American Conservatory Theater, Magic Theatre, and Marin Theatre Company Partner for The Brother/Sister Plays
Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Acclaimed trilogy by young playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney receives its West Coast premiere at the three theaters in the fall of 2010. Ambitious partnership promises to be an explosive start to the 2010-11 theater season.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, February 23, 2010—American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), Magic Theatre, and Marin Theatre Company (MTC) announce a first-time partnership among the three companies. Tarell Alvin McCraney's trilogy, The Brother/Sisters Plays,which has taken New York and Chicago by storm, will receive its West Coast premiere at the three theaters in the fall of 2010. The three interconnected plays introduced a brilliant new American voice this season, causing the Chicago Tribune to state that The Brother/Sister Plays are "surely the greatest piece of writing by an American playwright under 30 in a generation or more." New York Times critic Ben Brantley exclaimed, "Watching [The Brother/Sister Plays], you experience the excited wonder that comes from witnessing something rare in the theater: a new, authentically original vision. It's what people must have felt during productions of the early works of Eugene O'Neill in the 1920s or of Sam Shepard in the 1960s." Marin Theatre Company will present the first play, In the Red and Brown Water; Magic Theatre will take on the second, The Brothers Size; and A.C.T. will produce the final show of the trilogy, Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet. The three plays can be seen in any order, with each reflecting, echoing, and creating a poetic conversation with the others. Grand and universal in scope, yet intimate and heartfelt, McCraney's plays combine an authentic exploration of a gritty and urban reality alongside magical flights of the imagination, exploding modern sexuality in provocative and poetic ways. The Brother/Sister Plays will run at the three venues September–November 2010. Exact dates and other pertinent information will be announced by each theater as part of its season announcement. As a result of the partnership, subscribers to each theater will have access to $40 tickets to the other two shows in the trilogy. For more information about McCraney, the trilogy, and ticket offers, please visit www.brothersisterplays.org.

All three artistic directors speak to the uniqueness and power of McCraney's voice. "McCraney's raw, poetic, 29-year-old lens miraculously reflects back to us our most ancient souls," says Magic Theatre Artistic Director Loretta Greco. "His voice is one of the surest signs that theater today is still a vital act of communion." A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff adds: "McCraney is one of the most exciting writers to emerge in the American theater in the past decade. His work is pungent, passionate, poetic, almost 'Greek' in its scope, but also hilarious and accessible." MTC Artistic Director Jasson Minadakis concurs: "That three theaters could agree to mount a trilogy together speaks to the sheer genius, relevance, and importance of Tarell's voice and vision."

This three-theater collaboration is one of the most unique presentations ever to appear in the Bay Area. Minadakis adds: "Marin Theatre Company is thrilled to be part of our region-wide celebration of the work of the amazingly talented Tarell Alvin McCraney. This collaboration to present the complete trilogy of The Brother/Sister Plays will without question be the most exciting theater event of the season." MTC Producing Director Ryan Rilette will direct the first play in the trilogy, In the Red and Brown Water, for MTC. Rilettehas a longstanding artistic partnership with McCraney, having commissioned, developed, and directed the world premiere of The Breach,the celebrated play about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by McCraney, Catherine Filloux, and Joe Sutton, at New Orleans's Southern Repertory Theater (where Rilette was the producing artistic director until 2008).

Magic Theatre stages the second piece in the trilogy, The Brothers Size. Greco says: "This is a groundbreaking opportunity to celebrate Tarell's stunning trilogy among three of our important theaters, while offering our adventuresome Bay Area audiences an unprecedented theater experience. I'm thrilled to be collaborating with my dear friend Carey and the incredible A.C.T. company again and look forward to working for the first time with Jasson and Ryan and their staff at MTC."

A.C.T. takes on the final play of the trilogy, Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet. Perloff says, "We are thrilled about this truly groundbreaking partnership among three very different Bay Area theaters, united by their admiration for the remarkable voice of Tarell Alvin McCraney. The trilogy furthers A.C.T.'s ongoing commitment to creative collaborations with local, national, and international groups as exemplified by our partnerships this season with the United Kingdom's Kneehigh Theatre and Canada's Stratford Shakespeare Festival."

Tarell Alvin McCraney's plays include Wig Out! (developed at the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, produced in New York by Vineyard Theatre and in London by the Royal Court Theatre) and the trilogy entitled The Brother/Sister Plays, which includes: The Brothers Size (simultaneously premiered in New York at The Public Theater in association with The Foundry Theatre and in London at the Young Vic, where it was nominated for the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre); In the Red and Brown Water (winner of the Alliance Theatre's Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition, produced at the Alliance Theatre and the Young Vic); and Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet. His other plays include Without/Sin and Run, Mourner, Run (adapted from Randall Kenan's short story), both of which premiered at the Yale Cabaret. In the summer of 2006, McCraney, Catherine Filloux, and Joe Sutton wrote The Breach, a play about Katrina, the Gulf, and our nation, commissioned by Southern Repertory Theater, where it premiered in August 2007 to mark the two-year anniversary of the tragedy in New Orleans. The Breach also played at Seattle Repertory Theatre in the winter of 2007. McCraney attended the New World School of the Arts High School in Miami, Florida, receiving the Exemplary Artist Award and the Dean's Award in Theater. He holds a B.F.A. in acting from DePaul University. McCraney is a May 2007 graduate of Yale School of Drama's playwriting program, headed by Richard Nelson, where he received the Cole Porter Playwriting Award upon graduation. He is the Royal Shakespeare Company's international writer in residence, the 2009 Hodder Fellow at Princeton University, and the recipient of Vineyard Theatre's 2007 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award and a 2007 Whiting Writers' Award. He is currently under commission at Manhattan Theatre Club and Berkeley Repertory Theatre and is a member of New Dramatists and Teo Castellanos D-Projects in Miami. In 2008, McCraney was the recipient of London's Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright.

AMERICAN CONSERVATORY THEATER (A.C.T.) is a Tony Award–winning theater and educational institution dedicated to nurturing the art of live theater through dynamic productions, intensive actor training in its conservatory, and an ongoing dialogue with its community. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Carey Perloff, A.C.T. embraces its responsibility to conserve, renew, and reinvent its relationship to the rich theatrical traditions and literatures that are our collective legacy, while exploring new artistic forms and new communities. A commitment to the highest standards informs every aspect of A.C.T.'s creative work.

Founded in 1965, A.C.T. opened its first San Francisco season at the historic Geary Theater in 1967. More than 320 A.C.T. productions have since been performed to a combined audience of more than seven million people; today, A.C.T.'s performance, education, and outreach programs annually reach more than 230,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area. The conservatory, which serves 3,000 students annually, has moved to the forefront of America's actor training programs, while serving as the creative engine of the company at large. Today A.C.T. is recognized for its groundbreaking productions of classical works and bold explorations of contemporary playwriting. www.act-sf.org

MAGIC THEATRE is one of the most prominent theaters in the nation solely dedicated to the development and production of new plays. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Loretta Greco, the mission of Magic Theatre is to give voice to playwrights, both emerging and established, and to develop and promote the work of theater artists. Magic Theatre engages audiences in intimate productions that speak to contemporary issues with originality and wit, a sense of urgency and adventure.

Founded by John Lion in 1967 at the Steppenwolf Bar in Berkeley, Magic has played a central part in the national new plays movement for most of the last four decades. Magic established itself as an important center for the creation and performance of new American plays early in its history with the 1969 production of two new plays by Michael McClure. Magic's artistic relationship with McClure spanned 11 years. Sam Shepard was playwright in residence from 1975 to 1983; Buried Child, True West, and Fool for Love were all written and premiered at Magic. The groundbreaking work that Shepard created while at Magic changed the face of American theater as we know it. Magic also was the first American theater to establish the position of dramaturg when, in 1977, Martin Esslin, internationally renowned scholar and critic, joined the company.

Magic Theatre plays and playwrights have won four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama (Sam Shepard, David Mamet, Paula Vogel, Nilo Cruz) and ten OBIE Awards. Other awards include the Kennedy Center Award, PEN-West Awards for Drama, numerous Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards, the Los Angeles Drama-Logue Award, and the NAACP Image Award.

For 43 years, Magic has contributed to the inventiveness and relevance of the national canon while passionately ensuring the future vibrancy of the American theater. www.magictheatre.org

MARIN THEATRE COMPANY is the Bay Area's premiere mid-sized theater and the leading professional theater in the North Bay. We produce a five- to six-show season of provocative plays by passionate playwrights from the 20th century and today in two intimate theaters—a 231-seat proscenium and a 99-seat thrust. We are committed to the development and production of new plays by American playwrights, with a comprehensive New Play Program that includes world premieres, playwriting awards, new play readings and workshops, and a leadership position in the National New Play Network. We also have numerous educational programs, including theater for young audiences that perform in our Lieberman Theatre and tour to schools throughout Marin, teachers in the classroom, a summer camp, student matinees, free tickets for teachers, and internships. Our educational programs serve more than 6,000 students each year. www.marintheatre.org