The Cast of Purpose Talks on Opening Night: 'This Is the Best-Case Scenario for What Theater Can Be'

Purpose, a new family drama by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins with more laughs than a drawing-room comedy, opened on March 17 at Second Stage's Hayes Theater. The ensemble play is directed by Phylicia Rashad in her Broadway directorial debut. "I am working with an ensemble of masters," she said to The Broadway Show on opening night. "And I am so grateful that they listen to anything I have to say!"

Hear more from Jacobs-Jenkins and his cast—featuring Harry Lennix, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Jon Michael Hill, Glenn Davis, Alana Arenas and Kara Young—in the video below.

Video Player is loading.

Play Video

PlaySkip BackwardSkip Forward

Mute

Current Time 0:00

/

Duration 0:00

Loaded: 0%

0:00

Stream Type LIVE

Seek to live, currently behind liveLIVE

Remaining Time -0:00

 

1x

Playback Rate

Chapters

• Chapters

Descriptions

• descriptions off, selected

Captions

• captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
• captions off, selected

Audio Track

Fullscreen

This is a modal window.

Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

Text

ColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanOpacityOpaqueSemi-Transparent

Text Background

ColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanOpacityOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparent

Caption Area Background

ColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanOpacityTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaque

Font Size

50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%

Text Edge Style

NoneRaisedDepressedUniformDrop shadow

Font Family

Proportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall Caps

ResetDone

Close Modal Dialog

End of dialog window.

Close Modal Dialog

This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.