**** Highly Recommended Often when I see a play about families, I think about a Dickens quote about the best of times, and the worst of times. Family can be the best, but it can also be the absolute worst. So, family angst is at the center of Purpose, a must-see world premiere at Steppenwolf. Sometimes a family occasion – mom’s birthday, Thanksgiving, Sunday brunch – becomes a command performance. Purpose is all about a command performance for a brother’s homecoming – from prison! It’s an amazingly good play – funny, fraught, fiery – and there’s a food fight! 4 BIG Spotlights
Purpose was written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and directed by Phylicia Rashad. The gorgeous set was designed by Todd Rosenthal.
Speaking directly to the audience, “Naz” Jasper brilliantly played by Jon Michael Hall, opens the show. He tells us about himself, that he’s a photographer who’s been in Ontario shooting pictures of the morning mist rising over lakes, that he’s on his way home for his brother’s homecoming, that he’d agreed to be a sperm donor for his neighbor, and that since the timing was right, he had to make a detour to Niagara Falls. He went on to say that he’d missed the train so his neighbor had agreed to drive him to Chicago.
He also explained some of his family background. He was a disappointment to his father because he’d dropped out of divinity school – he was supposed to be a pastor like his father and his father before him – but he just couldn’t believe it all. His brother, a politician and the apple of his father’s eye, was found guilty of embezzling campaign funds, his brother’s wife was found guilty of income tax evasion. Since they had small children, he went to prison first, now he’s out, so “Naz” now has a command performance.
Because of his detour to Niagara Falls, “Naz” missed his train so his friend volunteered to drive him to Chicago. Once he’s home, the audience meets his family. His mother, Claudine Jasper (Tamara Tunie), is a lawyer, but she’s really embraced the role of family matriarch. Today she’s upset because her other son, Solomon “Junior” Jasper, Jr. (Glenn Davis) and his wife, Morgan (Alana Arenas), didn’t bring her grandbabies along.
Just then the doorbell rings, his mother answers the door, and a female voice says “Naz” left his phone in the car. When she saw a young woman at the door asking for her son, Claudine becomes a force to be reckoned with. Suddenly, without saying a word, Aziza Houston (Ayanna Bria Bakari) is sitting on the couch while “Junior” gets her suitcase out of the car.
When she sees his father, Solomon “Sonny” Jasper (Harry Lennix), a famous civil rights leader and pastor, Aziza becomes a fan girl! As the evening progresses and the family sits down for dinner, she becomes a witness to the Jasper family’s ugly secrets
Purpose has been extended through May 5th in the Downstairs Theatre at Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted Street, Chicago. Self-parking is available in the Steppenwolf Garage, accessible parking in the lot north of Front Bar. Valet parking is also available.
Running time is approximately 3 hours with a 15-minute intermission. Performances are Tuesdays through Fridays at 7:30 pm, Saturdays at 3:00 & 7:30 pm, Sundays at 3:00 pm, with an added performance on Wednesday, April 10th at 2:00 pm. There will not be a performance on April 10th at 7:30 pm or Tuesday, April 16th.
Accessible performances: Audio-described & touch tour, Sunday, April 7th at 3:00 pm (1:30 pm touch tour); Open-captioned, Thursday, April 4th at 7:30 pm and Saturday, April 13th at 3:00 pm; ASL-interpreted, Friday, April 12th at 7:30 pm.
Tickets range from $20-$116. FYI (312) 335-1650 or www.steppenwolf.org.