Actor’s Express Production Of ‘Choir Boy’ Defies The Constraints Placed On Black Queerness, Elevates Visibility
Like most young millennials and Gen Zers, actor Brandon L. Smith never felt the need to come out to his family; instead, the Georgia native and star of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Choir Boy, now onstage at Actor’s Express in Atlanta, simply existed. There was no shame surrounding his queer identity, despite the sometimes negative messaging about LGBTQ people in Black religious circles and in society-at-large.
Brandon L. Smith (Credit: Casey Gardner)
Smith stars as Pharus, a young man struggling to find his place at The Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys, an esteemed institution committed to shaping the future of young Black men. His talent has earned him the honor of leading the school’s renowned choir, an opportunity that calls him to lead his peers while craving their respect.
Smith had never seen a production of Choir Boy before landing the role; he tells The Reckoning that “this role in particular is going to be stepping into the fullness of who I am.”
“I’d been looking all my life for pieces to audition with and something that I relate to as a Black queer man, and Choir Boy was definitely that one,” Smith said. “I think it was around 2015, right around the time I was in high school. I found monologues from this piece and instantly connected with it.”
Choir Boy premiered at London’s Royal Court Theatre in 2012, had its American Off-Broadway premiere the following year, and was staged for the first time in Atlanta at the Alliance Theatre in 2013, starring a then relatively unknown Jeremy Pope (“Hollywood,” “The Inspection”). The show transferred to Broadway for a limited run in 2019. It was in New York City where actor Clinton Harris, who portrays Headmaster Marrow, the Prep School’s authority figure and arbiter of conservatism intent on suppressing Pharus’ gender expression, saw Choir Boy for the first time.
“I was living in New York at the time the show was on Broadway, but I didn't have a chance to see it,” Harris said. He also saw many of his experiences as a Black queer man represented by the characters in the play.
Also a Georgia native, Harris tells The Reckoning that he understands his character’s relationship to Pharus, along with his own experience of growing up in the Black church in the South.
“I’d been looking all my life for pieces to audition with and something that I relate to as a Black queer man, and Choir Boy was definitely that one.”
“A lot of the messages that Pharus gets in the show—don't be yourself, hold some things in—I didn't have the liberty to be as expressive as I felt in my inner core,” he said. “I don't believe I experienced my full self until I moved away from the eyesight of my family, and that was in 2008 when I moved away from Georgia. A whole new me was born,” Harris added.
“The church put the light out for me as a queer person,” he said. “And it also turned the light on in a sense. A lot of who I am is because of the church, and a lot of my queerness is also because of the church.”
For Smith, the gospel music created inside the walls of the Black church, which permeates every scene in Choir Boy, has been a source of joy.
“I love praise and worship,” Smith said. “I love the fact that Choir Boy isn't just a straight play. It has some music and Negro spirituals. I feel like I'm almost giving a high-five or bowing my head to my ancestors who went before me who didn't get the chance to do this or were possibly killed from sharing the fullness of themselves,” Smith added.
Choir Boy’s director Amanda Washington is the associate artistic director at Actor’s Express. Washington says the music was a gateway for her into the play, and one of the reasons why she was determined to direct it.
“It's like a warm blanket going around my shoulders on a really cold day,” Washington said of the music and new arrangements by the show’s music director Javar Parker.
“That's how it feels. It is all encompassing, and it's almost an elevation into another world,” she added. “With a lot of queer rights being attacked or civil rights in general within the United States, this show is speaking to the time that we are living in and the constraints, but also how we break out of those constraints.”
“The music [in Choir Boy] is definitely a balm,” Harris said. “It is so healing to hear these beautiful Black voices. It also makes me feel like our ancestors are extremely proud. These songs have journeyed with us in our gene pool. It’s like, when we sing them, you can see the journey of all of that. I can imagine the field. I can imagine the marches. I can imagine the sermons on Sunday, with Sunday dinners [after service] with family—you can feel the entire journey.”
Hear It, Understand It, And Take It In
As a seasoned actor and queer man in a leadership position among the younger cast members, Harris understands the transformative power of theatre and the impact of representation onstage. He recalled the first time he saw his story onstage during the Broadway run of the 2022 Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical A Strange Loop. Harris then went on to star in it during Actor’s Express 37th season.
“I sat in the audience for 15 minutes after the show was over, like, why did he [playwright Michael R. Jackson] tell my life story? I felt exposed, honored, and wow’d all at the same time,” Harris said.
That experience is why Harris and Washington want the young and the not-so-young to be in the audience to experience Choir Boy.
“I want all my young queer babies and all my young Black queer babies to come,” Washington said. “I want all my queer young Black babies who feel like they're a little lost in the world to come. That is who I'm trying to get to see this show.”
“I also want the people that are older to come so they can hear it, understand it, and take it in,” Harris said. “I think McCraney wrote this play for people to leave with questions, because everybody has some of everybody in this show in their family, whether they want to admit it or not,” he added.
“The music [in Choir Boy] is definitely a balm. It is so healing to hear these beautiful Black voices... I can imagine the field. I can imagine the marches. I can imagine the sermons on Sunday, with Sunday dinners [after service] with family—you can feel the entire journey.”
The latter can be an uncomfortable truth for some in the audience, along with an opening for homophobia to rear its ugly head. As the show’s director, Washington has a pointed and succinct response: “Well, I'm happy you have questions. Maybe you'll go find some more answers.”
Whether the reaction to the existence of Choir Boy in the American theatre canon is celebrated or not, Smith says his experience leading the show with an equally talented cast of Black men is a unique experience that he doesn’t take for granted.
“I’ve never been in a fraternity,” Smith said. “So this feels like the fraternity with my brothers that I never got.”
ViiV Healthcare sponsors Choir Boy, with additional support from CNP and Chicory Wealth. Choir Boy opens on August 8, 2026, and runs through August 30th. Purchase tickets online at actors-express.com or by calling 404-607-7469. Group pricing is available. For info, email tickets@actorsexpress.com.
Cover Image Credit: Casey Gardner
