Broadway’s Grand and Glorious ‘Purpose’
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' exceptional new family drama "Purpose" overflows with complexity and emotional depth.
Fame’s a bitch. Especially when it’s weighted down by baggage.
Such is the case for the Jaspers, a prominent, Chicago-based, politically well-connected Black family who continue their usual brand of chaos when Solomon “Junior” (Glenn Davis) arrives home for a visit.
He’s a state senator who has just been released from prison after 24 months in prison after embezzling campaign funds and committing wire fraud. Soon, his wife Morgan (Alena Arenas) will serve her own sentence for filing false tax returns.
Nearly every family issue is fully unpacked in Purpose, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ exceptional drama that makes its Broadway debut after premiering at Chicago’s famed Steppenwolf Theatre a year ago in a production directed by Phylicia Rashad.
Producers were smart to transfer this juggernaut of a play to Broadway quickly. It contains all of the delicious ingredients that comprise an exciting night of theater — and an impeccable cast that delivers Jenkins’ compelling script with gritty style.
Jenkins won a Tony award for authoring last season’s Appropriate, where he delved into the ugly parts of a seemingly progressive white family. In Purpose, he employs the same idea, only this time he sets the progressive Black Jasper family at the interrogation table, cleverly disguised as a dinner table.
Jenkins continues to receive much critical and audience praise and it’s easy to understand why. Whether or not his characters are relatable, he fully fleshes them out, giving them layers of complexity, emotional depth, self-awareness, and, in some cases, self-doubt.
As the Jasper patriarch, Sonny (Harry Lennix) doesn’t initially buy into the notion of his youngest son Naz’s (Jon Michael Hill) asexuality, but comes around to it after Naz’s dinner guest, a queer social worker named Aziza (Kara Young), who has also invited Naz to be her sperm donor, explains Naz’s self-identification.
For Sonny, asexuality is a bizarre concept, especially since he’s allegedly sired several children during his time in the public eye while his wife, Claudine (Latanya Richardson Jackson), a lawyer, has worked behind the scenes to hold the family together and privately handle her husband’s indiscretions.
If the Jasper story sounds familiar, Google “Jesse Jackson.” Jenkins undoubtedly took inspiration from the travails of the notable civil rights leaders and his relations. And don’t be alarmed by the 3-hour running time. Although this is a family meal gone awry, there is plenty of dish in the dialogue that makes it a fast-paced dinner you’ll definitely want to attend.
Purpose (★★★★★) is at the Hayes Theatre, 240 West 44th St., in New York, through June 29. Visit www.purposeonbroadway.com.
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