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.
I howled all the way through Jacobs-Jenkins’ clever and venomous spin on the story: This particular bombshell-littered house belongs to the Jaspers, a powerful black political dynasty whose controversies and scandals come down faster than the blizzard outside their window. If your family is anything like them, I’d recommend emancipation.
Jacobs-Jenkins is a fantastic storyteller, and it is possible to walk away from Purpose without considering any of the play’s further implications, simply having relished in his almost unparalleled gifts for dialogue and characterization. (It won’t be a surprise if he ends up with back-to-back Tony Awards.)
2025 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2025 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play | Kara Young |
2025 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Play | Branden Jacobs-Jenkins |
2025 | Drama League Awards | DISTINGUISHED PERFORMANCE | LaTanya Richardson Jackson |
2025 | Drama League Awards | DISTINGUISHED PERFORMANCE | Kara Young |
2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Direction of a Play | Phylicia Rashad |
2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Play | LaTanya Richardson Jackson |
2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Play | Kara Young |
2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Play | Jon Michael Hill |
2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | Purpose |
2025 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play | Glenn Davis |
2025 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Jon Michael Hill |
2025 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Harry Lennix |
2025 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play | Kara Young |
2025 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | LaTanya Richardson Jackson |
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