Review: ‘Purpose' a funny, superbly crafted tale of a family that has lost its way
There’s a moment in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins searing and deeply funny play “Purpose,” just before a celebratory family dinner goes wildly off the rails, when the narrator twists in his seat toward the audience and offers up the prescient warning: “Buckle up!”
It’s good advice for watching this sparky comedy-drama, which won both the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2025 Tony Award for Best Play. Liberally sprinkled with gems of humor and gasp-inducing shocks, the beautifully crafted play moves like a runaway train under the taut, focused and humorous direction of Delicia Turner Sonnenberg.
Set in the present day, “Purpose” is the story of the Jaspers, a wealthy and prominent Black family who have been leaders in the nation’s Civil Rights Movement, church leadership and Chicago city politics for more than 50 years.
But the Jaspers have lost their way and their purposes in life.
Family patriarch Solomon Jasper, a nationally known preacher who once marched with Martin Luther King Jr., now pays the bills with honorariums for occasional speaking engagements. His eldest son, “Junior,” is fresh out of prison for embezzling campaign funds while serving in Congress. And youngest son “Naz” (short for Nazareth) has lost his faith, dropped out of the seminary and is pursuing a solitary life as a nature photographer.
Meanwhile, gracious but iron-willed family matriarch Claudine works tirelessly behind the scenes to hush up family scandals. And Junior’s formidable wife, Morgan - also headed to prison for tax-related crimes - is making mysterious threats.
Jacobs-Jenkins modeled “Purpose” after the late Civil Rights icon and preacher Jesse Jackson, who had his own personal and political scandals, and whose son and namesake served time for committing financial crimes while in office.
San Diegans were introduced to Jacobs-Jenkins’ work last year when his Tony-winning play “Appropriate” made its local debut at The Old Globe. The shocking gothic drama about a white Southern family confronting its racist past was thrilling and funny, but it lacked the approachability and intimacy that “Purpose” delivers through its soft-spoken narrator Naz, who introduces each character and their back histories in brief and amusing asides.
Matthew Elijah Webb delivers a beautifully calibrated and painfully awkward performance as Naz, a man most likely on the autism spectrum who shuns physical touch, personal relationships and traditional jobs.
Naz’s one seemingly normal relationship is with his friend Aziza, a former neighbor and idealistic social worker from Brooklyn who arrives unexpectedly at the family dinner and is witness to the Jasper family’s severe dysfunction. San Diego theater veteran Andréa Agosto sparkles as the kind but determined Aziza.
Cornell Womack gives a fiery and heartbreaking performance as Solomon Jasper, who’s bewildered and furious at his sons for failing to fulfill the life purposes that he chose or them. Sean Boyce Johnson is especially good as ex-politician Junior, a self-absorbed but emotionally broken man who can’t find a way back to respectability. Stephanie Berry steals all her scenes as the wily and manipulative Claudine. And as Junior’s fiercely bitter wife, Morgan, the very funny Crystal Dickinson makes the most of her brief time onstage.
Scenic designer Lawrence E. Moten III has created a palatial Chicago home with a comically high ceiling and oversize shrine to Martin Luther King Jr. at center stage. Designer Sherrice Mojgani carefully modulates the lighting to isolate the narrative cutaways. Samantha C. Jones designed the costumes and Lindsay Jones designed original music and sound.
“Purpose” is the fictional story of a famous family told on a grand canvas at La Jolla Playhouse. But it’s also relatable. Parents and adult children in the audience may recognize themselves in these characters and their own journeys to fulfill their purpose.
‘Purpose'
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 1 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Through June 7
Where: La Jolla Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Theatre, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, UCSD
Tickets: $30-$94
Phone: 858-550-1010
Online: lajollaplayhouse.org
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