Tarell Alvin McCraney is an acclaimed writer, actor, and educator. He currently leads Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles serving as Artistic Director. 

His script In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue is the basis for the Oscar-winning film Moonlight directed by Barry Jenkins, for which McCraney and Jenkins won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. McCraney created on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, the critically-acclaimed drama David Makes Man, for which the first season received a Peabody Award and was executive produced  Michael B. Jordan and Oprah Winfrey. McCraney also wrote the film High Flying Bird which premiered on Netflix directed by Steven Soderbergh.

McCraney’s plays include Ms. Blakk For President (co-written with Tina Landau), The Brother/Sister Plays trilogy, Head Of Passes, Wig Out! , and Choir Boy which was nominated for four Tony Awards.

McCraney is the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Grant, the Joyce Award, the Whiting Award, Steinberg Playwright Award, the Evening Standard Award, the New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award, the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, the Windham Campbell Award, and a USA Artist Award.

He is a lecturer in Playwriting at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale; an associate artist at the Royal Shakespeare Company, UK; an ensemble member at Steppenwolf Theater, Chicago; and a member of Teo Castellanos/D-Projects, Miami.