Marcus Gardley Appointed Co-Chair of Playwriting at David Geffen School of Drama

Marcus Gardley has been appointed Co-Chair of the Playwriting Program at David Geffen School of Drama, effective July 1, 2023. Leading the program alongside Co-Chair Anne Erbe, he succeeds Tarell Alvin McCraney, who has served since 2017 and who will continue to teach at the Geffen School.
 
“I couldn’t be more pleased to welcome a distinguished alumnus back to Yale. Marcus Gardley is one of the most prolific and widely produced playwrights of his generation,” said James Bundy. “We are fortunate both that Tarell Alvin McCraney, who has who served with inspirational ambition and distinction, will continue to teach at David Geffen School of Drama; and that, in Marcus, we have recruited someone so eminently qualified to build on the program’s outstanding legacies.”
 
Marcus Gardley, born and raised in Oakland, California, is an acclaimed poet, playwright, and screenwriter. His plays include The House that will not Stand, which had its world premiere at Yale Rep in 2014, and for which he received the 2018 AUDELCO Award and the 2019 OBIE Award; X: Or, Betty Shabazz V. the Nation; black odyssey (2023 Drama Desk nomination); The Gospel of Loving Kindness; Every Tongue Confess; On the Levee, music and lyrics by Todd Almond (commissioned by Yale Rep); …and Jesus moonwalks the Mississippi; The Road Weeps, The Well Runs Dry; and dance of the holy ghosts (Yale Rep world premiere, 2006). He is the recipient of the 2019 Doris Duke Artist Award, the 2015 Glickman Award, the PEN/Laura Pels Award, a Kesselring Honor, and he is a two-time finalist for Kennedy Prize in 2015 and 2016.
 
“I count it as an honor and a privilege to join Anne Erbe as Co-Chair of the Playwriting program at David Geffen School of Drama. I hope to continue in Tarell Alvin McCraney's legacy by helping writers hone their voices and develop stories that inspire joy and spark conversation,” said Marcus Gardley. “I am grateful to the deans, faculty, and staff who have welcomed me with open arms. There is no place I'd rather be than the Geffen School, sharing knowledge and supporting the next generation of storytellers.”
 
Marcus’s work for television includes Maid (Netflix), for which he won the 2022 Writers Guild of America Award for best adapted longform series; Boots Riley’s I’m a Virgo (Amazon); The Chi (Showtime); Foundation (Apple); NOS4A2 (AMC); Tales of the City (Netflix); and Mindhunter (Netflix). His feature adaptation of the musical The Color Purple will be released in theaters on Christmas day; and What’s Going On, his Marvin Gaye biopic, is in pre-production at Warner Brothers with director Allen Hughes. He has also written a biopic about James Baldwin with Janelle Monae attached to star. 
 
A summa cum laude graduate of San Francisco State University and David Geffen School of Drama, where he received his M.F.A., Marcus has taught previously at Brown University, Columbia University, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, University of San Francisco, and The National Theatre Institute.
 
The David Geffen School of Drama playwriting faculty also includes Jackie Sibblies Drury, Amy Herzog, Majkin Holmquist, Isaac Holter, Jennifer Kiger, Michael Korie, Kirk Lynn, Tarell Alvin McCraney, and Sarah Ruhl.
 

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