Ernest Wayne Self Jr.

Ernest Wayne Self, Jr., 52, of New Orleans, Louisiana, passed away after a brief illness on Thursday, June 2, 2022, at Ochsner Medical Center. Wayne was born on July 31, 1969, in the rural community of Campti near Black Lake in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. He graduated from the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts in 1987 and attended the Louisiana Scholars' College at Northwestern State University, both in Natchitoches, Louisiana. In 1997, he graduated with a degree in philosophy from Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport, Louisiana, and received a master's of fine arts in musical performance from Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California in 2014. A man of many talents, he was a composer, a playwright, a singer and actor, and the creator of a graphic novel entitled "Secrets of Bayou Sha." His theater works include "Wise Up," "Cadillac," "Upstairs: A Musical Eulogy," a critically acclaimed musical honoring the thirty-two lives lost in the arson fire at the Upstairs Lounge in New Orleans in 1973 that has been given performances in New Orleans, Los Angeles, New York City, and Chicago, and "The Benefit of Hindsight," a two-character time-travel musical that won the 2020 Search for New Musicals Award and was staged at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in Los Angeles in June of 2022 just days following his death. Wayne was the owner of Owldolatrous Productions, LLC, and the music director of Peninsula Metropolitan Community Church in San Mateo, California, from June 2007 until January 2012. He wrote a number of provocative and insightful editorials for the on-line journal The Huffington Post and had served as senior producer and group director for both Workstate Consulting and CompuServe/America Online. Most recently, he was podium producer and frontline salesman for Bluegreen Vacations in the New Orleans Vieux Carre. At the moment of his untimely death, he was engaged in a number of creative projects. A member of Many Journeys Metropolitan Community Church, he sought in his life and in many of his creative projects ways to promote what he understood to be the spiritual inclusiveness of the Christian religion. Wayne was a passionate about the arts and entertainment. He was a fan of The Fantastic Four and a long-time devotee of Dungeons and Dragons. He was an avid lover of movies, theater, and concerts. He enjoyed a good meal-especially blackened redfish. The food, music, and fully lived lives of New Orleanians spoke to his soul; they were the things he loved most about the city to which he had recently moved from California. He had a big personality and was a man of great compassion, intelligence, and wit. He treasured his large family, his many friends, and his creative collaborators. He was the life of any party. He is survived by the love of his life, his husband, Cody Braswell of New Orleans, and his family: Dorian Macon of New Orleans; his father Ernest Wayne Self, Sr., and his mother Cletties Self, both of Natchitoches, Louisiana; his sister Misty Self Fontenot and her husband Troy of Lake Charles, Louisiana; his brother Kenny Dale Pardee and his wife Debra of Campti, Louisiana; his sister Tammy Knorr and her husband Todd of Joseph, Oregon; and numerous nieces and nephews. A Second Line Celebration of Wayne's remarkable life and legacy will be held in the New Orleans French Quarter at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 31, 2022 beginning on the corner of Iberville and Chartres Streets. Everyone who loved Wayne is invited to this event. Wayne's family wishes to thank close friends-especially Daniela Halliburton-and family members for all the love and support offered during this difficult time. Additional thanks to Dr. Steward at Ochsner Baptist, Dr. Mizrahi at Ochsner's Main Campus, and the third floor nursing staff at Ochsner Baptist and the ER nurses at Ochsner's Main Campus. Special thanks to Jacob Schoen and Son Funeral Home, in particular Patrick Schoen for helping with all the celebration of life arrangements. Donations in Wayne's memory can be made to the Wayne Self Memorial Fund at https://gofund.me/e274f1cc. This fund will be used to create the Wayne Self Foundation, a 501c3 focused on supporting musical theater.