With lyrics and music by Jason Robert Brown, and a book by Alfred Uhry, PARADE is based on the true story of the 1913 trial of Jewish factory manager Leo Frank, who was accused and convicted of raping and murdering a thirteen-year-old employee, Mary Phagan in Atlanta, Georgia. The sensationalized trial aroused anti-Semitic tensions in Georgia. When Frank's death sentence was commuted to life in prison by the Governor, Frank was kidnapped and killed. The events surrounding the investigation and trial led to two groups emerging, the revival of the defunct KKK and the birth of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League.

Brown and Uhry won Tony awards for their work on this musical. Brown also wrote the musicals 13, The Last Five Years, Urban Cowboy and Songs for a New World, which 4th Wall produced 2002. Uhry is best known for writing Driving Miss Daisy and The Last Night of Ballyhoo. He is the only individual to receive an Academy Award, Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for dramatic writing.