By Neal Hecker, GableStage

It was a typical rain soaked afternoon, summer in Miami, as I stood, drying out in the empty theatre space at GableStage that would soon be transformed into a “mythical” Louisiana Bayou, courtesy of the imagination of Tarell Alvin McCraney. McCraney is a product of Miami, quintessentially Miami if such a thing exists, despite the fact that he arrives, dripping wet from his bicycle ride to the theatre (never having learned to drive he proudly claims).

Later this afternoon, rehearsals will continue for this production of his play, “The Brothers Size,” part of a series he calls the Brother/Sister plays. As he changes into dry socks, he looks around the empty stage and laughs to himself. The joke it seems is on Joe Adler (GableStage’s Artisitic Director) who asked McCraney to direct this play, a first. As the show opening rapidly approaches and the set remains bare, McCraney keeps asking for “shiny black floors and cloth” admitting he doesn’t know “how that’s playing out with the normal way we run things.”

But following the norm is probably a little alien for McCraney as evidenced by his means of transportation. For one who can’t drive he has managed to do a good amount of traveling from his days at the New World School of the Arts, to DePaul and Yale, The Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Through it all, if he is able to call any place home, it is still Miami, which makes this return that much more satisfying. While he is excited about this production, he says he is “more excited about what it means for the continued work of bringing pieces like this or creating pieces like this for Miami and the Miami theatre palate”.

The Brothers Size: Sept 3-Oct 2 at the GableStage theatre, 1200 Anastasia Ave, Coral Gables; 305-445-1119; gablestage.org