Theater: The Brother/Sister Plays
A scene from In the Red and Brown Water
If you are not already familiar with the name Tarell Alvin McCraney, you will be soon enough, and most certainly, you should be. The Brother/Sister Plays, a trilogy of plays currently being performed at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago, is an extraordinary theater-going experience. Really. I’m talking in superlatives again, and, seriously, for good reason.
The Brother/Sister Plays are beautiful- epic in scope, and profound in purpose. They are based on tales of the Yoruba religion, a centuries old religion from West Africa. The history of the religion traces to slaves who brought the religion with them to America, keeping it a secret, and morphing with the Christian religion of the new world.
McCraney lifts his characters and stories from the gods and deities of the religion and drops them into the “distant present” of the New Orleans projects. The link between the past and the present thematically carries forward the plays, as they span roughly thirty years, but further more seeks to link the stories of those generations past and the way they haunt and inform the stories- still- of the present.
The Brother/Sister Plays are comprised of three plays: In the Red and Brown Water, The Brothers Size, and Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet. They are split into two performances, In the Red and Brown Water is performed on its own, and The Brothers Size and Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet performed together- so it is necessary to attend both performances to see The Brother/Sister Plays in total. They can be seen in any order, although I would suggest it best to see them in the chronological order of the span of the story, which makes In the Red and Brown Water the first installment. Steppenwolf is performing them on consecutive nights, or as an all day Sunday marathon, the first as a matinee and the others in the evening.
The first, chronologically, and longest, of The Brother/Sister Plays is In the Red and Brown Water. It is also the most powerful. It tells the story of Oya, a gifted young runner with a very real future as an athlete. Oya is met with difficult decisions within both her family life and love life that take her in directions unintended, with consequences to ripple for years. The full ensemble is present throughout the play, grounded by Steppenwolf ensemble member Alana Arenas as Oya. Simply put, she is magnificent.
Playwright Tarrell Alvin McCraney
The second play, The Brothers Size, is much more intimate, with only three characters throughout, carried over from In the Red and Brown Water. It tells the story of the tensions that exist between two brothers- Ogun Size (ensemble member K. Todd Freeman), a hard-working mechanic, and the other, Oshooshi Size (Phillip James Brannon), recently out of prison, trying to become a member of society again. Oshooshi’s friend from prison, Elegba (Glenn Davis) shows up and adds more conflict, as soon it becomes clear that the bond between the two men goes beyond a mere friendship. It is up to the three actors to infuse this play with the deep intensity it demands, and they excel beyond rising to the task.
The final play of the trilogy, Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet jumps ahead to find Elegba’s son, Marcus (also played by Glenn Davis,) as a teenager, grappling with coming to terms with his obvious homosexuality. He looks to the past to learn about himself and who he is, particularly in terms of his now dead father, Elegba, and whether the rumors about him are true. As the tension rises, reports of a major storm, a life-altering storm, barreling toward New Orleans add an immediacy to the action present. Glenn Davis invokes a sadness, longing, and hope to Marcus’ quest for acceptance and truth in a manner that seeps empathy from the stage.
As a whole, The Brother/Sister Plays are a profound theater-going experience, intellectually stimulating and deeply emotionally moving. The interplay of dreams within each play link together an immediate past, a lurking future, a painful present, and a distant time centuries before- its story is representative of the totality of a people- a bold goal, seemingly effortlessly accomplished by McCraney.
The cast carries the material to an even higher level. Beyond the leads, Steppenwolf ensemble member Ora Jones in multiple roles and Jaqueline Williams as Aunt Elegua are particularly strong. The cast brings such great life to McCraney’s work, only multiplied by the beautiful direction of Steppenwolf ensemble member Tina Landau.
For those of you in Chicago, this is a theatrical event not to be missed. For the rest of you I hope you will also soon be given the chance to see this astounding work.
The Brother/Sister Plays are being performed in the Upstairs Theater at the Steppenwolf through May 23.
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