Los Angeles Times - Recommended
"...Beyond the fact that it is sensational, the Fountain Theatre's production of "In the Red and Brown Water" by Tarell Alvin McCraney is important for two reasons: It introduces Los Angeles audiences to a dramatic poet in the process of discovering his singular voice and it shows how magnificently one of L.A.'s better small theaters can serve bold new talent."
LA Weekly - Recommended
"...McCraney pulls together a confluence of elements - although predominantly Yoruba - to present a visceral fable that rises up from the underbelly of America. Kilpatrick's portrayal embraces every bit of her feisty, soulful character, made more compelling by the intimate performance space."
Backstage - Recommended
"...For Los Angeles audiences it's a thrilling introduction to a distinctive new voice, delivered in a production that explodes in sounds, images, and extraordinary performances."
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...Interpret this as you will, but if The Fountain Theatre's glorious, thrilling, and first-class Los Angeles premiere of In the Red and Brown Water were a benchmark for Los Angeles theater, these agents would be beating down our doors. With Shirley Jo Finney at the helm, and one of the best ensembles in years, the work of the most exciting playwright of his generation has finally arrived in the City of Angels four years after it premiered in Atlanta."
The Hollywood Reporter - Recommended
"...Director Shirley Jo Finney is expert at animating complex ensembles in small spaces like the Fountain, and her use of movement and attention to complex effects from simple interactions serves the text uncommonly well."
Stage Scene LA - Recommended
"...Though the playwright's blend of poetry, myth, and urban reality can be a bit "out there" for more traditional playgoers, In The Red And Brown Water at the Fountain is Los Angeles theater at its best, a production in which performance, direction, and design combine to make for something quite memorable indeed."
StageHappenings.com - Recommended
"...It is, without doubt, the most important evening of Theatre that you will see this year."
Examiner - Recommended
"...Ultimately, what McCraney and the Fountain Theatre have done with "In the Red and Brown Water" is present a collection of myths that are old and less old, and they have conveyed them in a sensory way that lures the audience into the immediacy of life anew."
BlogCritics.org - Recommended
"...In Tarell Alvin McCraney, whose play In the Red and Brown Water is now playing at the Fountain Theatre, we meet a new, important, and original voice in American theatre."
Will Call - Recommended
"...Shirley Jo Finney has directed this most unusual work with a knowledgeable and devoted hand. Based on the old Yoruba religion of West Africa (the characters are named for the orishas, or spirits, of the gods, as explained in the program insert). It mixes mysticism, ancient traditions and modern dilemmas into a heady, colorful brew."
Total Theater - Recommended
"...The result is a play that feels both new and old, familiar and ground-breaking. It's an astonishing accomplishment."
Grigware Blogspot - Recommended
"...Don't miss In the Red and Brown Water for its richly theatrical storytelling and atypical but ultimately alluring structure. McCraney has created a minor classic, and Finney and cast are a marvel to behold."
