The Shed is bringing a powerful classic back to the Off-Broadway stage with a revival of The Brothers Size, led by André Holland, Alani iLongwe, and Malcolm Mays. The 20th-anniversary production will run from August 30 to September 28 in The Griffin Theater, with opening night set for September 10.
Written by Academy Award winner Tarell Alvin McCraney and co-directed by McCraney alongside Bijan Sheibani, this revival is a co-production with Los Angeles’ Geffen Playhouse, where iLongwe and Mays previously appeared in their respective roles.
Set in the Deep South, The Brothers Size is a modern-day fable about brotherhood, freedom, and the struggle to forge your own path after incarceration. Holland plays Ogun, a hardworking and disciplined older brother, while iLongwe plays Oshoosi, a younger brother recently released from prison and struggling to find peace. The dynamic shifts when Mays’ character Elegba enters the picture—an old friend whose charm and chaos threaten to pull Oshoosi off track.
Originally premiering in 2007, The Brothers Size is the second play in McCraney’s The Brother/Sister Plays trilogy and remains one of the most poetic and emotionally rich examinations of Black masculinity in American theatre. The play mixes realism with Yoruba mythology, inviting audiences into a lyrical, soul-stirring world.
Staged in the round at The Shed’s Griffin Theater, the intimate production places audiences right in the emotional core of the story, enhancing the themes of vulnerability, brotherhood, and identity. With this revival, McCraney and Sheibani aim to honor the legacy of the work while deepening its resonance for a new generation.
This marks another major return for Holland, who most recently appeared in Exhibiting Forgiveness and continues to be one of the most captivating performers of his generation. iLongwe and Mays, who earned praise for their work in the Geffen production, bring even more layered performances to this updated staging.
Celebrating two decades since its debut, The Brothers Size is not just a revival—it’s a reaffirmation of the power of intimate, character-driven storytelling that explores what it means to be a brother, a man, and free.