Alumni SpotlightAugust 2010Tarell Alvin McCraney,1999 YA Winner in Theater

McCraney’s prose is “raw,” writes the New York Times,“the actors often drop out of character to describe their stage directions aloud…to make the theatergoers feel they are not so much watching a play as they are sharing in every banal and beautiful line of a story that the cast and the author are unfurling.”

His career is still young, but McCraney has already created a world-renowned trilogy, The Brother/Sister Plays, which has traveled from New York to Dublin, London, Barcelona, Atlanta, New Jersey and Chicago. The first play of the trilogy, The Brother’s Size, was nominated for an Oliver Award in 2007. His other plays include: The Breach, Wig Out! and Without/Sin.

In 2008 he was named the InteIn 2008 he was named the International Writer in Residence for the Royal Shakespeare Company. With this prestigious title, McCraney wrote his own version of the play Hamlet and was able to drastically edit the play Antony and Cleopatra.

Below is an excerpt of an interview with the playwright himself:

1) Thus far, in your career as an actor and playwright, what has been one of your most memorable moments?

I have a lot of memorable moments and they usually come from sitting in someone else's theater.

TTop 3 in the past year:

3) Jonathan Slinger as Richard the 2 at the Royal Shakespeare Company Gala!I love when people do excerpts of something and they render you speechless and blubbering, wishing you could have seen the whole thing!

2) Parade at the Donmar Warehouse in London. From beginning to the end of this musical I was an open nerve and thought to myself how and why are they doing this to me? The questions in that play resonate with me still.

1)1) Fela! I stood for the entire show crying, shouting, dancing, praying, barely breathing. By the end I was exhausted!

Okay and a lil’ extra one Adrian Lester in Peter Brooks Hamlet!

2) Tell us about your experience working with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) as the International Writer-In-Residence from 2008-2010.

WWorking with the RSC is a dream job for me. Somehow I've managed to get them to let me not only write a play with about 17 characters, but also direct a slimmed-down version of Hamlet, radically edit the Tragic History Antony and Cleopatra and attend associate meetings with the likes of Sis Berry and Greg Doran. I actually get to talk, too. And they listen to my ideas. I'm 29! Ha! Don't tell them that, though. They might stop.

3) You recently became a member of the Steppenwolf theater ensemble. What was your inspiration for The Brother/Sister Plays?

YYes, I recently became, I believe, the 43rd member of Steppenwolf. I like that number. I really do. I am really grate-ful and a little nervous about my membership but it’s a great honor. And I look forward to joining the rank and file of a community of artists of that caliber. All the hard work seems to be getting right where i wanted to go. I just want to work with great artists and part of that want is the reason for the Brother/Sister plays. I wanted to tell some very personal and colloquial stories with some close friends, whom I think and believe are extremely talented and don't always get a chance to express themselves on the American stage. I wrote with people like AlanaAlana Arenas and Brian Henry and Elliot Villar and Gilbert Ouwor in mind; I wrote with Rodney Gardiner in my heart and Glenn Davis II on my brain. With directors like Tina Landau and Robert O’Hare and Kent Gash and Tea Alagic, and support from the public, McCarter, the Foundry, the Young Vic ATC in London and Studio, these plays have found a real voice and a community and that was always the aim.

4) Do you have any advice for aspiring actors or playwrights?

It depends on the specific question. I always think general advice is just that, general. And the only thing an artist has to bring to the form is them and their own uniqueness. You learn fast that there are few new stories, few new forms. The only new part of the puzzle is the artist, the person, the perspective, you. And we await the day we can see your perspective. That your voice will join the song.

At 29 years old, Tarrell Alvin McCraney is already an award-winning playwright. His passion for theater and his drive to excel have allowed him to reach a level of success that even he finds unbelievable. unbelievable. Tarell was born and raised in Liberty City, an area in Miami, FL and graduated from New World School of the Arts High School. He then attended the Theater School at DePaul University in Chicago. McCraney then went on to study Shakespeare with master actors and teachers fand teachers from the Royal Shake-speare Company at the British American Drama Academy (BADA). In 2007, McCraney acquired a Masters degree in playwriting from the Yale School of Drama, where he received the Cole Porter Award upon graduating. As qualified and brilliantly talented as he is, McCraney is heartwarmingly humble.