Appropriate Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Sets Next Broadway Show, Purpose, Di

Publish date: 2024-07-15

“Purpose,” a new show from “Appropriate” playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, will open on Broadway in the spring of 2025.

Phylicia Rashad will direct the play, which is set to begin previews on Feb. 25 ahead of opening night in mid-March. It will run at the Helen Hayes Theater for a limited engagement.

Billed as an “epic family drama,” the story follows the influential Jaspers, who have been a pillar of Black American politics — civil rights leaders, pastors and congressmen — for decades. But there are cracks and secrets just under the surface. When the youngest son, Nazareth, returns home to Illinois with an uninvited friend, the family is forced into a reckoning with itself, its faith and the legacies of Black radicalism. Casting will be announced in the coming months.

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“Purpose” had its world premiere in March 2024 at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre and became one of the highest-grossing shows in the venue’s nearly 50-year history. Chicago Tribune’s theater critic Chris Jones called the play “absolutely not-to-be-missed,” writing that “Purpose” is “a brilliant moralistic satire, which sounds deadly but not with a writer who prizes agency, currency and, thank god, ambiguity.”

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Jacob-Jenkins is the playwright behind last season’s hit play “Appropriate,” a darkly comedic family drama starring Sarah Paulson, Corey Stoll. Natalie Gold, Elle Fanning and Alyssa Emily Marvin. It was nominated for eight Tonys and won three, including best revival of a play.

Rashad, a Tony winner for “A Raisin in the Sun” and “Skeleton Crew” and Emmy nominee for “The Cosby Show,” is making her Broadway directing debut with “Purpose.” Her directing credits include Stephen Adly Guirgis’ “Our Lady of 121st Street,” Pearl Cleage’s “Blues for an Alabama Sky” and August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”

Producers on “Purpose” include David Stone, Debra Martin Chase, Marc Platt, LaChanze, Rashad Chambers, Aaron Glick and Steppenwolf Theatre Company. The play will feature scenic design by Todd Rosenthal, costume design by Dede M. Ayite, lighting design by Amith Chandrashaker, and sound design by Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen. 

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