Like The K of D, in which local Renata Friedman plays 16 characters, Seattle Rep’s concurrent run of The Brothers Size is driven by a strong, compact cast.

In Brothers, a Seattle premiere from director Juliette Carrillo, we get to know three characters: Oshoosi Size (Warner Miller), returning home from a stint in prison; his brother Ogun Size (Yaegel T. Welch), a hard-laboring auto mechanic; and Elegba (Eddie R. Brown III), Oshoosi’s pal from the pen who moves with a feline slink and has an unnerving personality to match.

What ensues seems simple enough: In the bayous of Louisiana, Ogun lays into his younger brother _hard_—to help in the repair shop, to clean up his act. When Elegba shows up with a car—a veritable chariot of freedom for his floundering prison buddy—we wonder whether Oshoosi will flee for far-off lands or fall back into his old ways.

And through it all, we’re wondering what it means to be a brother, as a rich backstory is revealed that adds color to an already fraught relationship. Ogun’s staunch exterior is exposed and we see the wearied sibling he’s become, forced to parent Oshoosi after their mother passes at a too-young age. We hear of Ogun’s sleepless nights, how he slowly unravels under the pressure of fending for the feckless sibling. But even the chain-gang boys are sympathetic: Elegba, with his forlorn sense of need and attachment to Oshoosi, and the younger brother Size, haunted by his past, with the pain conveyed in soulful, song-driven monologues.

Young playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, a student of August Wilson, works in some familiar themes—racial and social disadvantage, redemption, African lore—punctuated by comedy. The gags come mostly in the form of spoken stage directions, and judging by the hearty laughter coming from the audience, they worked. But it’s the complex characters—and the actors playing them—that make The Brothers Size a family drama worth writing home about.

The Brothers Size is at Seattle Rep through Feb 27.