Tarell Alvin McCraney (born October 17, 1980) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. He is the chair of playwriting at the

Yale School of Drama The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University is a graduate professional school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, the school provides training in e ...

and a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble. He co-wrote the 2016 film '' Moonlight'', based on his own play, for which he received an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for Best Adapted Screenplay. He also wrote the screenplay for the 2019 film '' High Flying Bird'' and 2019 television series ''

David Makes Man ''David Makes Man'' is an American coming-of-age drama television series that premiered on August 14, 2019, on OWN. In December 2019, OWN renewed the series for a second season which premiered on June 22, 2021. Premise ''David Makes Man'' follo ...

''.

Early life and education

McCraney was born in Liberty City, Florida. He attended the

New World School of the Arts New World School of the Arts (NWSA) is a public magnet high school and college in Downtown Miami, Florida. Its dual-enrollment programs in the visual and performing arts are organized into four strands: visual arts, dance, theatre (comprising prog ...

(NWSA) in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. While attending NWSA, he also applied to and was awarded an honorable mention by the National YoungArts Foundation (1999, Theater). As a teenager, he was a member of an improv troupe directed by Teo Castellanos. He matriculated into

The Theatre School at DePaul University The Theatre School at DePaul University, previously the Goodman School of Drama (also known as TTS and GSD, respectively) is the drama school of DePaul University. Founded with its first class conducted at the Art Institute of Chicago on January 5 ...

and received his BFA in acting. In May 2007 he graduated from

's playwriting program, receiving the Cole Porter Playwriting Award upon graduation. He also is an Honorary

Warwick University , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020� ...

Graduate.

Career

As an actor, he has worked with directors such as

Tina Landau Tina Landau (born May 21, 1962) is an American playwright and theatre director. Known for her large-scale, musical, and ensemble-driven work, Landau's productions have appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally, most extensively at the ...

of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company,

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

David Cromer David Cromer (born October 17, 1964) is an American theatre director, and stage, film, and TV actor. He has received recognition for his work on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in his native Chicago. Cromer has won or been nominated for numerous a ...

, and B. J. Jones, artistic director of the Northlight Theatre (where McCraney co-starred in the Chicago premiere of

Joe Penhall Joe Scott Penhall (born 1967) is an English-Australian playwright and screenwriter, best known for his award-winning stage play ''Blue/Orange'', the award-winning West End musical ''Sunny Afternoon'' and creating the Netflix original series '' ...

's '' Blue/Orange''), and developed a working relationship with

Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Sha ...

and

Marie-Hélène Estienne Marie-Hélène Estienne is a French playwright and screenwriter, probably best known for her collaborations with the British director Peter Brook and the International Centre for Theatre Research at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris. ...

of the Bouffes du Nord,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. He is a member of the D Projects Theater Company in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

. From 2008 to 2010, he was the RSC/

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...

International Playwright in Residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company. In April 2010, McCraney became the 43rd member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble. In July 2017, he became the chair of playwriting at the

Theatre

* While at Yale, McCraney wrote the ''Brother/Sister'' trilogy of plays, which are set in the Louisiana

projects A project is any undertaking, carried out individually or collaboratively and possibly involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular goal. An alternative view sees a project managerially as a sequence of even ...

and explore

Yoruba mythology The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitu ...

. The

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided ...

of plays includes ''In the Red Brown Water'', ''The Brothers Size'', and ''Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet''. While they are often produced with ''In the Red Brown Water'' coming first and then ''The Brothers Size'' and ''Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet'' together on a following night, the plays are not in chronological order, but rather are “in conversation” with one another. * McCraney’s play ''

Choir Boy ''Choir Boy'' is a coming-of-age play by American playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney. The play premiered in September 2012 at the Royal Court Theatre, London, before going on to play productions at New York City Center, Alliance Theatre, Geffe ...

'' premiered at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 2012, with its American premiere the following year produced by the

Manhattan Theatre Club Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has g ...

. The play follows young Pharus on his journey toward becoming the best choir leader in the history of the Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys and trying to find out where he fits in with the rest of his peers. The 2019 Broadway production of the play was nominated for four

Tony Awards The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

, including the

Tony Award for Best Play The Tony Award for Best Play (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award given to the best new (non-musical) play on Broadway, as determined by Tony Award voters. There was no award in the Tonys' first yea ...

, and won the

Tony Award for Best Sound Design The Tony Awards for Best Sound Design of a Play and Best Sound Design of a Musical recognize excellence in sound design for Broadway theatre. They were first given in the 2007–2008 season. In 2014, the Tony Awards Administration Committee announce ...

of a Play. * McCraney co-wrote ''Ms. Blakk for President'' with director

. The show was first performed by the

Steppenwolf Theatre Company Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, and Gary Sinise in the Unitarian church on Half Day Road in Deerfield, Illinois and is now located in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood on ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 2019. Based on a true story, the play follows

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part of ...

Joan Jett Blakk Terence Alan Smith, also known as "Joan Jett Blakk", is a globally recognized activist, political candidate, and drag queen from Detroit, Michigan. Smith is an African-American actor, writer, and political candidate. Smith, as Joan Jett Blakk firs ...

(played by McCraney himself in the play's first production) in Chicago at the height of the

AIDS crisis The AIDS epidemic, caused by HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), found its way to the United States between the 1970s and 1980s, but was first noticed after doctors discovered clusters of Kaposi's sarcoma and pneumocystis pneumonia in homosexual ...

as she announces her bid to run for President of the United States.

Television

* McCraney writes and is an executive producer for the original scripted TV series, ''

'', for Oprah Winfrey’s

OWN Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...

Network. As of April 2022, the show is awaiting renewal for its third season.

Film

* '' Moonlight'', co-written by McCraney and director

Barry Jenkins Barry Jenkins (born November 19, 1979) is an American filmmaker. After making his filmmaking debut with the short film ''My Josephine'' (2003), he directed his first feature film '' Medicine for Melancholy'' (2008) for which he received an Inde ...

, was based on McCraney’s earlier semi-autobiographical play ''In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue'', which he shelved. The film follows Chiron ( Alex R. Hibbert,

Ashton Sanders Ashton Durrand Sanders (born October 24, 1995) is an American actor best known for his portrayal of teenage Chiron in the Academy Award-winning film '' Moonlight'' (2016). Early life Sanders was born in Carson, California. He attended Grand A ...

Trevante Rhodes Trevante Nemour Rhodes (born February 10, 1990) is an American actor. He won several accolades and achieved recognition in 2016 for his performance as Chiron in the Academy Award-winning film '' Moonlight''. He has since starred in '' The Pred ...

), a young Black man who grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood in

. The film was critically acclaimed, and McCraney and Jenkins won the

Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay Film adaptation, adapted from previously established material. The most frequently adapted media are novels, but other adapted narrative formats include st ...

. * McCraney wrote the screenplay for the 2019 American sports drama, '' High Flying Bird'', directed by Steven Soderbergh and released by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

. The film follows sports agent Ray Burke (

André Holland André Holland (born December 28, 1979) is an American actor, widely known for his 2016 performance as Kevin in the Academy Award-winning film '' Moonlight''. Throughout his career, Holland has acted in film, television, and theatre production ...

) who finds himself caught between a league and its basketball players.

Personal life

McCraney is

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

Works

Plays

*''Ms. Blakk for President'' ( Steppenwolf Theatre) *''Head of Passes'' ( Steppenwolf Theatre,

Berkeley Rep Berkeley Repertory Theatre is a regional theater company located in Berkeley, California. It runs seven productions each season from its two stages in Downtown Berkeley. History The company was founded in 1968, as the East Bay's first resident ...

The Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...

) *''

'' (

Royal Court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word "court" may also be appl ...

Samuel J. Friedman Theatre The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, formerly the Biltmore Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 261 West 47th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1925, it was designed by Herbert J. Krapp in the neo-Renai ...

, Steppenwolf Theatre) *''American Trade'', an adaptation of a Restoration comedy for young people (

RSC RSC may refer to: Arts * Royal Shakespeare Company, a British theatre company * Reduced Shakespeare Company, a touring American acting troupe * Richmondshire Subscription Concerts, a music society in Richmond, North Yorkshire, England * Rock Ste ...

) * ''Wig Out!'' (developed at Sundance Theatre Lab produced in New York by the

Vineyard Theatre The Vineyard Theatre is an Off-Broadway non-profit theatre company, located at 108 East 15th Street in Manhattan, New York City, near Union Square. Its first production was in 1981. It is best known for its productions of the Tony award-winning ...

and in

by the

)

''The Brother/Sister Plays'' trilogy

* ''The Brothers Size'' (simultaneously premiered in New York at

, in association with the Foundry Theatre, and in London at the Young Vic, where it was nominated for an

Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...

for Outstanding Achievement at an Affiliated Theatre) * ''In The Red and Brown Water'' (winner of the Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition, produced at the

Alliance Theatre The Alliance Theatre is a theater company in Atlanta, Georgia, based at the Alliance Theatre, part of the Robert W. Woodruff Arts Center, and is the winner of the 2007 Regional Theatre Tony Award. The company, originally the Atlanta Municipal T ...

and the Young Vic) *''Marcus, or the Secret of Sweet''

Other plays

*''Without/Sin'' * ''Run, Mourner, Run'' (adapted from Randall Kenan's short story), both of which premiered at Yale Cabaret. He directed ''Hamlet'' for the RSC's Young Shakespeare program for GableStage in Miami. In the summer of 2006, McCraney, Catherine Filloux and Joe Sutton wrote ''The Breach'', a play on Katrina, the Gulf, and our nation, commissioned by Southern Rep in New Orleans, where it premiered in August 2007 to mark the second anniversary of the tragedy in New Orleans. ''The Breach'' also played at Seattle Rep in the winter of 2007.

Other projects

* '' High Flying Bird'', a script based on the 2011 NBA lockout starring

, who starred in ''Moonlight'', directed by Steven Soderbergh. It premiered on Netflix on February 8, 2019. *''In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue,'' an autobiographical drama school project that is the inspiration for the 2016 film '' Moonlight.'' *An adaptation of Shakespeare's '' Antony and Cleopatra'' for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2013, which puts the play in an 18th-century Caribbean setting. Reviews were mixed. * ''

'', a 2019 television series on the

network.

Forthcoming projects

Commissions for the

Donmar Warehouse The Donmar Warehouse is a 251-seat, not-for-profit theatre in Covent Garden, London, England. It first opened on 18 July 1977. Sam Mendes, Michael Grandage and Josie Rourke have all served as artistic director, a post held since 2019 by Mi ...

and

Awards and honors

*2007 Whiting Award *2007

Paula Vogel Paula Vogel (born November 16, 1951) is an American playwright who received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play ''How I Learned to Drive.'' A longtime teacher, Vogel spent the bulk of her academic career – from 1984 to 2008 – at Bro ...

Playwriting Award for ''The Brothers Size'' *2008 London's ''Evening Standard'' Award for Most Promising Playwright *2009 ''New York Times'' Outstanding Playwright Award for ''The Brothers Size'' *2009 Steinberg Playwright Award *2013 Windham–Campbell Literature Prize *2013

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

*2014

Doris Duke Performing Artist Award The Doris Duke Artist Award is undertaken by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and designed to "empower, invest in and celebrate artists by offering multi-year, unrestricted funding as a response to financial and funding challenges both unique t ...

*2017

: '' Moonlight'' *2017

PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award The PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award, commonly referred to as the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award, is awarded by the PEN America (formerly PEN American Center). It annually recognizes two American playwrights. A medal is given ...

s American Playwright in Mid-Career *2017

United States Artists United States Artists (USA) is a national arts funding organization based in Chicago. USA is dedicated to supporting living artists and cultural practitioners across the United States by granting unrestricted awards. Mission The organization' ...

Fellowship *2019 40 Under 40 List by ''

Connecticut Magazine ''Connecticut Magazine'' is an American monthly magazine covering the life, culture, politics, and style of the state of Connecticut. Founded in 1971, it was purchased in 2017 by the Hearst Corporation. It is a sister magazine of ''Connecticut Br ...

''"40 Under 40: The Class of 2019."
(''

'') (January 23, 2019) Retrieved March 5, 2019.

References

External links

Profile and Production History at The Whiting Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCraney, Tarell Alvin 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers 1980 births Living people African-American dramatists and playwrights American male stage actors DePaul University alumni Writers from Florida American gay actors American gay writers LGBT African Americans Male actors from Miami Yale School of Drama alumni LGBT dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights Alumni of the British American Drama Academy Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners LGBT people from Florida Steppenwolf Theatre Company players MacArthur Fellows 21st-century American screenwriters African-American screenwriters 21st-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American people African-American male writers