The Brother/Sister Plays Part 1 & Part 2 Closes Off-Broadway Dec. 20

By Adam Hetrick
20 Dec 2009

Playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney
Playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney
Photo by Greg Funnell

Tarell Alvin McCraney's poetic bayou-set trilogy, The Brother/Sister Plays Part 1 & Part 2, concludes its extended engagement at the Public Theater Dec. 20.

Tina Landau staged the first of the plays, In the Red and Brown Water, and Robert O'Hara helmed the final installments, The Brothers Size and Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet. The trilogy opened Off-Broadway Nov. 17.

The Public bow is a co-presentation with New Jersey's McCarter Theatre Center, where the trilogy made its world premiere last spring. The Brother/Sister Plays will arrive at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago Jan. 21-May 23, 2010.

According to the Public, "Tarell Alvin McCraney's trilogy is a collection of modern-day stories of kinship, love, heartache and coming-of-age centered around an extended family and community in the Bayou."

In the Red and Brown Water follows African-American teen Oya (named for the Yoruba goddess of wind), who must chose between a track scholarship at a state university or to stay by the side of her ailing mother.

The Brothers Size centers on the relationship between Ogun Size and his younger kin, Oshoosi Size. One is a hardworking auto mechanic, while the other is a newly released prison inmate. Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet, the final work of the trilogy, explores a young man's coming of age and his own budding sexuality.

The cast includes Sterling K. Brown (Topdog/Underdog, Macbeth), as Shango/Shua, Kimberly Hébert Gregory (Amen Corner) as Aunt Elegua/Shun, Brian Tyree Henry (A Civil War Christmas) as Egungun/Oshoosi/Tarell, Andre Holland (Wig Out) as Elegba/Marcus, Marc Damon Johnson (The Poor Itch) as Ogun, Sean Allan Krill (Mamma Mia) as O Li Roon/Man From State, Nikiya Mathis (Eclipsed) as Shun/Shaunta Iyun, Kianné Muschett (Our Lady of 121st Street) as Oya/Osha, and Heather Alicia Simms (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) as Nia/Mama Moja/Oba.

Designing the productions are James Schuette (scenic design), Karen Perry (costume design), Peter Kaczorowski (lighting design) and Lindsay Jones (sound design).

McCraney is also the author of The Breach (Southern Rep in New Orleans, Seattle Rep), Wig Out! (The Vineyard, Sundance Summer Theater Institute), Without/Sin (Yale Cabaret), Run Mourner, Run (Yale Cabaret), and A Taurian Tale (52nd Street Project).

The world premiere of McCraney's The Brothers Size was staged by the Public Theater as part of the 2007 Under the Radar Festival. In the Red and Brown Water made its world premiere at the Alliance Theatre in 2008 under Landau's direction. The trilogy made its London premiere at the Young Vic in 2008.

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The Public Theater is located at 425 Lafayette Street in Manhattan.