Photo Flash: THE BROTHER/SISTER PLAYS at The Public Theate

Tarell Alvin McCraney's The Brother/Sister Plays have officially launched at the Public Theater. The series Part 2, The Brothers Size and Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet, directed by Robert O'Hara, began previews on October 21. Tonight Part 1, In the red and Brown Water, hits the stage. Tina Landau directs. McCraney, one of America's most acclaimed young writers, returns to The Public to complete his trilogy following the success of The Brothers Size in 2007.  Official opening night it November 17.  Performances will run through December 13.

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. Winner of the inaugural New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award, McCraney's stories traverse the gritty and lyrical, urban and mythic.

"Tarell is a thrilling writer, an artist whose poetic skill and story-telling prowess is matched by his intensely moral vision," said Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. "The Brother/Sister Plays mark the full emergence of a major new American playwright. We are honored to have Tarell be part of the Public's family."

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 Allen 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 will feature scenic design by James Schuette; costume design by Karen Perry; lighting design by Peter Kaczorowski; and sound design by Lindsay Jones.

Performances begin Wednesday, October 21 and continue through Sunday, December 13 with an official press opening on Tuesday, November 17. These plays will be presented in two separate shows to be enjoyed independently, in any order, or experienced together. Marathon performances will be scheduled for weekends so audiences can experience all three plays in one day. Visit www.publictheater.org for tickets and a complete performance schedule.

Tarell Alvin McCraney (Playwright) is the author of the Brother/Sister Plays - The Brothers Size, In the Red and Brown Water, and Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet - which have been produced at The Public, Studio Theater, Abbey Theatre (Dublin), Foundry Theater, the McCarter Theater, the Young Vic, and Alliance Theater. His other works include The Breach (Southern Rep. Theater 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). McCraney is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and has been honored with the Cole Porter Award, Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, Whiting Writing Award, Outstanding Achievement by an Affiliate Theater Olivier Award nomination, residency at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Hodder Fellowship at Lewis Center for the Arts, and a seven-year residency at New Dramatists in New York.

Tina Landau (Director) returns to The Public following the acclaimed production of Space, which she wrote and directed. Her Broadway directing credits include the current production of Tracy Letts's Superior Donuts and the 2001 revival of Bells Are Ringing. Her off-Broadway credits include Wig Out! (Vineyard), Iphigenia 2.0 (Signature), Mary Rose (Vineyard), Miracle Brothers (Vineyard), Saturn Returns (The Public), and Cloud Tectonics (Playwrights Horizons). She wrote the book and lyrics for Dream True: My Life With Vernon Dixon (Vineyard) and Floyd Collins (Playwrights Horizons), which she also directed.

Robert O'Hara (Director) wrote and directed Insurrection: Holding History at The Public in 1996, which won the Oppenheimer Award for Best New American Play. In 2006, he received an OBIE Award for his direction of In The Continuum; in addition, he has been awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship, TCG Extended Collaboration Grant, NEA/TCG Fellowship, a Van Lier Fellowship, the Mark Taper Forum's Sherwood Award, and the TANNIE Award for Exceptional Body of Work. He has been an artist-in-residence at the American Conservatory Theater and Theater/Emory as well as a Visiting Professor at DePaul University School of the Arts, Mark Taper Forum, National Endowment of the Arts, McCarter Theater, Theatres de Nimes, Le Theatre L'odeon, and Theaterworks/USA.

THE PUBLIC THEATER (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Andrew D. Hamingson, Executive Director) was founded by Joseph Papp in 1954 and is now one of the nation's preeminent cultural institutions, producing new plays, musicals, and productions of classics at its downtown and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The Public's mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day onstage and through extensive outreach and education programs. Each year, over 250,000 people attend Public Theater-related productions and events at six downtown stages, including Joe's Pub, and Shakespeare in the Park. The Public has won 42 Tony Awards, 149 Obies, 40 Drama Desk Awards and four Pulitzer Prizes. The Public has brought 52 shows to Broadway, including Sticks and Bones; That Championship Season; A Chorus Line; The Pirates of Penzance; The Tempest; Bring In ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk; On the Town; The Ride Down Mt. Morgan; Topdog/Underdog; Elaine Stritch at Liberty; Take Me Out; Caroline, or Change; Well; Passing Strange; and, most recently, the current Tony Award-winning revival of Hair.  For more information, visit www.publictheater.org.

Photo credit: Joan Marcus

Brian Tyree Henry and Marc Damon Johnson

Marc Damon Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, and Andre Holland

Marc Damon Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry

Nikiya Mathis and Heather Alicia Simms

Sterling K. Brown and Andre Holland

Andre Holland and the company

Kimberly Hebert Gregory and Andre Holland

Kianne Muschett and Andre Holland

Marc Damon Johnson and Kianne Muschett

Sterling K. Brown and Kianne Muschett

Sterling K. Brown, Kianne Muschett and the company

Kianne Muschett, Sterling K. Brown, and the company

Nikiya Mathis, Kianne Muschett, Heather Alicia Simms, and Kimberly Hebert Gregory

Kianne Muschett and the company