I was privileged to see and hear my former NYU Grad Acting student André Holland in “The Brothers Size” at the Shed in New York city. The brilliant play is by Tarell Alvin McCraney. André was excellent, as was the entire cast.
I always know André will be wonderful but this time I was taken by his voice. His voice has always been a good and interesting part of him as an actor but something has changed since I last saw him on stage a few years ago. There is a richness and a power to his voice that I have never heard before. I asked him about it and he said the demands of the play had pushed him to new levels.
McCraney says “When we talk about the geopolitical side of the play and the plight of folks who were formerly incarcerated, the world has not changed dramatically. When I wrote the play, the United States had the highest level of incarceration of any developed country in the world and that’s still the case today.”
The Brothers Size
The Brothers Size was written in 2003 as part of The Brother/Sister Plays trilogy and debuted as a co-production at The Public Theater and Foundry Theater in 2007. The world premiere of the full trilogy was at the McCarter Theatre Center this same time. In regard to Mr. McCraney’s writing, the New York Times proclaimed, “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.”
Seeing this production and seeing André comes full circle for me because I saw him and his fellow Grad Acting actors Sterling K. Brown and Nikiya Mathis in The Brother/Sister play at the Public theater in New York City in 2009. They were all superb. I remember being thrilled to see so many of my former students on the same stage.
