Produced September 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 2022

Tarell Alvin McCraney’s “The Brothers Size”

“An absorbing and emotionally resonant drama”

– The New York Times

From Academy Award-winner Tarell Alvin McCraney’s acclaimed The Brother/Sister Plays, The Brothers Size opens on our stage this coming September 2022!

In this fierce and honest look at the complex bonds of brotherhood, McCraney weaves together poetry, music, and Yoruba mythology to magnify the tug-of-war between freedom and the need to belong somewhere, to something, to someone.

Those prison walls extend far beyond prison gates, destroying families, infecting dreams, and mocking what hope is left after time served. In the Louisiana Bayou, brothers by blood and by mythic circumstance struggle to find a connection in the wake of incarceration. With a love that is abundant and complex, beautiful and dangerous, they navigate a road where those prison gates remain, always, in their rear view. They find themselves at a crossroads where fate, hope, and desperation collide. Where their love for each other must redefine what it means to be free. The Brothers Size sings the ancient bond of brotherhood.

Tarell Alvin McCraney is an acclaimed playwright and screenwriter. His script In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue is the basis for the Oscar-winning film Moonlight directed by Barry Jenkins, for which McCraney and Jenkins won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

“The writing has freshness, clarity, and vitality”

– Variety

“This was my first visit to the South Camden Theatre Company, but it will certainly not be my last. The Brothers Size sets the bar high…”

Rebecca Rendell – Talkin’ Broadway

There is a particularly gut-wrenching moment in Academy Award-winning playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney’s The Brothers Size, now running at South Camden Theatre Company, that I cannot get out of my head. Brothers Ogun (Craig McLaren) and Oshoosi Size (David Bazemore) are up late and laughing uncontrollably as they recall the details of an incident from their childhood. The pair’s laughter is contagious. Their fraternal affection feels deep and warm. The incident they are reminiscing about is the traumatic discovery that their mother has passed away.

Director Damien J. Wallace’s powerful production fully embraces that mixture of vulnerability and duality. The result is a uniquely insightful work of art.

The Brothers Size is based on West African myths, but set in bayou country of Louisiana. Recently released after a year in prison, Oshoosi Size is hopeful but frustrated by the practical limitations of his new everyday life. His surly older brother Ogun has given him a place to live and a job at his repair shop, but Oshoosi longs to drive fast and travel far. Ogun just wants what’s best for his little brother. When Oshoosi’s facile friend Elegba (Gregory Holmes Jr. exudes smooth confidence) glides into the repair shop one day, Ogun is immediately on edge. Oshoosi explains that Elegba was a dependable friend in the penitentiary–almost a brother–but relationships are just as fraught and complex in prison as they are on the outside.

Wallace is a veteran Philadelphia director who knows how to get the most out of his actors and their space. McLaren is gruff but warmhearted, while Bazemore is amicably optimistic. On stage they share an easy confidence that feels just like family. There is a palpable sense of tension when Holmes joins the pair on stage. That shifting dynamic is a testament to the skill of this impressive trio. The magic of the play is in the relationship between these men as they attempt to care for each other and understand themselves.

South Camden Theatre Company’s small stage transforms seamlessly from apartment to auto repair shop to prison thanks to Robert Bingaman’s clever scenic design and Joshua Samors’ dynamic lighting. Karen Smith’s passionate percussion casts a spell on the entire theater.

This was my first visit to the South Camden Theatre Company, but it will certainly not be my last. The Brothers Size sets the bar high, but if they keep attracting talent like Wallace, McClaren, Bazemore, and Holmes it will be well worth the ride.

The Brothers Size runs through September 25, 2022, at the Waterfront South Theatre 400 Jasper Street, Michael Doyle Lane, Camden NJ. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. For tickets and information, please visit www.southcamdentheatre.org or call 404-480-4489.There is a particularly gut-wrenching moment in Academy Award-winning playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney’s The Brothers Size, now running at South Camden Theatre Company, that I cannot get out of my head. Brothers Ogun (Craig McLaren) and Oshoosi Size (David Bazemore) are up late and laughing uncontrollably as they recall the details of an incident from their childhood. The pair’s laughter is contagious. Their fraternal affection feels deep and warm. The incident they are reminiscing about is the traumatic discovery that their mother has passed away.

Director Damien J. Wallace’s powerful production fully embraces that mixture of vulnerability and duality. The result is a uniquely insightful work of art.

The Brothers Size is based on West African myths, but set in bayou country of Louisiana. Recently released after a year in prison, Oshoosi Size is hopeful but frustrated by the practical limitations of his new everyday life. His surly older brother Ogun has given him a place to live and a job at his repair shop, but Oshoosi longs to drive fast and travel far. Ogun just wants what’s best for his little brother. When Oshoosi’s facile friend Elegba (Gregory Holmes Jr. exudes smooth confidence) glides into the repair shop one day, Ogun is immediately on edge. Oshoosi explains that Elegba was a dependable friend in the penitentiary–almost a brother–but relationships are just as fraught and complex in prison as they are on the outside.

Wallace is a veteran Philadelphia director who knows how to get the most out of his actors and their space. McLaren is gruff but warmhearted, while Bazemore is amicably optimistic. On stage they share an easy confidence that feels just like family. There is a palpable sense of tension when Holmes joins the pair on stage. That shifting dynamic is a testament to the skill of this impressive trio. The magic of the play is in the relationship between these men as they attempt to care for each other and understand themselves.

South Camden Theatre Company’s small stage transforms seamlessly from apartment to auto repair shop to prison thanks to Robert Bingaman’s clever scenic design and Joshua Samors’ dynamic lighting. Karen Smith’s passionate percussion casts a spell on the entire theater.

This was my first visit to the South Camden Theatre Company, but it will certainly not be my last. The Brothers Size sets the bar high, but if they keep attracting talent like Wallace, McClaren, Bazemore, and Holmes it will be well worth the ride.

The Brothers Size runs through September 25, 2022, at the Waterfront South Theatre 400 Jasper Street, Michael Doyle Lane, Camden NJ. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. For tickets and information, please visit www.southcamdentheatre.org or call 404-480-4489.

This is a helluva show. The script is beautiful and deep. The cast is absolutely brilliant. The set works perfectly to establish two locations in a small space. The direction is spot-on, innovative, fresh and surprising but inevitable. Live percussion matched my heartbeat in every situation. I can’t praise the show enough. Is it about drugs and incarceration? NO. Drugs and incarceration are the details. The play is about siblings, about love in difficult circumstances, about unequal treatment before the law, about entanglements that doom us, about getting along when we’re together, and about knowing when to administer pain in our loved one’s best interest. And for all its seriousness and depth, it’s also f**king hilarious. You’re going to like these characters immeasurably. The cast not only act impeccably, they sing, beautifully! And they dance when they’re angriest with one another. And that drumbeat is there the whole time, beating like a broken but unbeaten heart. If you miss this show, don’t complain to me later that you haven’t seen a good production in you don’t know how long. This is the real deal.

David, Collingswood, NJ.

WHO’S WHO IN THE CAST

Funding has been made possible in part by the Camden County Cultural & Heritage Commission at Camden County College through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.