His school is famous for its choir, an artistic achievement that has also become a bestowment lure to be protected by the private African-American prep school. And he is also the undisputed star of the choir, giving him a position of prestige and power. But Pharus Jonathan Young also has a proverbial and literal limp wrist, an indicator of an assertive effeminacy that unnerves the headmaster and his schoolmates. "Lord, is my wrist wrecking the world?" he exclaims in mock horror early in Tarell Alvin McCraney's
"Choir Boy."
"Pharus is on a definite trajectory," the playwright said recently from his home in Miami. "He knows what he wants, and has honed in on a talent that he feels gives him a right to get what he wants. In the American ethos, an ambition to use your talents to propel you in life is usually applauded. But when you add in qualifiers like 'feminine,' it starts to get problematic."
Performances of "Choir Boy" begin this week at Marin Theatre Company, which was one of three area theaters that coordinated to present McCraney's trilogy "The Brother/Sister Plays" five years ago. This time, "Choir Boy" comes close on the heels of McCraney's "Head of Passes" at Berkeley Rep, though the conjunction is coincidental and the plays are set in very different worlds.
As with "The Brother/Sister Plays," "Head of Passes" takes place in the marshy lands where earth melds with sea in Louisiana. But "Choir Boy" takes place at a prestigious all-male boarding school where students wear the uniform of blue blazers and khaki pants, and "Sir" starts any dialogue with an educator. Not surprisingly, beneath the groomed facade the students have typical issues of hierarchies, rivalries, and libido. But when an unseen student yells out "faggot" as Pharus sings the school song, the social order at fictional Charles R. Drew Prep School begins to become unglued.
As the choir's leader, Pharus has the power to kick the suspected slur slinger from the choir - a particularly ignominious fate at Drew Prep. "The play to me is less about winners and losers and more a different look at how we think about young black men in this country," McCraney said. "I know there are people who wonder why I'm not writing about young black men in urban life, but I've written that play and other people are writing those plays. I'm interested in the ones we think are supposed to be the voices of tomorrow, the ones that we think will turn into the Eric Holders and Barack Obamas. What are their challenges?"
McCraney himself grew up largely in a Miami housing project and was bullied at school and even called "faggot." But his path eventually took him to DePaul University and Yale School of Drama, and he has been open about his gay identity for many years. His plays have been staged and commissioned by such prestigious theaters as Chicago's Steppenwolf, Manhattan Theatre Club, and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Choir Boy was a co-commission between Manhattan Theatre Club and London's Royal Court Theater, where it had its premiere in 2012.
Being about a school choir, the play is studded with songs, and the traditional spirituals performed by the actors were chosen by McCraney to serve specific scenes. "These songs are part of the American ethos, and particularly black culture, and who will be the torchbearers of a strong tradition sets up a pressure cooker on the students. But after seeing so many productions of the play, I saw something that I wasn't aware of when I wrote it. When someone who is that young and that vulnerable starts singing those words, it instantly connects to the present and what they're feeling now." But even as they make sweet harmonies, the choir boys argue about the meanings of the songs they are singing.
"I think this play is about the mistakes we all make as kids, and what mistakes allow us to go on and what mistakes hamper us down because of race or gender or sexuality or who knows what. What happens when you're being a kid, but in the eyes of everyone else, you have to be more than that. It's not a play just about teenagers. It's a play about the fabric and workings of this entire society."
"Choir Boy" will run June 4-28 at Marin Theatre Company. Tickets are $35-$55. Call (415) 388-5208 or go to marintheatre.org