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"An exhilarating, multi-layered new play." - The Guardian"Stirring and stylishly told . . . McCraney's crispest and most confident work." - Daily News"Greatly affecting. . . . It takes a brave writer to set his language against the plaintive beauty of the hymns and spirituals . . . but McCraney's speech holds its own, locating poetry even in casual vernacular and again demonstrating his gift for simile and metaphor." - The Village VoiceThe Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys is dedicated to the creation of strong, ethical black men. Pharus wants nothing more than to take his rightful place as leader of the school's legendary gospel choir, but can he find his way inside the hallowed halls of this institution if he sings in his own key? Known for his unique brand of urban lyricism, Tarrell Alvin McCraney follows up his acclaimed trilogy The Brother/Sister Plays with this affecting portrait of a gay youth trying to find the courage to let the truth about himself be known. Set against the sorrowful sounds of hymns and spirituals, Choir Boy premiered at the Royal Court in London before receiving its Off-Broadway premiere in summer 2013 to critical and popular acclaim.Tarell Alvin McCraney is author of The Brother/Sister Plays: The Brothers Size, In the Red and Brown Water, and Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet. Other works include Wig Out!, set in New York's drag clubs, and The Breach, which deals with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. His awards include the 2009 Steinberg Playwrights Award and the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award.
About the Author
Tarell Alvin McCraney is a 2013 recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, also known as the "genius grant."
Plays include: The Brother/Sister Plays: The Brothers Size (Studio Theater, Washington DC 2008, The Public Theater New York, The Abbey Theatre Dublin, produced with the Foundry Theatre, the McCarter Theatre Princeton, NJ, the Young Vic Theatre London, Barcelona 2008 produced with ATC London directed by Bijan Sheibani) ; In The Red and Brown Water (winner of the 2007 Kendeda Award, premiered Feb 2008, Alliance Theatre Atlanta, GA, directed by Tina Landau) ; and Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet. All three plays are currently under option at the Young Vic Theatre in London. Other plays: The Breach (Southern Rep Theater, New Orleans 2007, Seattle Rep Theatre 2008) , Wig Out! (Sundance Summer Theater Institute) , Without/Sin (Yale Cabaret 2005) , Run Mother, Run (Yale Cabaret 2005) , A Taurian Tale (52nd Street Project 2008) , Promise Not to Tell (New World School of the Arts Playwrights Festival 2007) .
Tarell graduated from the New World School of the Arts High School with the exemplary Artist award and the Dean's Award in Theatre in 1999, matriculated into the Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago graduating with the Sarah Siddons Award and a BFA in Acting 2003. Attended the British American Drama Academy (BADA) mid- summer at Oxford studying Shakespeare with master actors and teachers from the Royal Shakespeare Company, and around the UK. Masters Degree from the Yale School of Drama in playwriting 2007; receiving the Cole Porter Award upon graduating.
Tarell was recently honored with the 2007 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award from the Vineyard Theater and a 2007 Whiting Writing Award. He is the winner of the Evening Standard Theatre award for Most Promising Playwright for In the Red and Brown Water and The Brothers Size. The Young Vic production of The Brothers Size was nominated for an Outstanding Achievement by an Affiliate Theatre Olivier Award this past year in London. He is the RSC/Warwick International Playwright in Residence for the Royal Shakespeare Company 2008-2010, the Hodder Fellow at the Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University, and has a seven-year residency at New Dramatist Center in New York.
The playwright will direct and adapt a new production of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra as part of a collaboration among the Public Theater in New York, GableStage in Miami and the Royal Shakespeare Company in fall-winter 2013/2014.
