Tarell Alvin McCraney Is The Geffen’s New Artistic Director

Tarell Alvin McCraney is on a mission as the Geffen Playhouse’s new artistic director.

In the new role, the Academy Award and Peabody Award-winning playwright is preparing for the 2024-2025 season “with a focus on innovative storytelling, community engagement and audience experience,” according to a statement announcing his appointment.

What that looks like, McCraney tells LAist, isn’t just clearing the slate and starting fresh.

“I am interested in who are the people that work at the Geffen and love the Geffen and are already engaged. And can we extend that relationship, can that relationship get deeper, can we invite them to become mentors to other folks and grow our ensemble of writers and directors,” he said.

His reasoning? “Audiences really feel like — I really am interested in that artist because I saw them when they did their first play, or they did their second play, or their first time directing, and I really liked what they were up to, and I can't wait to see what they do next.”

McCraney also envisions theater audiences getting involved with the workshops and writing sessions the nonprofit theater hosts.

“I really believe it’s about making sure that this playhouse in Westwood is everyone’s playhouse,” he said. “It’s a place where they go to really engage in, being informed, entertained, being excited by theatrical work, whether it be on the stage or in the classroom.”
Subscription models were on the decline even before COVID-19, but the pandemic accelerated the trend. While the Geffen has made efforts to bring back audiences, McCraney said he is excited that they're coming back.

“If we can focus on how their engagement, their experience is, we will have done a thing that will invite other folks to join them at becoming lifelong subscribers,” he said.

Expanding access and developing interest

One of the relationships the “Moonlight” writer wants to deepen is the one Geffen shares with UCLA. McCraney, who is currently a professor of playwriting at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, is not opposed to joining the Bruin faculty.

“I would love that,” he said.

Also, with the Metro Purple Line extension to Westwood underway, McCraney said there’s an opportunity “to engage folks who may not necessarily have the means to drive or drive often, or who even want to drive to come to the campus and be closer to our theater.”

Geffen’s education program, he said, does outreach in communities and expanding access to theater “in places that aren't just within our four walls.”

Homecoming

In 2014, McCraney presented his coming of age play “Choir Boy” at the Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen. And now, he said, it's an honor to be appointed artistic director, a role typically given to directors and producers.

“The thing that I bring that may be different, and I don't know that it's completely different, but I know what it means to balance the idea of what a play is from its inside, right? That instinct that says, ‘Oh, I gotta really write this thing. It's important to me,’” he said. “I know how to balance that with also the expectation of, well, people have to see this. People have to understand it, maybe need access to it.”

“I'm a dramatic writer who is always trying to make sure that the audience is in a sharing position with the actors on stage,” he added.

Because of this, McCraney gives an artist time to develop their dream, and when that is realized he is able to marry the expectation of the audience and grow the production of the play.

“Tarell brings a unique perspective as a playwright to lead the artistic vision for Geffen Playhouse,” said Geffen Playhouse Executive Director/CEO Gil Cates, Jr. “This is an exciting next chapter for our theater, and we are thrilled to have his vision and passion at the helm as we navigate the evolution taking place in the arts.”