Cast Set For CHOIR BOY at Stratford East

Casting has been announced for NANCY MEDINA's acclaimed production of Choir Boy by Academy Award-winner Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight, The Brother/ Sister Plays), running from 26 March - 25 April at Stratford East (Press Night is 31 March). Choir Boy was the keystone production in NANCY MEDINA's first season as Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic in 2023 winning three Black British Theatre Awards including Best Production and Best Director.

Terique Jarrett (Juniper Blood, Donmar Warehouse; Fangirls, Lyric Hammersmith; “Daddy”: A Melodrama, Almeida Theatre; The Mirror and the Light, RSC) will reprise his role as Pharus having won the Black British Theatre Award for Best Male Lead Actor in a Play for his performance at Bristol Old Vic. Michael Ahomka-Lindsay (Reverberation, Bristol Old Vic; Cabaret, Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre; Disney's Newsies, Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre) also returns as David alongside Daon Broni (Girl on An Altar, Abbey & Kiln Theatre; The New Real, RSC; Women Beware Women, Shakespeare's Globe) as Headmaster Marrow, Khalid Daley (The Big Life, Stratford East; Hamilton, Victoria Palace; War Horse, UK & International Tour) as JR and Martin Turner (Silence, Donmar Warehouse/Tara Arts; Witness for the Prosecution, County Hall; The Son, Duke of York's Theatre/Kiln Theatre) as Mr Pendleton. Rabi Kondé (Clueless, West End) joins the cast as Bobby with Freddie MacBruce (The Little Foxes, Young Vic Theatre) as AJ.

Pharus is a confident and gifted singer who has earned his position as soloist. But when his pride is sullied by one of his peers, he falters... what does it mean to be a young, Black, queer man – and to be one at the Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys?

We're sent on an electrifying journey through the growing pains of humanity as, together, the boys navigate spirituality, sexuality, race, identity, and brotherhood in their journey to becoming men. Threaded throughout with soul-stirring a cappella gospel hymns and spirituals, this beautiful, joyous play rejoices in all that it means to march to your own drum.

Tarell Alvin McCraney is an American playwright and screenwriter who is currently Artistic Director of prominent LA theatre Geffen Playhouse. His script In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue is the basis for the 2016 Oscar-winning film Moonlight directed by Barry Jenkins, for which McCraney and Jenkins won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Tarell's plays include We are Gathered, The Brother/Sister Plays trilogy (The Brothers Size, In the Red and Brown Water and Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet), Head of Passes, Wig Out! and Choir Boy which was nominated for four Tony Awards. Tarell is co-directing “Master Harold”...and the Boys later this year at The Geffen Playhouse and has the world premiere of his new play Windfall at Steppenwolf in Chicago this spring.

NANCY MEDINA is Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic where she has directed Choir Boy, A Good House and The Beautiful Future is Coming. She is soon to direct the world premiere stage adaptation of Max Porter's acclaimed novel Lanny. Elsewhere her directing credits include littleboy/littleman (Geffen Playhouse, LA), The Darkest Part of the Night (Kiln Theatre), Moreno (Theatre503), Trouble in Mind (National Theatre), Two Trains Running (Royal & Derngate/ETT), Strange Fruit (Bush Theatre), The Half God of Rainfall (Kiln Theatre & Birmingham Rep) and Yellowman (Young Vic). She is also the recipient of the 2024 Black British Theatre Best Director Award for Choir Boy, 20/21 Peter Hall Bursary (National Theatre) and the 2018 Sir Peter Hall Director Award (Royal & Derngate/ETT).