At the beginning of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s poetic drama “The Brothers Size,” now at the Shed, one of the play’s three actors pours white sand—or is it salt?—in a circle on the otherwise empty stage. This ceremonial ring becomes an in-the-round playing area, and, as the performers enter and exit it, their feet scuff the particles, sending dust up to drift in the light.

Two of the men are brothers, bickering in their shared Louisiana home: the irrepressible Oshoosi Size (Alani iLongwe), who has only recently returned from prison, and his strict older sibling, Ogun Size (André Holland), who can’t stop hassling him. The heat is stultifying, and Oshoosi, still on probation, is “just trying to live easy”—but Ogun wants his brother up early, working in Ogun’s car shop, pulling his weight, avoid

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