A Brief Review Of Choir Boy By Tarell Alvin Mccraney

The cinematic world often praises Tarell Alvin McCraney, alongside Barry Jenkins, for his contributions to writing the award-winning, critically acclaimed film, Moonlight. However, he has an extensive career in the theatre world, and this is evident with his play: Choir Boy. In a similar vein to Moonlight, Choir Boy is a coming-of-age play surrounding the experiences of Pharus Jonathan Young, a young gay student at an all-Black boarding school as he strives to lead the historic choir despite homophobia from his peers and the institution.

Before writing Choir Boy, McCraney had a robust artistic background. Growing up in Liberty City in Miami, Florida, McCraney graduated from New World School of the Arts High School, where even then he was recognized

Choir Boy, like Moonlight and McCraney’s other works, does not shy away from the homophobic violence that many Black gay men experience in their community. Like other dramas, the violence is the climax of the play, and the rest of the show is dedicated to the reactions to said violence, from the perpetrators, victims, and bystanders. The function of the violence in the piece is also similar to other 21st-century dramas, as it works to muddy the clear-cut images of these characters and present their complexities. Among the works we’ve studied, I find that it is most similar to Sweat in the way it subverts the audience’s expectations of who would actually hurt Pharus. Given all the verbal harassment Bobby throws against Pharus throughout the play, he would be the obvious culprit behind Pharus’s black eye. However, choosing David as Pharus’s lover and abuser reflects larger themes of sexuality, religion, and societal expectations. In this way, the violence in Choir Boy opens a door to other larger themes that the play attempts to shed light on. After discovering it was David who punched Pharus, out of fear and shame for his love for him, the play shifts its focus to this character’s ambition to be a traditional pastor, and what he believes to be, his contradictory feelings for someone he loves. In the wake of the violence he commits, David folds in on himself and his

In many ways, Choir Boy is groundbreaking for showcasing Black young men in such realistic and refreshing ways on stage. The students in Choir Boy have eclectic ambitions to higher education, priesthood, and, of course, art and music. McCraney understands the complexities of Black people, as he ensures characters are entirely different people with contrasting motivations, upbringings, and reactions to the world around them. With this variety of personalities, McCraney can engage in a conversation about class and sexuality as it relates to