Purpose

The grown children of a powerful, respected family gather at their parents' home for what should be an ordinary visit, but old resentments and long-buried secrets soon surface. Central to the tension is the family's need to maintain its public image against the private cracks in its foundation, as siblings who have taken very different paths in life clash over expectations, loyalty, and what they each owe the family name. A visiting friend and outsider gets pulled into the family's orbit, offering an outside perspective on dynamics that have shaped the family for generations, as the visit builds toward a reckoning none of them can avoid.

Purpose was written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago in 2024. It later transferred to Broadway in 2025, where it won that year's Pulitzer Prize for Drama, one of the most decorated new American plays of its season.

The core of the play is a family's fraught relationships, siblings who have grown apart, parents who expect deference, and the strain of living under a famous surname. The tone moves between sharp comedy and serious family drama, often within a single scene, as old jokes give way to real confrontation. Audiences remember the dinner-table scenes where politeness breaks down and buried resentments come out. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is known for blending comedy with pointed social observation, and that balance carries through here. It suits audiences who enjoy layered family dramas, sharp dialogue, and stories about legacy and expectation within a close-knit, accomplished family.