Brother/Sister Trilogy Launches at MTC

As Tarell Alvin McCraney continues his meteoric rise in the theater world, he's using the Marin Theatre Company as one of his springboards. The celebrated young playwright's Brother/Sister series opens its Bay Area premiere with In the Red and Brown Water at Marin Theatre Company Tuesday, with preview shows this weekend.

McCraney, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, has already drawn widespread praise for the Brother/Sister series in New York and Chicago, and the off-Broadway run of his play Wig Out!, an inside look at drag houses, won equally rave reviews. McCraney is also working on plays commissioned by Berkeley Repertory Theatre Company and the Manhattan Theatre Club.

The Bay Area run for the Brother/Sister series is part of a collaboration between three theater companies, with each company producing one part of the trilogy. In the Red and Brown Water opens the Bay Area run of the Brother/Sister series at Marin Theatre Company, with The Brothers Size opening Sept. 21 at the Magic Theatre at San Francisco's Fort Mason Center and Marcus; or The Secret of Sweet opening Nov. 3 at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

The three stories in the Brother/Sister series are set in the Louisiana bayou. In the Red and Brown Water focuses on Oya, who can run faster than anyone, but not fast enough to escape her fate. When pressed to choose between her dying mother and her dreams of escape, she makes a life-changing decision. The Brothers Size is a coming-of-age tale about being your brother's keeper, while Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet tells the story of a young man in pre-Katrina Louisiana.

Ryan Rilette, producing artistic director at Marin Theatre Company, is directing In the Red and Brown Water. Bay Area playwright and director Octavio Solis is directing The Brothers Size for the Magic Theatre Company, while Mark Rucker is directing Marcus; or The Secret of Sweet for ACT.

Previews of In the Red and Brown Water continue this weekend at Marin Theatre Company, though tickets are sold out tonight and are available on a limited basis for the other weekend shows through the company's Web site.