La Jolla Playhouse presents Purpose
May 12-June 7, 2026
Mandell Weiss Theatre
West Coast-Premiere Play
Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg
TONY AWARD FOR BEST PLAY 2025
PULITZER PRIZE FOR DRAMA 2025
“It is brilliant and funny and serious and complex and powerful.” Oprah Winfrey
The most awarded play of 2025 is coming to the Playhouse. Fresh from winning the Tony Award for Best Play, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award and the Drama Desk Award, Purpose is “a thumping, riveting, guns-blazing, major new American play” (NY Daily News).
For decades, the influential Jasper family of Chicago has been a pillar of Black American Politics: civil rights leaders, celebrity pastors and congressmen. When the youngest son Nazareth returns home with an uninvited friend in tow, the family is forced to reckon with decades of secrets and unresolved tensions that threaten to topple their empire.
As The New York Times said: “Purpose showcases Jacobs-Jenkins’ vivid language, spitfire dialogue and sweeping sense of American history… you may have trouble catching your breath from laughing so hard.” This West Coast premiere production is led by celebrated San Diego director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg.
