Black LGBTQ+ playwrights and musical-theater artists you need to know
Marcus Scott is a New York Cityâbased playwright, musical writer, opera librettist and journalist. He has contributed to Elle, Essence, Out, American Theatre, Uptown, Trace, Madame Noire and Playbill, among other publications.Follow Marcus: Instagram, Twitter
Weâre in the chrysalis of a new age of theatrical storytelling, and Black queer voices have been at the center of this transformation. Stepping out of the margins of society to push against the status quo, Black LGBTQ+ artists have been actively engaged in fighting anti-blackness, racial disparities, disenfranchisement, homophobia and transphobia.
The success of Jeremy O. Harrisâs Slave Play, Donja R. Loveâs one in two and Jordan E. Cooperâs Ainât No Moâânot to mention Michael R. Jacksonâs tour de force, the Pulitzer Prizeâwinning metamusical A Strange Loopâmade that phenomenon especially visible last season. But these artists are far from alone. Because the intersection of queerness and Blackness is complexâwith various gender expressions, sexual identifiers and communities taking shape in different spacesâBlack LGBTQ+ artists are anything but a monolith. George C. Wolfe, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Robert OâHara, Harrison David Rivers, Staceyann Chin, Colman Domingo, Tracey Scott Wilson, Tanya Barfield, Marcus Gardley and Daniel Alexander Jones are just some of the many Black queer writers who have already made marks.Â
With New York stages dark for the foreseeable future, we canât know when we will