Theater: “Purpose” @ Helen Hayes Theatre
Do power couples produce powerful children? There’s no conclusive evidence that they do—although the Jaspers, the protagonists of “Purpose” by Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins, might make you think just the opposite.
This upper-middle-class Black family is headed up by ordained minister-civil rights activist Solomon or “Sonny” Jasper (Harry Lennix) and his wife Claudine (LaTanya Richardson Jackson). Residents of Chicago’s Jackson Park Highlands neighborhood, they’re preparing to welcome their two sons home to celebrate Claudine’s birthday. The elder son Solomon Junior (Glenn Davis) is a glad-handing politician, who has just been released from minimum security prison (thanks to Sonny’s influence), having served time for embezzling campaign funds.
Then there’s younger son Nazareth aka Naz (played by funny-guy Jon Michael Hill from “Pass Over”). Affectionately called “my weird son” by his mother, Naz has a passion for nature photography and he’s turned it into a vocation.
Naz, who serves as the play’s narrator, has brought along Aziza (Kara Young from “Purlie Victorious”), a neighbor from New York City. They have news that is sure to knock the Jaspers right into the center of Lake Michigan: Aziza wants to have a baby and she’s asked Naz to be her sperm donor.
What follows is a raucous, hilarious dinner party where Naz’s and everyone else’s dirty laundry is exposed. This includes Sonny’s lifelong disappointment in Junior. In the midst of this commotion, Junior’s wife Morgan (Alana Arenas) joins the party, descending the staircase in wraparound sunglasses, and sporting an attitude. Quiet at first, she eventually flies into a rage about having to do all the parenting while her husband was in the pen.
The frivolity turns serious in Act II, as Sonny and Claudine seek to contain any damage Aziza might do if she reveals that she’s bearing the grandchild of a hallowed civil rights leader. It could tarnish the Jasper family name, which has already been sullied by Sonny’s reputation as a promiscuous baby daddy (“14 kids!” he admits.) What seemed like a dramedy has turned into a plot worthy of Shakespeare or Eugene O’Neill.
By this point in the entertainment you, like I, may be wondering why this play is called “Purpose.” Sonny explains that his previous purpose was well-defined—to stand up for civil rights and call out injustice. Having stepped away from the pulpit, he’s found a new purpose in, of all things, beekeeping. Says Sonny:
“Imagine we are all worker bees in a giant hive called life. Each bee has a specific role within the hive, whether it's building comb, collecting nectar, or caring for the young. These roles contribute to the greater good of the hive's survival and success. Just like bees, we all have a unique purpose within the larger ecosystem of life. Our purpose may not always be readily apparent, but it's there and only we can live our purpose.”
When “Purpose” opened in Chicago last year, it was rumored to be a roman-a-play-a-clef about the Reverend Jesse Jackson and his family. (Indeed the Jaspers’ slogan “Keep Hope Right Here” is suspiciously similar to “Keep Hope Alive.”) But even if the play isn’t about Jackson, the points it makes about disappointment in one’s children—and their failure to carry on your legacy—are still strong.
Every member of the ensemble is wonderful, but Richardson Jackson is also knock-out, drag-down funny as Claudine, who can switch from gracious hostess to scheming Lady Macbeth faster than you can spell Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins. “Come into my office,” she tells someone ominously as she’s about to kneecap them.
The legacy of the civil rights movement, navigating family expectations, and the challenges of finding one's own purpose within a community: Kind of a meaty agenda. But frankly you’d expect nothing less from playwright Jacobs-Jenkins, whose “Appropriate,” “Comeuppance” and “Gloria” have long shown the world how great plays should be written. At the Helen Hayes directed by the great Felicia Rashad. Your purpose, of course, is to see it.
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