What a pleasure to read such beautifully felt words.
I want to keep a copy of this and also go back and revisit
the artists he talks about here with the help of the lens he
provides.
7
The most accurate description of what it's like being an African-American in this country: ,,,,,doesn’t just call for the maintenance of multiple consciousnesses; it requires a strategy for keeping them working smoothly together. “When people say, ‘I’m tired,’ ” McCraney told me, “it’s not necessarily like, ‘I’ve been working in a cotton field all day.’ There’s tired, like — you just don’t know how much pre-thinking, post-thinking, anxiousness, anxiety, that one has to toggle in order to deal with the United States. Not just white people, but the way that the United States is set up.”
6
This piece is so beautiful and resonant that it makes the case, all by itself, about the importance of inclusive representation across fault lines - intersections - in newsrooms. It disrupts the notion of objectivity by turning what was once considered "advocacy" or "bias" into poetry, because of the way Carvell Wallace provides both a mirror and a call and response tone in this lovely feature and profile. Caricatures of blackness, black beauty and art render us flat, at the extremes of emotion - both searching for dandelions and then buckling under the weight of grief (not just the missing of our mothers when they have passed, as mine has, too) but the grief of being unseen, hypervisible and yet, having your heart be invisible on the page, on the stage, on film. To commit oneself to the love of black people and our beauty is to also commit to another kind of grief; to mourn that most people will not meet you there, but to have the emotional intelligence that McCraney does to know that the ones who can feel your heart can feel your humanity and those are the ones the work is for.
11
The most beautiful article I have read in the NY Times. The writer is so touched by the works of McCraney and has grasped the essence of his work.
14
An illuminating and moving article bring me to even greater respect for McCraney. Exceptionally good writing.
5
Beautifully written and insightful article. Thank you!
4
Writers are often introspective and observational Why was this so surprising to Carvell Wallace? This wasn’t a movie star on a press junket for a new film.
1
Wonderful article. Gives a nice incite in Mr. McCraney's mind and style of writing, which confirms my thoughts about why CHOIR BOY hit me so hard, when I saw it two weeks ago, that I just sat on a staircase afterwards and full on cried for over five minutes. It was my first exposure to his work. His writing comes from a real place and you feel it. I have yet to see "Moonlight".
3
Beautiful writing. What a price we pay when we make people waste half their energy dealing with the low expectations of others.
1
thank You for such a beautifully written and thought provoking article.
4
I saw Choir Boy at the Manhattan Theatre Project on a whim. I grieved so deeply, I was beside myself but glad about it all at once. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for this poetic and incisive testimony to McCraney's genius. We agree about him. That's certain. However, Mr. Wallace, what you did paralleled McCraney exquisitely. You dug deep into the pain and, like every show I have seen of in NYC or Berkeley, you left me with a pile of damp and crumpled tissues as well as just a little more relief. You were kind enough to create the safety for this grown man to express my vulnerability.
May your kindness return to you one thousand-fold.
14
Fantastic writing. Carvell managed to articulate things I have felt for a long time but couldn't quite put into words.
Also: a minor quibble. This portrait of Mr McCraney by John Edmonds is so good but Im bothered that text is covering up half of it. Anyway to adjust coding so that the photos aren't covered up like this?
What beautiful writing. Teary
2
As a white Southern-born mother of now adult black children and grandmother of a black teenager the age that gets shot and a young boy the age to be abused, I have reread this article twice and will keep it close. Moved several times a week to tears by my boys' startling beauty and to chronic insomnia by dread of what awaits them outside the front door, I thank you two young men, Tarell and Carvell, for your breathtaking conversation that gives me language for my world. Reading it I felt not such a long long way from home. Your reverance for each other...well the medium was the message. Thank you NY Times for listening to them, without which such as I would not have this poetry to make sense of things, to give the comfort of recognition, of company.
20
this was an amazing article, I'm so proud of all of these amazing Black artists. God bless and many more blessing to come!
6
Excellent article. As a parent, it’s blindly obvious what my girls are: whoever they wish to be. We can attempt to put them in a box or we can celebrate them for who they are. What we can’t have is both.
2
Man, Carvel Wallace you got me. What an absolutely fantastic article on Tarell McCraney's works. If you don't win a Pulitzer for this, I would be shocked. Great writing. Great newspaper. This is why I subscribe. I am beyond moved.
12
"...what I witnessed was a man who has made himself a connoisseur of grief..."
Wow. Talk about insight and succinct writing. Carvel Wallace's profile helps me further understand what moved me so much about "Moonlght."
Please stay safe and well, Tarell McCraney. We lost another connoisseur coming up on two years ago: the haunted Chris Cornell.
3
Tarell Alvin McCraney's work and dedication to reflecting us all is a gift I'm truly thankful for. Carvel Wallace's article illuminated McCraney's genius in a beautifully observed, Pulitzer-worthy way.
This piece is a prime example of why the New York Times remains one of the best newspapers in the world.
6
Yale. Such an beautiful learning institute in the middle of such unattractive surroundings. I have never felt such discrimination as a young gay man as I did at Yale. Not by faculty but by students. Clearly times have changed.
7
Thank you, Mr. Wallace, for such a beautifully written article about this beautiful man.
8
beautifully written article about a beautiful man. you have captured experiences and emotions I have rarely seen expressed so vividly.
8
One of the best profiles of an artist I have read in a long time. I hope to read many more by Mr Wallace.
18
White, middle-aged, hetero male here. Gun owner. Let me just say that “Moonlight” moved me like few other movies have in recent years. A poignant portrayal of the difficulty of being a young, black male yet outside the expected norm. Of dealing with the sense of loss and distrust from a loved one addicted to drugs. Of barely finding one’s place in life yet finding it, nonetheless, with the help of a moonlit beach and the compass of one or two benevolent people in life by which to navigate.
13
I feel like we're experiencing a wonderful period of Black art. It seems that every day I read or hear about another amazing Black talent that's setting the world on fire.
'Moonlight' staggered me. I think I held my breath through the entire film because I was afraid that the beauty I was seeing would disappear. I've never seen Black men treated with such tenderness and love.
I'm so proud of all of these amazing Black artists. God bless and God speed to every single one of you.
28
Beautiful. Thank you.
5
Moonlight is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. I can't wait to see more of this director's work!
5
What a beautiful essay. Thank you.
5
Thank you. This is a beautiful portrait of a great American artist.
4
Carvell, My heart aches from the beauty in your article.
Thank you for chiseling away a large piece of my prejudice by shining a light on the pain and beauty of black lives.
McCraney’s plays and movies and your understanding of them ( and human pain) can only move us all forward to seeing the truth. Love is the strongest power.
16
Thank you for this piece. Beautiful. And Moonlight is one of my all time favorite films. I loved every minute, and was deeply moved. McCraney is a masterful writer and communicator of human emotion and inner conflict.
17
As a DePaul alumni and a budding writer, I am always proud and thrilled to read any well deserved article on Tarell Alvin McCraney. I can still recall exactly where I was and what I was doing the night when I heard that he had won the Oscar for Moonlight, which showcased Black men in sensitive and vulnerable ways akin to some men in my life who I know and love, but quite unlike what one hears nightly on the evening news.
Praise also to Carvell Wallace. His writing is superb and captivating and transported me there to the Cuban restaurant where I sat alongside him and Tarell, listening and enjoying my own cafe con leche, and again to the rehearsal for Choir Boy, suddenly feeling my grief for my own departed mother arise unexpectedly. It is indeed both our grief and our beauty that defines our American experience. Thank you both for helping to illuminate this fact to the larger world.
30
@Dorothy G I felt the same grief. What would we do without art?
I think the reason why Black people are capable of so much joy is because we experience so much pain. There are time when I'm willing to give up a little of one, just to be spared some of the other. And then I read something like this piece and I know the joy I feel will make the pain easier to bear.
5
Carvell Wallace has captured the essence of what makes Choir Boy an experience worth seeking out. From the specifics of each character's uniqueness flows the universality of shared emotions. Grief, loneliness, envy, friendship, love. I walked out of the the theater a different person from when I walked in. The music and movement heightened my awareness of these timeless themes. Tarell Alvin McCraney teaches us to see each other anew, whether through moonlight or stage light.
9
Thank you for this. I thought it was fascinating; I can't remember when I learned so much from a NYT profile. Wallace does not get in the way of his subject. His lack of affectation is so refreshing. Please give him more projects.
41
Right on brother! Go on with your bad self!
I have had the pleasure of seeing his plays at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. His trilogy based on Yoruba mythology spanned space and time.
6
What writers, and truth tellers, each. But, caution @ pushing/activating sentiment. Winning from a place of adversity is miraculous, and wonderful, but not curative...
2
This article pulls the curtains open slowly and methodically. As a Black Gay Man.. I felt the burden of Society at and towards us. To survive long enough to tell/share your own story is the strength of your writing and Tarell Alvin McCraney. To all of us who are still standing above ground THANK YOU.
7
The black experience is not all pain. It is humor and ringing laughter above the pain. It is brotherhood and sisterhood, it is storytelling that flows like poetry, it is communication through song and dance, it is the ability to survive, endure and rise above the wound that is America. It is the creativity that flows from the wound, unstoppable as it gushes, for suffering is drama, both comedy and tragedy. I just saw If Beale Street could talk. It took my breath away. Blacks live in a world that most Whites don't know intimately.
18
Saw a production of "Choir Boy" at Studio Theater here in DC several seasons back. Top notch all the way around!
1
I was thrilled when there was a “mistake”at the Academy Awards. “Moonlight” was a beautiful movie, sad, emotional, real.
Now I get it. With McCraney’s creation, we all got a hint of personal being, what it means to be in the world of “Moonlight”because for him, it was real.
4
Thank you!
1
This is a simply stunning piece of writing. Thank you Carvell Wallace.
19
For me, McCraney's greatest gift is bringing a deep understanding of a culture to the stage. Choir Boy and Wig Out both had plots... but it was the ability to bring life to the characters that resonates with me.
1
beautiful piece
5
I was completely smitten by Moonlight. I'm delighted to read this moving piece about Alvin McCraney.
I'll keep an eye on his work no matter what the form.
Thank you Carvell Wallace.
14
Terrell McCraney is one of the great talents of our time. I'm excited to see what comes next. Mr. Wallace did a great job of capturing what makes Terrell magnificent.
8
This is a wonderful profile - both subject and writer. I enjoyed the piece about Riz Ahmed just as much and look forward to the next of Mr. Wallace's contributions. Another win for Oakland!
12
Thank you for this. A wonderful, thoughtful piece about an extraordinary artist.
7
We saw "Choir Boy" this past weekend and it was stunning and beautiful. The scene that they worked out in the article took our breath away. just wow.
4
Based on how he spoke to the actors in that rehearsal room, it would seem to me that, along with his considerable writing talent, he should consider directing some of his work in the future. I saw Choir Boy in previews and loved it.
12
Thank you for this beautifully written article. I've added Tarell Alvin McCraney to my list of playwrights whose works I'd like see.
13
Carvel Wallace must become a regular cultural critic for this paper. On a busy day, I could not stop reading this deeply felt, deeply thoughtful piece, and will return to savor every word. A testament to the continued deep meaning, beauty, and sublimity of human culture, particularly but not limited to the marginalized, in an age of cynicism of the powerful and despair of the powerless.
81
@Bruce Novak
I agree. Both men express deep emotion beautifully, with great depth. "Moonlight" was the most perfectly beautiful movie I've ever seen. I'm a 70 year old white woman.
22
Well said. You crystallized my thoughts. Thank-you.
4
Agreed
I wish him well but "Moonlight" is a slack, lazy and vastly-overpraised movie. Divided into three sections that do not relate to one another (the actors do not even look plausible from year to year!) and filled with empty scenes and arch blather, in my opinion the only reason it got attention is that it is a rare gay-black film. Riddled with cliche and obviousness, the last section in particular is dismal, nothing but endless talk that telegraphs where it is going from the first word. Nice to see a gay black film, but this one does not make the grade.
6
@Mike I want to make sure I understand. You, as a white man, are telling Carvell Wallace, a black man, that Moonlight didn't actually mean a lot to him?
5
@Mike I watched Moonlight with the expectation, given the positive reviews, that I was going to experience a great film. However, I was very disappointed by a disjointed storyline with so many incongruous moments that bordered on the ridiculous.
5
@David desJardins How you came up with that I will never know! However much it meant or did not mean to Mr. Wallace, it's a still a bad movie. Inept, labored, cliched, overwrought, badly acted, badly directed and clumsy. As I suggested, my belief is that if it had been the exact same movie but with WHITE actors, it would have been dismissed as the trifle it is.
1
Great profile. I felt that 'Moonlight' was sorely overlooked even after winning the Best Picture Oscar. I can't wait to check out McCraney's upcoming projects. As a gay Black man there are still so many stories to be told. This guy is so talented!
6
Incredible. Beautiful man.
5
i totally enjoyed reading this article...for me the pov of the writer was enlightening, educational and in some ways uplifting...because the subject was all that and more. I've said the phrase "I'm tired" so many times as a black woman in America but I could never fully explain why. Mr. McCraney gave me the words to fully define/describe that weariness. thank you both. My first exposure to his work was Moonlight. For me, Moonlight was a story of a person's struggle to be true to themselves not even having fully defined who that is. That was striking to me how caught I became in the character's fight to stay alive in this world and not necessary in his sexual orientation. I look forward to seeing more of Mr. McCraney's work.
21
McCraney breaks my heart and I cannot wait to see more of his work. Long may he live and work.
7
I teared up reading this. Absolutely inspiring and masterful. I cut and pasted a couple of the prescient points. The level of care and thought shines through.
26
I did too- there were several sentences that I read and reread, and then felt compelled to save somewhere to read again and again. Masterful.
Wow! This is just such a beautiful, insightful, wholly fulfilling piece of writing. The writer's understanding goes well beyond "Moonlight," and into the stratosphere of Black emotion. His understanding and decoding of what we carry within us is on point. Thank you, Mr. Wallace.
34
This is a beautiful story about a beautiful person.
26