Present Day San Pere, Louisiana. In the Red and Brown Water is the story of Oya, an African-American teenager named for the Yoruba warrior-spirit of the wind. Oya is an up-and-coming star athlete, but postpones a university track scholarship in order to take care for her ailing mother. Written by award-winning playwright and Theatre School alumnus Tarell Alvin McCraney, Oya's story of womanhood and life unfolds in a dreamscape of street talk and poetry.