SUPER MEGA SEE THIS: The Brother/Sister Plays

By Julienne Bilker in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 11, 2010 7:30PM

Before we get to the heart of things, a few words of explanation. The Brother/Sister Plays is the name given to a trilogy of plays by Tarell Alvin McCraney: In The Red and Brown Water, The Brothers Size and Marcus; Or The Secret of Sweet. In The Red and Brown Water is a full-length play being performed by itself. The Brothers Size and Marcus are one-act plays being performed together. The characters in all three plays are connected, whether by blood or community, but their stories, running in repertory in Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre, can be seen in any order. In The Red and Brown Water can be seen without the other two, and vice-versa, but we're willing to bet that if you attend one performance, you'll be itching to see the rest of it. We saw the whole trilogy on one marathon Saturday, and it was some of the best theatre we've ever seen.

It might sound obvious, but the best way for us to explain why we loved these shows so much is: they are incredible pieces of storytelling. Inspired by Yoruban (African mythology) tales and his own life growing up in the projects of Miami, 29 year-old Tarell Alvin McCraney has written a smart and moving script unlike anything we’ve seen before. Seamlessly meshing poetry, music and modern vernacular, it brims with both raw emotion and real comedy. The themes - love, loss, family, moving beyond one’s born circumstances - are universal and timeless - a quality emphasized by the fact that the trilogy occurs in the “distant present.” Although the shows have a chronological order, their settings could be 50 years ago, yesterday, tomorrow, 10 years from now - it doesn’t matter. There is something both comforting and unsettling about the cyclical nature of life - and that’s something that McCraney, and the entire cast and crew, communicate with immeasurable amounts of beauty.

In The Red and Brown Water was our favorite by a small margin, although that might be because it’s the first one we saw. The story centers on Oya (Alana Arenas), a young woman who makes the difficult decision to stay with her sick mother (Ora Jones, who is both sasstastic and warm) instead of taking advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As you might guess, this one choice seemingly defines the path for the rest of her life. Arenas exudes palpable heartache while somehow being a light, joyous presence. Her performance is one of many that made us feel like we’d been punched in the gut.

As Ogun Size, the man Oya “should” be with, K. Todd Freeman’s work in this piece reads like a slow-burn. He is an immensely affecting foil to Roderick Covington’s Shango, the physically attractive, emotionally abusive man Oya loves. As her mother says, “Some of the nastiest things come wrapped like that.” But, as we said before, this show is not all pain and misery - far from it.

Described by director Tina Landau as a “choreo-poem,” In The Red and Brown Water makes great use of music, dance, ensemble-work and the reading of stage directions (each character speaks his/her own like snippets of soliloquies) to draw the audience into its community, sharing everything that goes along with that - including the humor of day-to-day.

In The Brothers Size, Oshoosi Size (Phillip James Brannon), Ogun’s brother, has recently been released from prison. The story illuminates power struggles between the brothers, as well as the blurry line between friends and lovers - particularly complicated by Oshoosi’s confused sexuality. We hesitate to describe this play as more intellectual, because it isn’t condescending or inaccessible in any way, but it’s a more topically focused piece than In The Red and Brown Water. Although it features intense, great acting from Glenn Davis (Elegba, Oshoosi’s best friend from jail) and Brannon, The Brothers Size belongs to Freeman (continuing as Ogun Size). In a phenomenal performance requiring a complex range of emotions, he seems to pour his insides out.

Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet takes place several years after the first two pieces - it almost felt like a bookend, except that we’d gladly keep absorbing these characters’ stories if McCraney continued them. There is more obvious comedy in this one - as in the first two pieces, Jacqueline Williams (Aunt Elegua/Shun) is alternately hysterically funny and captivatingly enigmatic, and Arenas gets to flex some comedic muscle as well. This play also explores issues of sexuality and identity, in a more obvious but still gripping way.

These plays are great on their own. But what makes them fantastic, must-see theatre is the strength of, well, everyone. James Schuette’s wide open set is both everywhere and nowhere - it resembles an underpass, or a marsh, or anything, really. There are some great lighting choices by Scott Zielinski - there were several points throughout the show in which we watched the actors on the wall, their silhouettes made larger-than-life, foreboding but soft. The cast’s incredible presence, KILLER acting, hyper-awareness and organically created (along with Landau) movement is transformative and breathtaking. The Brother/Sister Plays might seem epic in scope and length, but please trust us when we say it’s worth every second you’ll spend at the theater.

The Brother/Sister Plays: In The Red and Brown Water, The Brothers Size and Marcus; Or The Secret of Sweet run in repertory through May 23. Steppenwolf Upstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St. Tickets $20-$70, 312-335-1650.