Due to overwhelming demand, Steppenwolf Theatre Company is pleased to announce two additional weeks of performances for its critically-acclaimed world premiere of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ epic family drama Purpose, now extended through Sunday, May 12, 2024 in Steppenwolf’s Downstairs Theater, 1650 N. Halsted St. in Chicago. Single tickets for all performances, including this second and final extension, are now on sale at steppenwolf.org and the Box Office at (312) 335-1650.
Directed by two-time Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad, Purpose features ensemble members Alana Arenas (David Makes Man, The Brother/Sister Plays), Glenn Davis (King James, Downstate) and Jon Michael Hill (Elementary, Pass Over) with Ayanna Bria Bakari (Last Night and the Night Before, The Chi), Harry Lennix (March 14 - April 18 and May 7 - 12, 2024, The Blacklist, The DC Universe), Tamara Tunie (Law & Order: SVU, I Wanna Dance with Somebody) and Cedric Young (April 19 – May 5, 2024, Familiar, Lindiwe, The Chi).
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 to Illinois with an uninvited friend in tow, the family is forced into a reckoning with itself, its faith and the legacies of Black radicalism. Spirited, hilarious and filled with intrigue, Purpose is an epic family drama – a long-awaited world premiere from one of the country’s most celebrated voices.
Pictured (clockwise from left) Harry Lennix, ensemble members Alana Arenas and Glenn Davis, Tamara Tunie, Ayanna Bria Bakari and ensemble member Jon Michael Hill in Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s world premiere of Purpose. Photo by Michael Brosilow.
The creative team includes Todd Rosenthal (Scenic Design), Dede Ayite (Costume Design), Amith Chandrashaker (Lighting Design), Rob Milburn & Michael Bodeen (Sound Design), Tyrone Phillips (Associate Director), Matt Hawkins (Fight Choreographer), Kate DeVore (Vocal Coach), Jonathan L. Green (Dramaturg), Patrick Zakem (Creative Producer), Tom Pearl (Producing Director), JC Clementz, CSA (Casting), Laura D. Glenn (Production Stage Manager) and Jaclynn Joslin (Assistant Stage Manager). For full cast and creative team bios, click here.
Production Details:
Title: Purpose – World Premiere!
Playwright: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Director: Phylicia Rashad
Cast: ensemble members Alana Arenas (Morgan Jasper), Glenn Davis (Solomon “Junior” Jasper Jr.) and Jon Michael Hill (Nazareth “Naz” Jasper) with Ayanna Bria Bakari (Aziza Houston), Harry Lennix (Solomon “Sonny” Jasper, March 14 - April 18 and May 7 - 12, 2024), Tamara Tunie (Claudine Jasper) and Cedric Young (Solomon “Sonny” Jasper, April 19 – May 5, 2024).
Location: Steppenwolf’s Downstairs Theater, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago
Dates: Previews: Thursday, March 14 – Saturday, March 23, 2024
Press performance/Opening: Sunday, March 24, 2024 at 6 pm
Regular run: Tuesday, March 26 – Sunday, May 12, 2024
Curtain Times: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 pm; Saturdays at 3 pm* & 7:30 pm; and Sundays at 3 pm*.
*The matinee performance on Saturday, May 4 will begin at 2 pm; the matinee performances on Sunday, May 5 and Saturday, May 11 will begin at 1 pm.
Please note: there will be a 2 pm performance on Wednesday, April 10; there will not be a 7:30 pm performance on Wednesday, April 10, Tuesday, April 16 or Saturday, May 11 (Steppenwolf Gala).
Tickets: Single tickets for Purpose ($20 - $128) are now on sale at steppenwolf.org and the Box Office at (312) 335-1650. Steppenwolf Flex Memberships are also currently on sale: Black Card Memberships with six tickets for use any time for any production and RED Card Memberships for theatergoers under 30.
Accessible Performance Dates:
Audio-described and touch tour: Sunday, April 7 at 3 pm (1:30 pm touch tour, 3 pm curtain)
Open-captioned: Thursday, April 4 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, April 13 at 3 pm
ASL-interpreted: public performance: Friday, April 12 at 7:30 pm
Artist Biographies:
Alana Arenas (Morgan Jasper) joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble in 2007 and created the role of Pecola Breedlove for the Steppenwolf for Young Adults production of The Bluest Eye, which also played at the New Victory Theater Off-Broadway. Recent Steppenwolf appearances include the Steppenwolf for Young Adults production of Monster, The Fundamentals, Marie Antoinette, Tribes, Belleville, Head of Passes, Good People, Three Sisters, The March, Man in Love, Middletown, The Hot L Baltimore, The Etiquette of Vigilance, The Brother/Sister Plays, The Tempest, The Crucible, Spare Change and The Sparrow Project. Other theatre credits include Disgraced (American Theater Company), The Arabian Nights (Lookingglass Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Kansas City Repertory Theatre), Eyes (eta Creative Arts), SOST (MPAACT), WVON (Black Ensemble Theater) and Hecuba (Chicago Shakespeare Theater). Television and film credits include David Makes Man, Canal Street, Crisis, Boss, The Beast, Kabuku Rides and Lioness of Lisabi. She is originally from Miami, Florida, where she began her training at the New World School of the Arts. Alana holds a BFA from The Theatre School at DePaul University.
Ayanna Bria Bakari (Aziza Houston) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: Last Night and the Night Before. Chicago: Relentless, Too Heavy for Your Pocket (TimeLine Theatre); Relentless, How to Catch Creation (Goodman Theatre); As You Like It (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); The Niceties – Black Theater Alliance Award, Stickfly (Writers Theatre). Regional: The Salvagers (Asst. Dir. at Yale Repertory Theatre); Clyde's (TheaterWorks Hartford); Sunflowered (Northern Sky Theater); The Rainmaker (Peninsula Players Theatre); The Originalist (Indiana Repertory Theatre). Television: Wu-Tang: An American Saga (HULU); The CHI (Showtime); Chicago PD, Chicago Fire (NBC); Empire (FOX), 61st Street (AMC). Film: Holiday Heist (BET). Education: BFA, The Theatre School at DePaul University. Ayanna Bria is a governing ensemble member of The Story Theatre and is represented by Stewart Talent. #BLACKLIVESMATTER.
Glenn Davis (Solomon “Junior” Jasper Jr.) is an actor, producer and Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company alongside Audrey Francis, where he has been an ensemble member since 2017. His Steppenwolf credits include: Downstate, The Christians, You Got Older, The Brother/Sister Plays, Head of Passes, King James (also Mark Taper Forum) and most recently Describe the Night. Broadway credits include: Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (also Kirk Douglas Theatre, Mark Taper Forum). Off-Broadway credits include: Transfers (MCC Theatre), Wig Out! (Vineyard Theatre), Downstate (Playwrights Horizons) and King James (MTC). Other regional credits include: Moscow x6 (Williamstown Theatre Festival). International credits include: Downstate (National Theatre, UK); Edward II, The Winter’s Tale and As You Like It (Stratford Festival); Othello (The Shakespeare Company). Television credits include: Billions, 24, The Unit, Jericho and The Good Wife. Glenn is an Artistic Associate at the Young Vic in London and at the Vineyard Theatre in New York. He is also a partner in Cast Iron Entertainment, a collective of artists consisting of Sterling K Brown, Brian Tyree Henry, Jon Michael Hill, Andre Holland and Tarell Alvin McCraney. Cast Iron is currently in residence at The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. In 2021, Glenn founded The Chatham Grove Company along with his producing partner Tarell Alvin McCraney.
Jon Michael Hill (Nazareth “Naz” Jasper) joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble in 2007. Steppenwolf Theatre Company: True West, Pass Over, Constellations, Head of Passes, The Hot L Baltimore, The Tempest, Kafka on the Shore, The Unmentionables. Broadway: Superior Donuts, Pass Over. Off-Broadway: The Refuge Plays (New York Theatre Workshop) Pass Over (Lincoln Center). Film: Pass Over, Widows, In The Radiant City, No Pay, Nudity. Television: Upcoming: A Man in Full (Netflix), Elementary (CBS), Detroit 1-8-7 (ABC), Eastbound and Down (HBO), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC) and Person of Interest (CBS).
Harry Lennix (Solomon “Sonny” Jasper, March 14 - April 18 and May 7 - 12, 2024) Broadway: Radio Golf. Off-Broadway: Titus Andronicus. Chicago: A Raisin in the Sun, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Permanent Collection, Othello, The Great Gatsby, King Hedley II (Mark Taper Forum). Theatre Directing: The Glass Menagerie (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), A Small Oak Tree Runs Red (Congo Square Theatre and Billie Holiday Theatre), Permanent Collection (Robey Theatre Company), Unjustifiable Acts (Goodman Theatre). Select Film & Television: Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Man of Steel, Ray, The Matrix franchise, Love & Basketball, Titus, The Five Heartbeats. TV: The Blacklist, Billions, Keep the Faith, Baby, Dollhouse.
Tamara Tunie (Claudine Jasper) makes her Steppenwolf debut in the role of “Claudine Jasper” in Purpose. Ms. Tunie played the role of “Florence Delva” in the National Black Theater/The New Group’s premiere of Bernarda’s Daughters, originated the role of "Kamala Harris" in The 47th at The Old Vic, London, played the role of "Gloria" in Tony Award-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan’s Building the Wall at New World Stages, "Marvelous" in Danai Gurira’s Familiar for which she won an Obie, “Dorothy Brock" in 42nd Street at the Ordway Theater and “Prospero" in the Pittsburgh Public Theater’s production of The Tempest. She originated the roles of "Kendra" in the Barrington Stage Company production of American Son and "Det. Gwen Washburn'' in the Public Theater production of The Library directed by Steven Soderbergh. She starred as "Maggie" in the first all African American production of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, “Calpurnia" in Julius Caesar opposite Denzel Washington, the 20th Anniversary Actors Fund benefit concert of Dreamgirls, and shared the Broadway stage with the late, great Lena Horne, in the musical Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music. Film and television roles include I Wanna Dance with Somebody, Flight, Black Earth Rising, The Red Road, Cowboy Bebop and 23 seasons on Law & Order: SVU, to name a few.
Cedric Young (Solomon “Sonny” Jasper, April 19 – May 5, 2024) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: Master Harold And The Boys, The Song Of Jacob Zulu, A Clockwork Orange, No Place Like Home, Wishes, Suspicions And Secret Ambitions, Familiar, Lindiwe. (Goodman Theatre) Mary, Carlyle, Dartmoor Prison, The Upstairs Concierge. (The Black Ensemble) A Raisin In The Sun, Medea (Lookingglass) Race. (Victory Gardens) Living Green, Affluenza. (Touchstone) Coming of the Hurricane. (Court) Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Jitney, Two Trains Running. Regional: Fences, (Portland Stages Maine); Jitney (The Alley Houston; True Colors Atlanta); Piano Lesson, (Madison Rep). I Just Stopped To See The Man, Pygmalion, The Winter’s Tale (Milwaukee Chamber). Joe Turner’s Come And Gone (Virginia Stage Company). Film: Backdraft, The Paper, Home Alone 2, Nothing Like the Holidays, Batman Begins. Television: Power Book IV Force, The Chi, Fargo, Chicago Fire, Chicago Justice, Sense 8, Early Edition. Love and Thanks to My Wife Mary for your love and support; none of this happens without YOU! 241 in time.
Branden-Jacobs Jenkins (Playwright) is a Brooklyn-based playwright and producer and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist. Recent theater credits include The Comeuppance (Signature Theatre), Girls (Yale Rep), Everybody (Signature Theatre), War (Yale Rep; Lincoln Center/LCT3), Gloria (Vineyard Theatre), Appropriate (Obie Award; Signature Theatre), An Octoroon (Obie Award; Soho Rep, Theatre for a New Audience) and Neighbors (The Public Theater). He was showrunner, executive producer, and writer for HULU/FX’s drama series, Kindred, based on Octavia E. Butler’s groundbreaking novel. He currently teaches at Yale University and serves as Vice President of the Dramatists Guild council and on the boards of Soho Rep, Park Avenue Armory, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Dramatists Guild Foundation. Honors include a USA Artists fellowship, a Guggenheim fellowship, the MacArthur fellowship, the Windham-Campbell Prize for Drama and the inaugural Tennessee Williams Award.
Phylicia Rashad (Director) A two-time Tony Award winner (A Raisin in the Sun and Skeleton Crew), her directing credits include Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Our Lady of 121st Street, The Roommate, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (2014 NAACP Theatre Award for Best Director), Immediate Family, Fences, A Raisin in the Sun and Four Little Girls. Producing credits include and Ossie Davis’ revival of Purlie Victorious on Broadway and PBS film (KCET-TV) The Old Settler. Ms. Rashad currently serves as Dean of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University.
Accessibility
As a commitment to make the Steppenwolf experience accessible to everyone, performances featuring American Sign Language Interpretation, Open Captioning and Audio Description are offered during the run of each STC production (see dates above). Assistive listening devices and large-print programs are available for every performance and all our spaces are equipped with an induction hearing loop. Our building features wheelchair accessible seating and restrooms, push-button entrances, a courtesy wheelchair and all-gender restrooms, with accessible counter and table spaces at our bars. For additional information regarding accessibility, visit steppenwolf.org/plan-your-visit/accessibility or e-mail access@steppenwolf.org.
Sponsor Information
Purpose was created with funds from the Prince Prize for Commissioning Original Work, which was awarded to Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2015. It is also sponsored in part by Northern Trust, the Zell Family Foundation and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois. United Airlines is the Official and Exclusive Airline of Steppenwolf. Steppenwolf is also grateful for the significant season support from lead sponsors Allstate Insurance Company, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies, Caroline and Keating Crown, Good Chaos, Joyce Foundation, Lefkofsky Family Foundation, Ron and Paula Mallicoat, Northern Trust, Anne and Don Phillips, John Hart and Carol Prins, Robert Rivkin and Cindy Moelis, Shubert Foundation, Inc, Walder Foundation, and Zell Family Foundation. Steppenwolf also acknowledges generous support from premier sponsors Anonymous, ArentFox Schiff, Andrew and Amy Bluhm, Michael and Cathy Brennan, Ann and Richard Carr, Chicago Community Trust, Conagra Brands Foundation, Steven and Nancy Crown, CRC Group, Rich and Margery Feitler, Julius Frankel Foundation, FROST CHICAGO, Goldman Sachs, Shmaila Tahir and Asheesh Goel, Bob and Amy Greenebaum, Kirkland & Ellis, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Christopher and Eileen Murphy, The Orlebeke Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, Bryan Traubert and Penny Pritzker, Sacks Family Foundation, Smart Family Foundation of Illinois, Gary Sinise Foundation, Elliot A. Stultz, and Vinci Restaurant. Steppenwolf also acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency. This project is partially supported by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.
Steppenwolf Theatre Company is the nation’s premiere 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, 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.