Purpose
September 10 - October 11, 2026
By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Josiah Davis
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Notable Dates: Coming soon!
Synopsis:
WINNER! Tony Award for Best Play
WINNER! Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize and a smash hit on Broadway, Purpose is the explosive and wildly entertaining new play from Tony winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, diving headlong into the life of a prominent and influential political dynasty.
Encircled by civil rights leaders, pastors, and congressmen for decades, the Jasper family is a foundational pillar of Black American society. That is, until their youngest son returns home with an unexpected dinner guest, and their carefully curated existence begins to fracture. Don’t miss this searing and hilarious exploration of faith, class, ambition, and heritage — what The Washington Post called “a feast of jaw-dropping tea and riveting food for thought.”
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Playwright
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a writer and theatre artist whose plays include Purpose, Appropriate, The Comeuppance, Girls, Everybody, War, Gloria, Appropriate, An Octoroon, and Neighbors. He is a Professor in the Practice at Yale University and serves as Vice President of the Dramatists Guild council. He has been the recipient of two Tony awards, a Pulitzer Prize, the MacArthur fellowship, the Windham-Campbell Prize for Drama, and the inaugural Tennessee Williams Award.
Josiah Davis
Director
Josiah Davis
Josiah Davis is a multidisciplinary artist. A director, choreographer, designer, and performer, his work intersects expressive movement, live music, emerging technology, and ritual to breathe new life into storytelling. He asks: How do we create space for people to be in alignment while being pulled apart by invisible systems? Josiah is a graduate of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and the Brown/Trinity MFA Directing Program (2020). He is a Princess Grace Award Honoraria recipient, a New York Theatre Workshop 2050 Fellow, a National Black Theatre “Soul” Directing Resident, the recipient of the Susan Stroman Directing Award, a Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow, and the Associate Artistic Director of the On the Verge Theatre Festival (Santa Barbara).
From Artistic Director Loretta Greco:
“There is no better way to launch this thrilling new season than with the brilliant Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, whom we are welcoming to The Huntington for the first time, with his stunning play Purpose! Branden has conjured a richly layered family in the throes of a seismic generational reckoning — one worthy of the greatest family dramas. Experiencing Purpose had me constantly trying to catch my breath I was laughing so hard — until its complex truths hit home. The play’s beating heart: a compelling reminder that we all need something larger and more impactful than ourselves to strive towards in community with others. Perhaps now more than ever.”
From Director Josiah Davis:
“Legacy is hard to build. But it’s even harder to escape. The journey of finding yourself is difficult when expectations of who you ought to be, who you were raised to be looks over your head. Is it possible to escape familial demands and carve out a space of your own?”
From Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins:
“For me, Purpose is a family story that’s trying to transcend, to be about the universal. It’s a play that’s really trying to connect people… it’s about taking stock of the community immediately around you and figuring out how to love deeper and better.”
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