Briyana D. Clarel
Briyana D. Clarel is a Black queer theatre artist, writer, and educator passionate about musical theatre, mangoes, and memoirs. Briyana is the host of A Very Virgo Virtual Show and the founder of The Starfruit Project, a platform supporting radical healing and brilliant growth through creativity. Briyana’s poetry and prose are published in TAYO Literary Magazine, cavity, Black Youth Project, MELANINzine, and print anthologies. As a director, performer, and playwright, they have brought stories to life with the Painted Bride Art Center, Shoe Box Theatre Collective, Theatre Evolve, Dixon Place, Broad Views on Broadway, Cabernet Cabaret ATX, Philly Free Fringe, and more. Their solo show unboxed: a healing debuted at the 2018 OUTsider Festival.
Briyana is a 2016 recipient of the Acts of Greatness LGBTQ Youth Community Award, a 2020-2021 Core Playwright with InterAct Theatre Company, and a 2020 Leeway Foundations Arts and Change Grantee. They are one-fourth of Philly sketch comedy team The Rhubarbs and a member of Ring of Keys. Born and raised in South Jersey, Briyana earned an AB in Sociology from Princeton University. They love sleep, ferns, and taro bubble tea. Keep up with their adventures at briyanaclarel.com and @briyanaclarel.
Awarded Grants
2020
Art and Change Grant (ACG)
Related grantees
Overview
For LGBTQ History Month, Briyana will produce and direct an accessible, family-friendly LGBTQ sketch comedy show written, performed, and crewed by an all-LGBTQ team with priority given to people of color, trans, and non-binary folks. Local mission-aligned LGBTQ businesses and organizations will vend and share resources at each performance.
