Video: Kara Young Picks the Shows That Shaped Her
Young is currently starring in Gruesome Playground Injuries at the Lortel Theatre.
By: Joey Mervis Nov. 22, 2025
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Which shows from Broadway past have made the biggest impact on Broadway present? How have the legends of yesterday shaped the stars of today? BroadwayWorld is finding out in our brand new series, The Shows That Shaped Me.
In this video, watch as two-time Tony Award winner Kara Young walks us through the aisles of the Drama Book Shop to tell us all about the plays that made her the artist she is today. Can you guess which classics she most adores?
"Plays continue to shape our lives in the most extraordinary ways," she explained. "As someone who loves to go to the theatre and loves to be on the stage, I am looking forward to the plays that continue to shape my life and continue to shape yours."
Young is currently starring as 'Kayleen' in Gruesome Playground Injuries off-Broadway. Learn more about the production.
Kara Young made history as the first Black performer to win two back-to-back Tony Awards and to be nominated four times in a row. Kara was most recently seen starring in Purpose on Broadway, which in addition to a Tony Award, earned her a Drama Desk Award as well as Drama League and Outer Critics Circle nominations. She previously starred on Broadway as ‘Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins’ in Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch, for which she won the 2024 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play. Additionally, her performance in Purlie Victorious earned her an Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk Award and Drama League nomination.
Young was also seen last season starring in MCC Theater’s Table 17, which earned her a 2025 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play. In 2022, she made her Broadway debut in Lynn Nottage’s Clyde’s, for which she earned a Theatre World Award and her first Tony nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play. In 2023, she was Tony nominated for her work in Cost of Living and won an Obie Award for her performance in the Classical Theatre of Harlem’s production of Twelfth Knight.
Kara can next be seen co-starring in the feature film Is God Is She can also be seen in Boots Riley’s “I’m a Virgo” for Prime Video, which earned her an Indie Spirit Nomination for Best Breakthrough Performance. She appeared in HBO Max’s “The Staircase,” as well as Netflix’s “The Punisher,” and starred in the winning Sundance Short, Hair Wolf. Kara also starred in MCC Theater’s All the Natalie Portmans, for which she received a Lucille Lortel Award Nomination. Her other stage credits include Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven, New Englanders, Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll’d and Pretty Hunger
