With his trilogy “The Brother/Sister Plays,” Tarell Alvin McCraney announced himself as a talented young writer wielding a big vision. He also staked out a territory. The Plays—which Steppenwolf Theatre Company staged, beautifully, in 2010—are set in the Louisiana bayou country, among black folk who live on land easily mistaken for water, and who survive at the pleasure of hurricanes. Perhaps more important, they map out a spiritual homeland—gritty, even sordid, yet mythic in its resonances. Ex-cons and pregnant teenagers bear the names of Yoruba deities.
Still, she’d be a very lucky woman if that were her only problem. Before the night is out, Shelah will find out more than she wants to know about her late husband. All her children will die. And, in a very cool coup de theatre from set designer David Gallo (along with his “consultant,” Collette Pollard), her B&B will crack up and subside into the marshes.
Part of the problem may be that Tina Landau’s Steppenwolf production just wasn’t ready on opening night. The action felt unfocused at times, and, though Cheryl Lynn Bruce is an exquisite actress getting a well-deserved chance to demonstrate her chops as Shelah, she seemed hesitant a good part of the time.
Through 6/9: Tue-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat-Sun 3 and 7:30 PM, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, 1650 N. Halsted, 312-335-1650, steppenwolf.org, $20-$78.
