Since the beginning, family drama has been this company’s signature.
Gritty, explosive and often hilarious plays that use the vessel of the nuclear family to explore the big questions of American life and identity. Whether featuring Steinbeck’s Joad farmers, Tracy Letts’s searing Weston family, the twisted phantoms of Sam Shepard’s masterpieces or the web of family and community in Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Brother/Sister Plays, many of this company’s landmark productions have been inhabited by iconic, painfully relatable families.
Enter the Jasper Family.
The Jaspers, fictional titans of Black history and culture, are the invention of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, one of the most vital and acclaimed dramatic writers working today. This family, despite its celebrity, is familiar: they argue, they shame, they love.
Purpose begins with a family homecoming, and it is fitting that this production welcomes so many artists back to Steppenwolf. Our esteemed director, the legendary Phylicia Rashad, returns to lead a cast that includes Glenn Davis and fellow ensemble members Jon Michael Hill and Alana Arenas (last seen onstage here in 2019 and 2017, respectively). They are joined by Harry Lennix (in our opinion one of the finest actors to ever come out of Chicago), and Ayanna Bria Bakari, seen here last season in Last Night and the Night Before. And, of course, the Jasper family couldn’t be complete without its matriarch, played by the tremendous Tamara Tunie, who makes her Steppenwolf debut.
This intergenerational group of artists, many of whom Branden wrote these characters for, are the perfect conduits for the play. Watching them bring these characters to life represents Steppenwolf at its best: a family at an inflection point, navigating its complicated history, present and future. It’s lightning in a bottle, and a reminder that great acting is only possible because of great writing.
But what this play aims to do is even more ambitious: putting the legacies of Black politics and faith under a microscope. In all of Branden’s work, he manages to surprise, to provoke and to ask thorny questions that less intrepid writers might leave untouched. His plays are often described as reckonings: the debts of past transgressions and well-hid secrets come due.
Welcome to Purpose, a play that has been in development for many years here at Steppenwolf. That it has finally reached the stage is both humbling and gratifying, and we are thrilled to share this world premiere with Chicago.
Audrey Francis and Glenn Davis
Artistic Directors
STEPPENWOLF PRESENTS
PURPOSE
By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Phylicia Rashad‡
FEATURING
Alana Arenas†*, Ayanna Bria Bakari*, Glenn Davis†*, Jon Michael Hill†, Harry Lennix (March 14–April 18, May 7–12), Tamara Tunie and Cedric Young (April 19–May 5)
CREATIVE TEAM
Todd Rosenthal+ Scenic Design
Dede Ayite+ Costume Design
Amith Chandrashaker+ Lighting Design
Rob Milburn & Michael Bodeen+ Sound Design
Tyrone Phillips Associate Director
Matt Hawkins Fight Choreographer
Kate DeVore Vocal Coach
Jonathan L. Green Dramaturg
Patrick Zakem Creative Producer
Tom Pearl Producing Director
JC Clementz, CSA Casting
Laura D. Glenn* Production Stage Manager (through April 25)
Jaclynn Joslin* Stage Manager
Michelle Medvin* Assistant Stage Manager (beginning April 16)
† member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble.
* member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers.
+ member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829 of the IATSE.
‡ member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.
This Theatre operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Purpose was commissioned by Steppenwolf Theatre Company;
Anna D. Shapiro, Artistic Director and David Schmitz, Managing Director
Developed at the Colorado New Play Festival, Steamboat Springs, CO, 2019
CAST
Alana Arenas†* Morgan Jasper
Ayanna Bria Bakari* Aziza Houston
Glenn Davis†* Solomon “Junior” Jasper
Jon Michael Hill†* Nazareth “Naz” Jasper
Harry Lennix* Solomon “Sonny” Jasper (March 14–April 18, May 7–12)
Tamara Tunie* Claudine Jasper
Cedric Young* Solomon “Sonny” Jasper (April 19–May 5)
UNDERSTUDIES
Kayla Forde Aziza Houston
Jabari Khaliq Nazareth “Naz” Jasper
Shadana Patterson* Morgan Jasper
Joseph Primes* Solomon ‘Sonny’ Jasper (April 19-May 12)
Penelope Walker* Claudine Jasper
Johnard Washington Solomon “Junior” Jasper
Cedric Young* Solomon “Sonny” Jasper
ADDITIONAL STAFF
Ray Sanchez Wig Design
Sotirios Livaditis Associate Scenic Design
Johan H. Gallardo Associate Costume Design
Maximo Grano De Oro Assistant Lighting Design
Lauren Littlejohn Production Assistant
Caroline Michele Uy Script Supervisor
Cindy Moon Costume Lead
Kyra Pan Stitcher
Cindy Moon, Melissa Perkins, Jeanette Rodriguez Additional Costume Shoppers
Josh Derby, Billy Earnesse, Kenny Faust, John McTaggart, Maggie Redding Additional Carpenters
Amy Couey Interim Assistant Scenic Charge
Zhanna Albertini, Marcus Klein, Abby West Additional Paint
This play runs approximately 2 hours and 50 minutes, including one 15-minute intermission.
As a courtesy to the actors and your fellow patrons, please turn off your cell phones before the performance. The taking of photographs and the use of any type of recording device are not allowed in the theater during performances and is a violation of state and federal copyright laws; digital media will be deleted, and tape or film will be confiscated.
Entry and re-entry into the theater after the performance begins is not guaranteed.
The theater reserves the right to limit admission of children younger than the age of six.