Tarell Alvin McCraney Celebrates Queer Marriage and World Pride with Latest Play

When Oscar-winning playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney attending a production of his 2013 play "Choir Boy" in Sydney, Australia, two years ago, his visit coincided with World Pride being celebrated in that city. " McCraney admired the production, but he wished that the play, which deals with anti-gay prejudice, didn't feel quite so relevant," the New York Times reports this week. "He decided that by the time the next World Pride came around, two years later, he would offer actors a script that felt more playful, more joyful."

World Pride is here in the United States – in Washington DC – through June 8; and concurrent to it is McCraney's latest play "We Are Gathered," which continues at the city's Arena Stage through June 15.

McCraney, 44, said he wanted to write a play that allowed queer love to shine and celebrated WorldPride 2025, AFRO News.com. "About a year ago I pitched the idea to the artistic director of Arena Stage, Hana Sharif, because I believed it would be a great way to celebrate pride, specifically Black pride," McCraney told the site. "She was on board immediately. With that, I focused on writing something that would allow people to celebrate love in a specific way – a Black queer way."

"In searching for a subject, McCraney, now 44 and the artistic director of the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, kept returning to the idea of marriage," writes the Times. "When he was growing up, marriage wasn't available to gay men, but a 2015 Supreme Court decision had changed that." But the opposition to queer and transgender rights made same sex marriage more precarious, especially given the make-up of today's Supreme Court; and McCraney saw it a subject worth exploring. "I decided, OK, I'm going to find out what this means to me," he tells the Times.

Prior to writing the play, he was dismissive of weddings, calling them pointless displays of opulence. Now, he feels differently. "This commitment is sacred and essential and a human right," he said. "It is about a community coming to witness people who have made a decision to be together forever and that's powerful."

"We Are Gathered," a love story between W. Tre (Kyle Beltran), an architect, and Free (Nic Ashe), a musician, is one answer. What begins as an anonymous assignation in a dark park becomes a serious relationship. But owing to W. Tre's reservations, the knot stays untied.

But something unique is happening at every performance of "We Are Gathered" that demonstrates the human aspect of this still volatile issue. Each performance will culminate with what Arena Stage is calling "Love Takes Center Stage," an immersive experience in which one or more couples will join the actors for a real marriage ceremony or vow renewal. One of the stars, Craig Wallace, has been ordained. Over the course of the show's 30 scheduled performances, several dozen couples will participate. After each show, Arena Stage will hold a reception with cake, champagne and dancing.

For McCraney, this community-involvement makes his play consummate theater. "We always hope that we come in, and through our dreaming together, we leave different," he tells the Times. "The marriages make that real."

"When I write, it's always personal because the personal can be universal," he tells AFRONews.com "Given my thoughts on same-sex marriage and Black people, I hope this play engages the entire community. I wanted to explore what same-sex marriage means today and to propose ways in which we could more effectively and easily engage in or consider gay marriage in today's world."

McCraney also acknowledges the huge debt he owes to the late playwright August Wilson, who was his teacher and mentor during his final year of studies at Yale University, Also to director/actor Kenny Leon, known for his extensive contributions on Broadway, and actress/singer/director Phylicia Rashad. They and countless others, represent the ancestors whose lives bear witness to how he conducts his life and his craft.

"When I was working on my BFA (bachelor's of fine arts) in acting at DePaul University, and my MFA (master's of fine arts) in playwriting at Yale University, I had teachers, like August Wilson, who influenced the way I think about and work with artists and other creatives," he said. "During the final year of August's life , while he was completing 'Radio Golf' , he worked with me consistently and poured so much into my life.

"There were many others, some who are still alive, who guided me as a young artist and developing playwright. Now, I do the same thing to honor August's legacy and the contributions of other ancestors who are no longer with us. I am who I am because of the ancestors. They poured the strength of God, which sustained them, in me, as well as their resilience and ability to be present with our people – keys to how we learn to truly love another and how to survive."