By Lucy Komisar
Usually, I don’t like family dramas. But this one is different, not hokey or predictable. “Purpose” by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has more twists than a corkscrew. Though the drinks here are hard liquor, not wine. And director Phylicia Rashad, also a fine actor, keeps the pace so fast but smooth that you almost run to keep up. It is a not-to-miss play by an author who has become one of today’s not-to-miss playwrights.
The plot, set in Chicago, was inspired by stories surrounding black activist-politician Jesse Jackson and his family. Here’s a famous preacher and a son, a member of Congress who embezzled campaign funds. And his wife who signed false tax returns. From there, Jacobs-Jenkins imagines the story.
The family is run by the matriarch Claudine Jasper (excellent Latanya Richardson Jackson), a tough powerful woman who, echoing husband Solomon (Harry Lennix), repeats the mantra, “We are Christians.” (Mantra has nothing to do with belief.) The set is a gorgeous home that appears to be in the suburbs with furnishings that belong in magazines.
The real center of the story is their son Naz (Jon Michael Hill), short for Nazareth, a charmer who dropped out of divinity school. (His piercing looks tell as much as the dialogue.) He comments, “Well, this is not a house of God, but maybe a pied à terre.”
And Aziza (equally charming Kara Young) who calls on him to help her get pregnant. They both live in New York. (Consider a sperm donor who uses a chicken baster. Hint: she identifies as a queer woman.)
Behind the drama is the civil rights mantra, including a photo of MLKing on the back wall and a collection of other activists on a landing upstairs.
The family problem is Jesse Junior (very good Glenn Davis) who just got out of prison for embezzling campaign funds. He was sentenced to 30 months of which he served 24. His wife was hit with 12 months for filing false tax returns but because they have twin boys, the judge allowed them to serve their time consecutively. On the cusp of smarmy, Junior now wants to work on prison reform. But behind that is the mental illness he claimed; the real Jackson Jr was being treated for bipolar disorder.
Is there any political criticism? Were they clowns who do what whites do but got caught while black? If the mayor of Washington got reelected, shouldn’t his constituency support this guy? That is not pursued. (White pols also go to jail.)
Naz, Junior and his wife Morgan (a solid Alana Arenas) are visiting to celebrate Claudine’s big birthday.
But the event is sandbagged when Aziza shows up uninvited at the family home. She is thrilled to meet the famous preacher. She considers herself “Panther adjacent,” with Kente cloth and incense, having gone to a school plastered with posters of Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, W.E.B. DuBois, Thurgood Marshall, Jesse Owens, Jesse Jackson – “double Jesses!”
Jacobs-Jenkins establishes this story clearly in the middle class, including shopping at Whole Foods. And Claudine and Solomon are very interested in the fact Nat doesn’t appear to have a girlfriend. (No, he isn’t gay, just not interested. Congrats to the playwright for not falling into the trap of yet another gay hero/anti-hero. I love the chicken baster.)
There’s stuff about lawyers and pills, and a terrific use of the Chekhov rule that if a gun is mentioned (Morgan: “You think I don’t know where your father keeps his daddy’s guns downstairs?”), it later has to be used. Jacobs-Jenkins brilliantly copies the “Uncle Vanya” script of “I missed.”
At that point, it’s not about Jesse Jackson. It’s about a very clever play!
“Purpose.” Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Phylicia Rashad. The Hayes Theater, 240 West 44th Street, NYC. 212-541-4516. Runtime 2hrs50. Opened March 10, 2025, closes July 6, 2025.