A play that swept both the Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize is bringing its entire Broadway cast to Westwood. ‘Purpose’ makes its Los Angeles premiere at Geffen Playhouse beginning Wednesday and runs through Dec. 20, with the production reuniting the actors who originated it on Broadway under the direction of Phylicia Rashad.
The Geffen production arrives with its cast fully intact, according to Los Angeles Times, which notes the show is directed by Phylicia Rashad and stars Kara Young, Harry Lennix, Glenn Davis, Alana Arenas, LaTanya Richardson Jackson and Jon Michael Hill. The theater's own listing confirms the cast lineup, adding Nija Okoro to the roster and describing the show as making its LA debut with the original Broadway company, directed, in the Geffen Playhouse's words, by “the incomparable Phylicia Rashad.”
Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, ‘Purpose’ won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. Kara Young took home a Tony of her own for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Aziza, a win the theater's blog post called part of a night where, in the Geffen's words, “Purpose walked away with Best Play and Best Featured Actress in a Play for the unstoppable Kara Young.”
A Political Family Under Pressure
The play is set in the Chicago home of civil rights leader Solomon Jasper, a former clergyman and old-school activist, and follows a prominent Black political dynasty through a tense weekend. The theater describes the premise directly: when the family's youngest son returns home, instincts kick in to protect its public image of leadership and moral authority, unsettling a household already strained by old wounds.
Among the characters pulling at that household are Solomon Jr., a disgraced politician who served prison time for mishandling campaign funds and now plans to revive his career by publishing his mother's letters, and his estranged wife, Morgan. Claudine guides the family through its difficult stretch, while Naz, a nature photographer, narrates the weekend as Aziza, his friend, carries the expectant pregnancy of his child, conceived through artificial insemination. The story builds to a central dinner scene that exposes longstanding conflicts among the family.
From Steppenwolf's Stage to the Tony Stage
‘Purpose’ was produced by Broadway and Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and its origins trace back to the success of Jacobs-Jenkins' earlier play ‘Appropriate,’ which premiered in 2013 and later won the Tony Award for Best Revival. Steppenwolf commissioned ‘Purpose’ after that success, stipulating that Jacobs-Jenkins use two actors from its ensemble, a condition that shaped the play's grounding in Steppenwolf's house style of muscular realism, per the same Los Angeles Times account.
Rashad's work on ‘Purpose’ marked her Broadway directorial debut. She has won two Tony Awards for acting and an NAACP Theatre Award for directing ‘Joe Turner's Come and Gone,’ along with six Emmy nominations across her career. She is slated to direct August Wilson's ‘Fences’ for Center Theatre Group next spring.
Where and When to Catch It
Performances run at the Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave. in Los Angeles, with shows Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 1 and 6:30 p.m. The play runs 2 hours and 50 minutes with one intermission.
Kara Young is scheduled to play Aziza through the Nov. 29 1 p.m. performance, with Nija Okoro stepping into the role beginning with that day's 6:30 p.m. show, according to the venue's listing.
Jacobs-Jenkins has already announced his next project, ‘Grass,’ starring Daniel Kaluuya, about a mother and son taking a road trip through the South. It is set to make its New York stage debut at Park Avenue Armory, a 55,000-square-foot venue, in February 2027. Jacobs-Jenkins has said family dramas often use family as a metaphor for an American crisis, and ‘Purpose’ itself was inspired by prominent political families, including Jesse Jackson's.
