Who Played Understudy in Purpose

Understudy is a role in Purpose, a play that opened Broadway in 2025.

Spirited, hilarious and filled with intrigue, a new play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (who won a Tony Award in 2024 for Appropriate) comes to Broadway direct from Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company. The epic family drama arrives with Two-time Tony Award-winner Phylicia Rashad at the helm. The Broadway cast features Two-time Tony Award nominee LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Harry Lennix, Jon Michael Hill, Glenn Davis, Alana Arenas, and Kara Young. What's it all about? For decades, the influential Jasper family has been a pillar of Black American Politics: civil rights leaders, pastors and congressmen. But like all families, there are cracks and secrets just under the surface. When the youngest son Nazareth returns home with an uninvited friend in tow, the family is forced into a reckoning with itself, its faith and the legacies of Black political power and familial duty. Before arriving on Broadway, Purpose was commissioned by and had its World Premiere at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2024. The production received three 2024 Equity Jeff Awards including Outstanding Production of a Play.