Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s acclaimed production of Purpose by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins was honored tonight with two 2025 Tony Awards including Best Play and Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play (Kara Young) at the 78th Annual Tony Awards ceremony at New York’s legendary Radio City Music Hall. Purpose, which enjoyed its world premiere at Steppenwolf in 2024, recently announced an eight-week Broadway extension, playing through August 31, 2025 at the Helen Hayes Theater, 240 West 44th St. in New York. Tickets are available at purposeonbroadway.com.
In his acceptance speech on behalf of the production, Steppenwolf Artistic Director and Purpose cast member Glenn Davis stated, “On behalf of the entire Steppenwolf Community and Team Purpose, I would like to thank the Broadway League and the American Theater Wing for this honor. My fellow Artistic Director Audrey Francis, Executive Director Brooke Flanagan and I dedicate this award to Steppenwolf’s leadership, staff, board and especially our ensemble. They are, without question some of the greatest artists in the country – risk takers and innovators who have launched some of the boldest new plays in the American theatrical canon.”
Davis continued, “Thank you to our singular Producer, the incomparable David Stone, and to the entire producing team for giving us this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And thank you to our brilliant director Ms. Phylicia Rashad, the Queen, for her iconic leadership and vision. And, finally, thank you to our extraordinary playwright, the genius that is Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Branden, you created this play with us, and for us – you are a creative genius, a friend, I love you, thank you, one of the great voices of our generation.”
Purpose was nominated for six Tony Awards, also including Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play (LaTanya Richardson Jackson), Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play (Jon Michael Hill & Harry Lennix) and Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play (Glenn Davis).
Purpose is also the winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 2025 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play and two 2025 Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play (Kara Young).
Directed by two-time Tony Award-winner Phylicia Rashad, the Broadway production features Steppenwolf ensemble members Alana Arenas, Glenn Davis and Jon Michael Hill joined by LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Harry Lennix and Kara Young.
Produced on Broadway by David Stone, Purpose was commissioned by and had its world premiere on March 24, 2024 at Chicago’s legendary Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where it received rave reviews. The production sold out its initial engagement and extension weeks, becoming one of the highest-grossing shows in Steppenwolf’s nearly 50-year history.
About Purpose
For decades, the influential Jasper family has been a pillar of Black American Politics: civil rights leaders, pastors and congressmen. But like all families, there are cracks and secrets just under the surface. When the youngest son Nazareth returns home with an uninvited friend in tow, the family is forced into a reckoning with itself, its faith and the legacies of Black political power and familial duty. Spirited, hilarious and filled with intrigue, Purpose is an epic family drama from one of the country’s most celebrated voices.
About the Winners
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Playwright) is a Brooklyn-based writer and a professor in the practice at Yale University. His plays include Appropriate, The Comeuppance, Girls, Everybody, War, Gloria, An Octoroon and Neighbors. His work has received Tony, Lortel, Drama League, Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Jeff and Obie awards. His other honors include the Tennessee Williams Award and the MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships. A graduate of Juilliard’s playwriting program, he is the vice president of the Dramatists Guild council and serves on the boards of DGF, Soho Rep and the Park Avenue Armory. For Purpose, Branden received the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 2025 New York Drama Critics’ Award for Best Play and Best Play nominations from the Tony Awards, the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle.
Kara Young (Aziza Houston). Broadway: Purpose (Drama Desk winner; Drama League & Outer Critics nominations), Purlie Victorious (Tony Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk Award and Drama League nomination), Cost of Living (Tony nomination), Clyde’s (Theatre World Award, Tony and Drama Desk nominations). Off-Broadway: Table 17 (Lucille Lortel Award), Twelfth Night (Obie Award), All the Natalie Portmans (Lucille Lortel nomination), Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven, The New Englanders, The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll’d, Syncing Ink and Pretty Hunger. Kara can be seen in Amazon’s “I’m a Virgo” (Breakthrough Performance Indie Spirit nomination). She can next be seen co-starring in Aleshea Harris’ feature film Is God Is for Orion Pictures.
Steppenwolf Theatre Company is the nation’s premier Ensemble Theater with 49 members who are among the top actors, playwrights and directors in the field. Thrilling, powerful, groundbreaking productions — from Balm in Gilead and Grapes of Wrath to August: Osage County, Downstate and The Brother/Sister Plays — have made this theatre legendary. Founded in 1976, Steppenwolf started as a group of teens performing in the basement of a church. Today, the company's artistic force remains rooted in the original vision of its founders: an artist-driven theatre, whose vitality is defined by its appetite for bold and innovative work. Every aspect of Steppenwolf is rooted in its Ensemble ethos, from the intergenerational artistic programming to the multi-genre performance series LookOut, to the nationally recognized work of Steppenwolf Education and Engagement which serves nearly 15,000 teens annually. While grounded in the Chicago community, more than 40 original Steppenwolf productions have enjoyed success nationally and internationally, including Broadway, Off-Broadway, London, Sydney, Galway and Dublin. Steppenwolf also holds accolades that include the National Medal of Arts, 12 Tony Awards, two Pulitzer Prize-winning commissions and more. Led by Artistic Directors Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis, Executive Director Brooke Flanagan and Board of Trustees Chair, Keating Crown — Steppenwolf continually redefines the landscape of acting and performance.
Steppenwolf’s Mission: Steppenwolf strives to create thrilling, courageous and provocative art in a thoughtful and inclusive environment. We succeed when we disrupt your routine with experiences that spark curiosity, empathy and joy. We invite you to join our ensemble as we navigate, together, our complex world. steppenwolf.org, facebook.com/steppenwolftheatre, twitter.com/steppenwolfthtr and instagram.com/steppenwolfthtr.
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