Tarell Alvin McCraney
TARELL ALVIN MCCRANEY was born and raised in Liberty City, the inner city area of Miami, Florida. He graduated from the New World School of the Arts High School, with the Exemplary Artist Award and the Dean's Award in Theater in 1999, matriculated into the Theater School at DePaul University in Chicago graduating with the Sarah Siddons Award and a BFA in Acting 2003. He attended the British American Drama Academy (BADA) Mid-Summer at Oxford, studying Shakespeare with master actors and teachers from the Royal Shakespeare Company and around the UK. His Masters Degree in Fine Art is from the Yale School of Drama in playwriting 2007; he received the Cole Porter Award upon graduating. Plays include The Brother/Sister Plays: The Brothers Size, (Studio Theater, Washington DC 2008, The Public Theater New York, The Abbey Theater Dublin, produced with the Foundry Theater, the McCarter Theater Princeton, NJ, the Young Vic Theater London Barcelona, Spain 2008 produced with ATC London directed by Bijan Sheibani), In the Red and Brown Water (Winner of the 2007 Kendeda Award, Premiered Feb. 2008 Alliance Theater Atlanta, GA directed by Tina Landau) and Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet. All three plays are currently under option at the Young Vic Theater in London, UK. Other plays: The Breach (Southern Rep. Theater New Orleans 2007, Seattle Rep Theater 2008), Wig Out! (Sundance Summer Theater Institute), Without/Sin (Yale Cabaret 2005), Run Mourner, Run (Yale Cabaret 2005), A Taurian Tale (52nd Street Project 2008), Promise Not to Tell (New World School of the Arts Playwrights Festival 2007). Tarell was recently honored with the 2007 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award from the Vineyard Theater and a 2007 Whiting Writing Award. The Young Vic production of The Brothers Size was nominated for an Outstanding Achievement by an Affiliate Theater Olivier Award this past year in London, UK. He has also been named the International Writer in Residence for the Royal Shakespeare Company 2008-2010, the Hodder Fellow at the Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University and a seven-year residency at New Dramatist center in New York, NY. He is also a member of Teo Castellanos/D-Projects in Miami. Bio as of January, 2011. American Theatre Wing programs, interviews and/or credits include: Working in the Theatre (video) Compelling Stories: Playwrights 2011 - January, 2011 - Watch now.