Tarell Alvin McCraney joins Steppenwolf ensemble

Rapidly rising playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, whom I profiled in January, is set to become the 43rd member of Steppenwolf's ensemble. The 29-year-old Miami native, who earned a B.F.A. in acting from DePaul and an M.F.A. in playwriting at Yale, is a recipient of the Whiting Writers' Award and the Vineyard Theatre's inaugural Paula Vogel Playwriting Award; he's currently serving as International Writer in Residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company, for whom he's just directed his own new cutting of Hamlet aimed at younger audiences. As an ensemble member at Steppenwolf, he'll join his frequent collaborator Tina Landau, who directed the company's current production of McCraney's astonishing triptych The Brother/Sister Plays, and his high school and DePaul classmate Alana Arenas, who stars in his In the Red and Brown Water and Marcus, or the Secret of Sweet. McCraney also appeared at Steppenwolf as an actor in Landau's 2004 Theatrical Essays. The Brother/Sister Plays continue through May 23.