Tarrell Alvin McRaney

Biography

Tarrell Alvin McRaney is a gay African-American playwright best known for Brother/Sister Play Trilogy, Choir Boy, Ms. Blakk for President, Wig Out!, Head of Passes, and In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. He has also written for film and television including Moonlight, which he co-wrote with Barry Jenkins, and David Makes Man, which he created for the Oprah Winfrey Network. His work has been produced and developed by Steppenwolf Theatre, The Berkeley Repertory Theater, The Public Theater, The Royal Court, The Manhattan Theater Club, The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, and The Vineyard Theatre. His awards include the 2017 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay: Moonlight, 2017 PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Awards American Playwright in Mid-Career, and 2008 London’s Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright. He received his BFA in acting at The Theatre School at DePaul University. Subsequently, he received his MFA in Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama, where he currently serves as chair of the playwriting program. He is also a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble.

Career Highlight

One of Tarrell’s greatest achievements was co-writing Moonlight with director Barry Jenkins. The film was released September 2, 2016. Moonlight is a coming-of-age film based on Tarrell’s play, In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. The play is semi-autobiographical and focuses on the childhood, adolescence, and adult life of its main character. The film grossed $65 million worldwide and won the Academy Award for Best Picture as well as Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay. Moonlight also won Best Picture at the Oscars. The film deals with themes of masculinity, sexuality, and identity.

Choir Boy

  • Genre: Dramedy
  • Breakdown:
    • 6M Black, 1M White
  • Synopsis:
    • Choir Boy is about a gay black highschooler named Pharus who sings as the choir lead at his prep school, Drew. Pharus encounters discrimination at Drew because of his sexuality. He isn’t truly accepted by almost anyone at school and is consistently asked by the headmaster to change the way he presents himself in order to fit in. Pharus receives a lot of hate from Bobby in particular, a fellow choir member who calls him the F slur at the beginning of the play. The choir becomes divided because of what Bobby calls Pharus. To reconcile the boys, the headmaster employs Mr. Pendleton as the new choir faculty sponsor and tasks him with bringing the boys together before their graduation commencement. Mr. Pendleton’s success is at first middling. However, he begins to make a little headway when he asks the boys to sing one of their parents’ favorite songs. During this time, another choir member, David, begins to navigate his suppressed feelings for Pharus. Soon, it’s revealed that the two had secretly been in a relationship. By the end of the play, Pharus and David are caught while being intimate, and so David strikes Pharus out of fear. This causes David to be expelled while Pharus is left at school. In the wake of what happened, Pharus looks to graduation somewhat emotionally scarred and banned from singing a solo in the choir.
  • Development/Production History:
    • Royal Court Theatre (2012)
    • New York City Center (2013)
    • Alliance Theatre (2014)
    • Geffen Playhouse (2014)
    • Broadway (2018)
  • Photos:
Choir Boy, Manhattan Theater, 2019
Choir Boy, Marin Theatre Company, 2015
Choir Boy, SpeakEasy Stage, 2019
  • Plays
    • Brother/Sister Play Trilogy (2007-2010)
    • Wig Out! (2008)
    • American Trade (2011)
    • Head of Passes (2016)
    • In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue (2016)
    • Choir Boy (2018)
    • Ms. Blakk for President (2019)

Reflection on Contribution to Anti-Racist Theatre

Choir Boy is a very personal play. Mostly inspired by McRaney’s relationship with his own community in Liberty City Miami. (also the setting of Moonlight) McRaney loves his community, but sometimes communities ask us to bend and change. Therefore, the Choir Boy extended from the question; “How do you be yourself in a community that might not fully accept who you are?” The play takes a lot of inspiration from negro spirituals. There are many sections that feature the boys singing acapella in the style of spirituals. The traditions of the black church are also present throughout the play. During the musical sequences the boys will step dance. Additionally, negro spirituals have a lot of similarities with black gospel choirs. In the play, the spirituals serve as intense expressions ranging from joy, to exuberance, to anger, and to pain.

Choir Boy dives straight into the middle of this difficult situation because of Pharus’ intersectionality as a gay, African American male student, and does service to each part of what makes Pharus who he is. The play is not afraid of tackling tough conversations and providing greater representational equity and that’s why it is a great piece of antiracist theater. Pharus isn’t accepted for who he is, and so during his time at Drew it seems he must continually jump through hoops. This is addressed at the very beginning of the play as the headmaster speaks to Pharus. In his office, he grabs Pharus’ by the wrist and tells him, “Tighten up! You are lead now… You gotta tighten up so that people don’t assume too much. Like all men, hold some things in. See your private life… Well those are private. Don’t let it all out. Keep ‘em guessing or… At least so they can’t ask.” The headmaster cares about Pharus and is a great aid to him throughout the play. However, similar to most everyone else in the play, he can’t accept Pharus for who he is. Instead, he warns Pharus that being himself is dangerous and will get him nowhere. The headmaster demands that Pharus present himself as a “man” in order to maintain his position within the school and as the choir lead. Accepting gay people like Pharus is something that academia, the church, and the black community have historically struggled to do. So writing the play in a location where the protagonist is attempting to excel in all three settings results in some really intense scenarios. Such as when David strikes Pharus. Or when Pharus describes a trip to the barber shop he took where he was only nine, and experienced horrible discrimination from his friend and community. We don’t get enough diverse perspectives in plays. Choir Boy sets Pharus center stage. That’s what makes it a great piece of anti-racist theater.

Compiled by Josiah Broughton, Department of Film, Television and Theater: Film Concentration, 2022