Midway through a telephone interview with playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney in London, the out and proud 29-year-old confirms one of my questions by saying, "Yes, sir."
I immediately point out to McCraney that needn't call me "Sir" since we differ in age by only a few years. But McCraney responded, "It's not an age thing, it's a Southern thing."
McCraney certainly uses his experiences growing up in the South along with Afro-Caribbean mythology to shape his critically acclaimed cycle The Brother/Sister Plays, which is now making a Chicago debut for an extended run upstairs at Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
The cycle consists of three plays set in a fictional Louisiana community on the banks of the bayou. In the Red and Brown Water concerns a star high school athlete named Oya who must choose between taking a college scholarship or staying at home to tend to her dying mother. The Brothers Size follows what happens when parolee Oshooshi Size meets up with a former fellow inmate while trying to hold a job at his brother's car repair shop. Rounding out the cycle is Marcus; Or The Secret of Sweet, which is about a 16-year-old boy coming to terms with his sexuality and a mysterious family past.
Each play isn't linked chronologically, so you can see each work out of order ( Both The Brothers Size and Marcus; Or The Secret of Sweet make up two acts of one performance ) . But McCraney recommends that if you do see all three, see them in order with In the Red and Brown Water first.
"I'm honored that Steppenwolf would take such a chance to give a slot so big to an unknown writer," McCraney said. "I mean to have not just one, but three plays done at Steppenwolf."
Don't expect McCraney to stay unknown for much longer. Though he says he's still paying off his student loans, McCraney has already racked up some impressive awards like the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award and the 2009 Steinberg Playwrights Award ( he was a co-winner with Bruce Norris and David Adjmi ) . McCraney has also been produced on both sides of the pond in London and New York.
McCraney's play WIG OUT! ( about a troupe of transgender drag queens ) was recently staged at New York's Vinyard Theatre and London's Royal Court Theatre ( it also picked up a GLAAD award last year for Outstanding New York Theater ) . Just recently, The Brother/Sister Plays was also nominated for a GLAAD award following its critically acclaimed 2009 run at New York's Public Theatre.
It's a long way from McCraney's childhood of growing up in the projects of Miami. There he had to overcome numerous obstacles including a drug-addicted mother and family conflict over his sexuality.
McCraney has said in past interviews that theater truly saved him and confirms it again.
"I think the theater allowed me to find the discipline in a way I express myself and in a way to work toward something greater than myself," McCraney said.
McCraney initially went after a career in acting by attending DePaul University in Chicago. It was not long after graduating that McCraney first teamed up with out Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble Member Tina Landau as an actor in her 2004 piece Theatrical Essays.
That connection with Landau continued after McCraney switched gears to study playwriting at the Yale School of Drama. Landau would go on to not only direct WIG OUT!, but she would direct productions of In the Red and Brown Water at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre, at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, N.J and at New York's Public Theatre.
The Steppenwolf run of The Brother/Sister Plays is the first time Landau gets a crack at all three plays. McCraney is really excited to re-team with Landau and see what she can bring to the cycle.
"I've just been itching, dying, eager to get my hands on the full trilogy," Landau said, happy to be working with fellow Steppenwolf Ensemble Members like K. Todd Freeman, Ora Jones and Alana Arenas ( who also has known McCraney since high school ) .
One thing that Landau admires about all three works is how "they're focused on what I might call 'The Outsider.' They're really about how the individual becomes most authentically themselves within a larger community," Landau said.
And of interest to LGTBQ audience, Landau points out that "In all three plays there are strains and stories that have to do with gay love, but Marcus, the third one, really brings that topic to the forefront in a concrete way."
When McCraney returns to Chicago for previews of The Brother/Sister Plays, he also hopes to do as much youth outreach as he can ( along with taking a class or two at the Joel Hall Dance Center ) .
Then it's back to England where McCraney is the Royal Shakespeare Theatre's current international writer in residence. McCraney has already edited Shakespeare's Hamlet for a touring RSC school edition, plus he has a commission from the company for a new play.
"I love what I do and I'm very thankful and grateful for it," said McCraney when asked about how far he's come in life. "It doesn't come easy and it doesn't come without its downside, but at the end of the day I still love very much what I do."
The Brother/Sister Plays: In the Red and Brown Water, The Brothers Size and Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet play in the Upstairs space at Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted. Previews run Jan. 21-30. Performances then continue 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays ( no Sunday evening shows Jan. 31, April 11, 18 or May 8 ) , 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays ( no matinees on Jan. 31 or May 8 ) . Tickets are $20-$48 for previews, and $20-$70 for the regular run. Call 312-355-1650 or visit www.Steppenwolf.org .
