The Brother/Sister Plays extend by one week

Photo by Joan Marcus

Sterling K. Brown and Kianne Muschett

The Public Theater extend The Brother/Sister Plays, written by Tarell Alvin McCraney and directed by Tina Landau and Robert O’Hara, by one week - through to 20 Dec 2009. The Brother/Sister Plays began previews on 21 Oct 2009 and were originally scheduled to close on 13 Dec 2009.

The plays opened to favourable reviews: "The actors have been marinated in this text and their performances are more than fine. There is not a false note to be heard or a wasted movement to be seen. Hope and despair, joy and grief, courage and fear are the elements that walk this stage" (newyorktheatreguide.com); Pumped full of a senses-heightening oxygen (NY Times); Courses with a captivating theatricality (NY Daily News); If there's an heir to the legacy of August Wilson, the gifted 29-year-old McCraney may be on his way to claiming that title. (Variety).

“I am delighted that New York has responded with such overwhelming support for Tarell’s magnificent Trilogy. His plays deserve the widest audience we can give them,” said Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis.

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.

Part 1: In the Red and Brown Water
By Tarell Alvin McCraney
Directed by Tina Landau

How far will fast, beautiful Oya go to make a mark in the world? In the Red and Brown Water charts a young girl’s thrust into womanhood and her subsequent fall into the murky waters of life.

Part 2: The Brothers Size and Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet
By Tarell Alvin McCraney
Directed by Robert O’Hara

A tale of a young man’s awakening to his tenuous connections with his history, his friends, his sexuality and himself.

The complete cast for The Brother/Sister Plays features Sterling K. Brown as Shango/Shua, Kimberly Hébert Gregory as Aunt Elegua/Shun, Brian Tyree Henry as Egungun/Oshoosi/Tarell, Andre Holland as Elegba/Marcus, Marc Damon Johnson as Ogun, Sean Allan Krill as O Li Roon/Man From State, Nikiya Mathis as Shun/Shaunta Iyun, Kianné Muschett as Oya/Osha and Heather Alicia Simms as Nia/Mama Moja/Oba.

The Brother/Sister Plays features scenic design by James Schuette; costume design by Karen Perry; lighting design by Peter Kaczorowski; and sound design by Lindsay Jones.