a deeply religious housewife, and his father was a World War II veteran and postal clerk. Bagneris grew up in the tight-knit, predominantly Creole Seventh Ward of New Orleans in a family of free people of color that had been in the city since 1750. He began dancing and playing music from early childhood. In the mid-1960s, amid rapid changes in the character of the area, the Bagneris family moved to Gentilly, New Orleans, along with many other residents of the Seventh Ward. Bagneris was in the advanced placement track at St. Augustine High School. He graduated in 1967, and in the fall of the same year, he went to a seminary to study for the priesthood, though he stayed there only three days.