Thanks to Barbara Kerr and the Desert Sun for today’s feature on CHOIR BOY, the opening show for Dezart Performs’ landmark 15th Season!
Having grown up in a faith household in the South, Michael Shaw has “an incredible love for gospel music and spiritual music.”
But that’s just one of the reasons that the artistic director of Dezart Performs was drawn to “Choir Boy” as the opening production of the theater’s 2022-23 season.
Written by Tarell Alvin McCraney and nominated for a 2019 Tony Award as best play, “Choir Boy” follows a group of young, Black students at Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys as they struggle with issues of identity and sexuality. The Dezart Performs production is an official Palm Springs Pride event.
While “Choir Boy” features a world that is not always welcoming, it is ultimately, Shaw notes, a story of acceptance.
“It’s a story of being oneself – one’s true self – and not being ashamed of it,” he said. And then, ultimately, celebration. The friendships. The relationships. The coming out. The story of your relationship with God. All of those things. So it just tapped into so much of who I am as a person today in my experience growing up.”
For the complete Desert Sun article, click here.