Purpose on Broadway Tickets

Welcome Home: Tickets for Purpose the Play on Broadway

Purpose, the explosive new play from Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, the Tony Award-winning playwright of Appropriate, transfers to Broadway's Helen Hayes Theater. This comedy-drama about an influential Black political family, and the secrets that could be their undoing, was a smash-hit during its original run at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre. From the “white-hot writer of the moment” (Chicago Tribune) this is one family dinner you won’t want to miss.

What is the play Purpose about?

This epic family drama follows the Jaspers, a powerful family who have had a decades-long influence on Black American politics and a familial line that includes pastors, congressmen and civil rights leaders. But secrets are lurking beneath this perfect veneer, and when the Jaspers’ youngest son, Nazareth - the outsider, the “weird one” - returns to the family home in Illinois, he brings along an uninvited guest, and an unwanted reckoning. The Jaspers must grapple with their faith, their history, and the legacies of Black radicalism.

Raw, explosive and full of both laughs and uncomfortable truths, Purpose debuted at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre in spring 2024, where it was met with glowing reviews. Described by the Chicago Sun-Times as containing "knee-buckling scenes [with] explosive intensity," and by Broadway World as having "set the table for one hell of a family dinner," Purpose examines the fine line between the public and the private, and asks: what really makes a family? So take a seat, grab a plate, and watch as the Jaspers’ unravel…

Who are the cast and creative team of Purpose?

Produced by the Steppenwolf Theatre team, Purpose is written by two-time Pulitzer Prize nominated, Tony Award-winning playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Gloria, Appropriate, An Octoroon) and directed by Phylicia Rashad (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences). Perhaps best known for her role as Clair Huxtable on The Cosby Show, Rashad is also an accomplished director and a two-time Tony Award winner.

Purpose in Chicago starred Jon Michael Hill (Elementary), Harry Lennix (The Blacklist) and Tamara Tunie (Law & Order: SVU), though casting for the Broadway transfer has yet to be announced.

Get Tickets for Purpose at the Helen Hayes Theater

Dig in to this “feast of barely contained familial pandemonium” (Chicago Reader), from one of America’s most exciting voices in theater, and book tickets for Purpose at Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theater today.