About this item
"McCraney's richly drawn characters and colloquial poetry . . . manages to sound both epic and rooted in a specific place. Listen closely, and you might hear that thrilling sound that is one of the main reasons we go to the theater, that beautiful music of a new voice." - The New York Times"Taut, expressive drama, The Brothers Size realizes the potential of theater to elevate the ordinary. . . . McCraney's writing can be arresting." - Time Out New YorkThis is the first collection by Tarell Alvin McCraney, a major new playwright of the American theater. Lyrical and mythic, provocative and contemporary, McCraney's dramas of kinship, love, and heartache are set in the bayou of Louisiana and loosely draw on West African myths. In the Red and Brown Water charts the story of Oya, a fast and beautiful track star who must make difficult choices on her journey to womanhood. The Brothers Size dramatizes the struggle between brothers who have taken different paths: Ogun, single-mindedly running his auto shop, and Oshoosi, recently returned from prison and fallen back with trouble. Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet explores a young man's relationship with his history and friends as he discovers his sexuality and true self against the backdrop of an impending storm.Tarell Alvin McCraney's other works include Wig Out! and The Breach. His plays have been produced at The Public Theater in New York, internationally at the Royal Court Theatre and Abbey Theatre, and throughout the United States.
About the Author
Tarell Alvin McCraney is a 2013 recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, also known as the "genius grant."
Plays include: The Brother/Sister Plays: The Brothers Size (Studio Theater, Washington DC 2008, The Public Theater New York, The Abbey Theatre Dublin, produced with the Foundry Theatre, the McCarter Theatre Princeton, NJ, the Young Vic Theatre London, Barcelona 2008 produced with ATC London directed by Bijan Sheibani) ; In The Red and Brown Water (winner of the 2007 Kendeda Award, premiered Feb 2008, Alliance Theatre Atlanta, GA, directed by Tina Landau) ; and Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet. All three plays are currently under option at the Young Vic Theatre in London. Other plays: The Breach (Southern Rep Theater, New Orleans 2007, Seattle Rep Theatre 2008) , Wig Out! (Sundance Summer Theater Institute) , Without/Sin (Yale Cabaret 2005) , Run Mother, Run (Yale Cabaret 2005) , A Taurian Tale (52nd Street Project 2008) , Promise Not to Tell (New World School of the Arts Playwrights Festival 2007) .
Tarell graduated from the New World School of the Arts High School with the exemplary Artist award and the Dean's Award in Theatre in 1999, matriculated into the Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago graduating with the Sarah Siddons Award and a BFA in Acting 2003. Attended the British American Drama Academy (BADA) mid- summer at Oxford studying Shakespeare with master actors and teachers from the Royal Shakespeare Company, and around the UK. Masters Degree from the Yale School of Drama in playwriting 2007; receiving the Cole Porter Award upon graduating.
Tarell was recently honored with the 2007 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award from the Vineyard Theater and a 2007 Whiting Writing Award. He is the winner of the Evening Standard Theatre award for Most Promising Playwright for In the Red and Brown Water and The Brothers Size. The Young Vic production of The Brothers Size was nominated for an Outstanding Achievement by an Affiliate Theatre Olivier Award this past year in London. He is the RSC/Warwick International Playwright in Residence for the Royal Shakespeare Company 2008-2010, the Hodder Fellow at the Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University, and has a seven-year residency at New Dramatist Center in New York.
The playwright will direct and adapt a new production of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra as part of a collaboration among the Public Theater in New York, GableStage in Miami and the Royal Shakespeare Company in fall-winter 2013/2014.
