About the Show

Winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Jasper family's drama unfolds in this Tony-nominated play.

Purpose is a gripping family drama from the Tony Award-winning playwright of Appropriate Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and directed by two-time Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad. The play centers on the influential Jasper family, long considered a cornerstone of Black American politics, with deep roots in civil rights, religion, and public service. However, like any family, they harbor hidden cracks and secrets that threaten their unity.

When the youngest son, Nazareth, unexpectedly returns home to Illinois with an uninvited guest, the Jasper family is thrust into a confrontation with their past. As they grapple with issues of faith, identity, and the legacies of Black radicalism, long-buried tensions come to light, challenging the family’s bonds.

Filled with humor, intrigue, and spirited dialogue, Purpose is an epic exploration of family, faith, and the complexities of heritage. This powerful play offers a fresh perspective on the enduring struggles and triumphs within a family deeply intertwined with the history of Black American politics.

Purpose received 6 Tony Award® nominations in 2025, including Best Play, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for both Jon Michael Hill & Harry Lennix, Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for Glenn Davis and Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for Kara Young.

Critic Reviews (16)

"Deeply imagined and grave beneath its yucks, it unspools like a brilliant sitcom. Then, also like a sitcom, it jumps the shark."
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"Purpose is a daring dramatic vivisection of the fictional Jasper family... Director Phylicia Rashad has assembled an A-plus cast... [it] buzzes with rich ideas about sons and fathers and the burdens of legacy, sexuality, and authenticity."
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"Purpose is a big swing, but that’s what it takes to get a big hit."
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"...much of the nearly mathematical pleasure of watching Purpose lies in watching a top-tier craftsman set up and then launch one long domino chain of familial discord."
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"“Purpose” doesn’t sustain the same level of excitement in its longer second act"
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"A whirlwind of a play, the cast delivers incredible performances"
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""It’s one of several that the playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins deploys to gasps and guffaws...a densely packed and blistering powder keg of a play about (among other things) legacy, faith, corruption and the limits of desire.""
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