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.
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.
He initially majored in sociology, but during his second year he auditioned for the university's theater program, and was cast as Gremio in The Taming of the Shrew.
Based on this experience, Bagneris decided to follow a stage career, and by his junior year he was writing, directing, and producing plays himself.
The Free Southern Theater, which toured in rural, underprivileged areas of the south, performed two of Bagneris's plays while he was an undergraduate.
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 performers in New Orleans.
"[5] In October 2005, shortly after the city was significantly damaged by Hurricane Katrina, Bagneris returned to live in New Orleans, settling in the French Quarter.