Tarell Alvin McCraney has won an Oscar, a McArthur Genius Grant, and a PEN Award. He is the playwriting chair at the Yale School of Drama. And, as of January 8, he has officially made his Broadway debut with his Choir Boy. The writer behind In the Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue(on which the Oscar-winning Moonlight is based), The Brother/Sister Plays, Wig Out!, and more brings his singular voice to Manhattan Theatre Club’s main stage at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre with the play that marked his first commission out of graduate school.
The story follows Pharus, an adolescent struggling to find “acceptable” ways to express his true self and be a Drew man at the Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys. He finds his place as the leader of the choir, but his peers’ issue with his identity threaten his dream of raising his voice.