Tarell Alvin McCraney Selected Works

Meet America’s first drag queen presidential candidate—Ms. Joan Jett Blakk—as she announces her bid to run for President of the United States. It’s Chicago, 1992, and with the AIDS crisis at its height, Joan and the newly formed Queer Nation Chicago have an urgent agenda. Joan sets off on an exhilarating and dangerous journey to drag queer politics out of the closet and into a future where ALL are visible and ALL have a place at the table. Inspired—but not bound by true events, Ms. Blakk for President takes us into the heart and mind of one of Chicago’s most singular and radical citizens.

At the fringes of a war torn empire a man and woman have fallen desperately, passionately in love. But for a soldier sent to enforce the imperial will and the queen of a people intent on throwing off the yoke of empire, there is no place for personal desire. Antony and Cleopatra are born to lead, to bend the world to their will and their every action has consequences for the thousands of people caught within the orbit of their influence.

Former RSC International Playwright in Residence Tarell Alvin McCraney has created a stripped down, radical new version of Shakespeare's gripping story of romance set against a world of imperial politics and power play and transports us to 18th century, sun-soaked Saint-Domingue on the eve of revolution.

This is the first collection by Tarell Alvin McCraney, a major new playwright of the American theater. Lyrical and mythic, provocative and contemporary, McCraney’s dramas of kinship, love, and heartache are set in the bayou of Louisiana and loosely draw on West African myths. Comprising all three plays in the trilogy: In the Red and Brown Water, The Brothers Size, and Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet.

When things get a little too hot for him in New York, good-looking, charismatic hustler Pharus escapes the clutches of rap star Jules and moves to London, where he sets up an escort business under the guise of a model agency. American Trade is a funny, uncompromising and outspoken play about survival, which challenges assumptions about racial and sexual identity. It is also a celebration of 21st century London in all its extravagant, confusing and dynamic diversity.

The 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.

In anticipation of her birthday, Shelah’'s family and friends gather at her home in the Head of Passes——the mysterious shifting marshlands at the mouth of the great Mississippi River. As the guests appear, so do ghosts from the past, and Shelah'’s convictions about her life begin to dissolve, along with her home in the Louisiana rain.

Dean Williams finds himself caught between the two richest men in a rural Carolina town. The choice he makes will destroy lives—–maybe even his own. Adapted from the short story by Randall Kenan.

The phenomenon of a natural calamity like Hurricane Katrina creates chaos, pain and confusion on a mythic scale. In The Breach, playwrights Catherine Filloux, Tarell Alvin McCraney, and Joe Sutton weave together three unique and separate stories from those who survived the storm. In its exploration of the impacts of Katrina, this powerful and surreal play taps the conspiracy theories, loss and nascent hope of this devastated American region.

Enter the legendary House of Light, a hyper-glamorous, uber-competitive drag queen refuge where a daughter who was once a son, can find a family. While the House are primping and preening for a catwalk showdown with the other houses, drag queen Nina is wooing the delectable Eric as Wilson, a de-camped, make-up free ‘straight’ gay man. How can Nina/Wilson strut the thorny divide between opposite genders and differing worlds? With sassy music, killer costumes and performed in a club cabaret setting, Wig Out! brings to glorious, vivid life, a riotous, defiant drag queen sub-culture.

In the Louisiana bayou, big brother Ogun Size is hardworking and steady. Younger brother Oshoosi is just out of prison and aimless. Elegba, Oshoosi's old prison-mate, is a mysterious complication. A simple circle defines a world that begins in ritual and evolves into a tough and tender drama of what it means to brother and be brothered. Flights of poetry, music, dance and West African mythology combine in a contemporary tale that explores the tenuousness of freedom and the need to belong somewhere, to something, to someone. The Brothers Size is the second play of Tarell Alvin McCraney'’s The Brother/Sister Plays.