'Purpose' Follows the Family Drama of a Civil Rights Icon

Summary

Podcast Summary: ALL OF IT with Alison Stewart – Episode: "Purpose" Follows the Family Drama of a Civil Rights Icon

Introduction

In this episode of ALL OF IT, hosted by Alison Stewart on WNYC, the focus is on Brandon Jacob Jenkins' new play, Purpose, which delves into the intricate dynamics of a family led by a civil rights icon. The play, currently running at the Hayes Theater, explores themes of legacy, identity, and familial secrets within the context of America's civil rights movement.

Overview of the Play: Purpose

Purpose centers around Solomon Jasper Brennan, a revered civil rights leader who has dedicated his life to activism alongside figures like Martin Luther King Jr. The narrative unfolds as Solomon's family grapples with his impending legacy and their own personal struggles. The play highlights the generational divides and the personal costs of upholding a public legacy.

Key Characters and Relationships

• Solomon Jasper Brennan: The patriarch, a civil rights icon whose public persona contrasts with his private life.
• Naz (Nazareth): Solomon's younger son, who has distanced himself from his father's path by dropping out of divinity school. Portrayed by John Michael Hill, Naz is depicted as a solitary figure struggling with his identity and familial expectations.
• Claudine: The matriarch of the family, played by Latonya Richardson Jackson. Claudine embodies strength and control, managing the household despite the emotional turmoil beneath the surface.
• Aziza: Naz's friend who becomes a pivotal character by forming a deep bond with him, challenging the family's dynamics and secrets.

In-Depth Discussion

Character Development and Ensemble Dynamics

Brandon Jacob Jenkins emphasizes the importance of character authenticity in blending drama and comedy. John Michael Hill discusses the essence of creating relatable characters that the audience can connect with:

"I think the magic of the theater is that we sit in the dark and we project ourselves into these people on stage... if I could be writing the phone book, and I feel like I'd be a good show." [03:34]

The ensemble cast, under the direction of Phylicia Rashad, brings depth to the characters, ensuring that each member's journey feels genuine and impactful. The interactions between characters, especially between Naz and his father Solomon, reveal underlying tensions and unspoken emotions.

Themes of Legacy and Identity

The play navigates the complexities of living up to a parent's legacy while forging one's own identity. Solomon Jasper Brennan represents the older generation's commitment to activism, while Naz embodies the struggle of younger generations to find their own path:

"He hates being called living history, but he's helped shape the world and still has to witness that not all things are permanent." [06:07]

This generational clash is further explored through Naz's concealed aspects of his life, including his sexuality and personal relationships, highlighting the pressures of maintaining a public image.

Symbolism and Set Design

The dinner table in Purpose serves as a central symbol—a space where family members confront their issues. John Michael Hill describes the dinner scene as a "pure ensemble scene" akin to a concerto, where every action and reaction influences the flow of the narrative:

"You can't hide at a dinner table unless you get up and leave. That's an event in a story." [18:28]

The set, crafted by Todd and his team, features portraits of Solomon Jasper Brennan with historical figures, reinforcing the family's public legacy and the intertwining of personal and political lives.

Notable Scenes and Performances

One of the most poignant moments in the play is Morgan's impending emotional breakdown. John Michael Hill explains the meticulous crafting of this scene to build tension:

"When she does speak up, it's about how it's not about her. Wow. You know what I mean?" [16:15]

Alana Reynis's performance as Morgan is highlighted for her ability to convey deep emotion through minimal dialogue, enhancing the scene's impact.

Audience Engagement and Reception

Purpose resonates with audiences by reflecting universal themes of family, secrets, and personal growth. Feedback indicates that viewers see their own experiences mirrored in the characters, fostering a connection that transcends the specifics of the plot:

"We hear a lot of people saying they see their family reflected in these characters... people have secrets and can relate to the struggles portrayed." [23:56]

Brandon Jacob Jenkins notes that the play encourages ongoing conversations about sexuality, neurodivergence, and the multifaceted nature of personal identities.

Notable Quotes

• Alison Stewart: "Purpose is now at the Hayes Theater. It features an incredible ensemble cast." [02:19]
• John Michael Hill: "The magic of the theater is that we sit in the dark and we project ourselves into these people on stage." [03:34]
• Brandon Jacob Jenkins: "Art is at its best when it fosters ongoing conversations in the minds of the audience." [09:02]
• John Michael Hill: "People are laughing and crying. That's awesome to me." [24:29]

Conclusion

In this episode, Alison Stewart provides an insightful exploration of Brandon Jacob Jenkins' Purpose, highlighting the play's exploration of family dynamics within the legacy of civil rights activism. Through engaging discussions with playwright Jenkins and actor John Michael Hill, listeners gain a deeper understanding of the play's themes, character development, and its emotional resonance with audiences. Purpose stands out as a compelling narrative that intertwines personal struggles with historical significance, inviting audiences to reflect on their own familial relationships and identities.

About the Podcast

ALL OF IT is a show by WNYC that delves into culture and the context in which it exists. Hosted by Alison Stewart, the show engages with thinkers, makers, and creators to uncover the "what and why" behind their work, fostering a diverse community that celebrates New York City's cultural richness.

Transcript

[Progressive Insurance]

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[WNYC Studios]

Listener Supported WNYC Studios.

[Alison Stewart]

This is all of It. I'm Alison Stewart. We just heard highlights from our March get lit with all of it book club events and now it's time to start reading our April book. We are reading the Dream Hotel from acclaimed author Leila Lalamay. It follows a woman named Sarah whose dreams are analyzed and interpreted by artificial intelligence. She is detained by members of something called the Risk Assessment Administration. It claims her dreams reveal she is likely to harm her own husband, a man she loves dearly. But as a 21 day detention turns into months, Sarah begins to wonder what she has to do to prove her innocence. I will be in conversation with Leila and you on Tuesday, May 6th at 6pm we will be at the New York Public Library's Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library branch up on the roof, which is a gorgeous space. And in addition to Leila, our special musical guest will be New York based band Ima Ganawa, led by Moroccan musician and educator Atlas Phoenix. The band will perform a special set at our book club event with Leila.

[Harry Lennox]

Again that's Tuesday, May 6th.

[Alison Stewart]

Tickets are free, but they tend to sell out quickly. To reserve your free tickets and to find out how to borrow a copy of the ebook, visit wnyc.org getlit Again, that's wnyc.org getlit and happy reading.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

My next guest, Brandon Jacob Jenkins invites us to think about the title of the plays he writes. He won the Tony Award for Appropriate, about a white family dealing with its questionable past. His new play is called Purpose. Keep that in mind. Civil rights icon Salomon Jasper has marched beside Martin Luther King Jr. Prayed with his followers across the country.

[Alison Stewart]

Children learn about him in school.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

His younger son, Naz, has dropped out of divinity school and moved far, far away, physically and emotionally. The eldest son followed into the family footsteps, political footsteps, I should say, and that landed him in jail. Upon his release, the matriarch of the family has insisted they get together and break bread. And as you can expect, that's not all that gets broken. Purpose is now at the Hayes Theater. It features an incredible ensemble cast. John Michael Hill, who plays the youngest son, Nazareth, joins us in studio. Hi John.

[WNYC Studios]

Hello.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

And we're also joined by Brandon. Jacob Jenkins. It's always good to see you.

[John Michael Hill]

Yes, I'm so happy to be.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

So you write these amazing plays that are dramas but also comedies, but then veer back into dramas. What do you need to include when writing a play to make sure that you have a good drama and comedy on stage?

[John Michael Hill]

I mean, I think it all comes down to character. You know, I think the magic of the theater is that we sit in the dark and we project ourselves into these people on stage. We call actors who are pretending to be other people, and we trust them to take us through all of the ups and downs of a given emotional journey through the story. And I think that's only possible if the characters feel like people we want to spend time with and attach ourselves to. And, of course, the actors don't hurt. You know, when you have someone like John Michael Hill, it's pretty good. If I could be writing the phone book, and I feel like I'd be a good show.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

Naz sort of narrates the story. He has a relationship with us, the audience. What kind of relationship did you want to form with the audience?

[WNYC Studios]

Yeah, it's sort of a daunting responsibility to start the play, and so you want people to be drawn in to the. To the story. So it's. It's finding a fine line of being sort of a charismatic guide through this thing, but also delivering this information, this context to. To what they're going to experience on stage. And that's been a journey. It's. It's different every night. You can really see everything that's going on out there. So you really have to know it well enough to be able to deal with any sort of distraction, but also be able to look people in the eye and connect with them.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

So you're talking to the audience, and then you sort of go back into the ensemble group as an actor. Right. There's two different parts for you. What do you like about being as a part of an ensemble?

[WNYC Studios]

Yeah, so I joined Steppenwolf theater company in 2007 and sort of their ethos, their whole thing is ensemble work and building relationships over time so that you can get up on stage and make it feel like real life. There's a lot in the way when you go to see a play, I think there's, you know, to suspend your disbelief. A lot of work has to be done to sort of make people forget and get swept away by the story. So that's sort of what I love about it, is the connection. Phylicia Rashad, our director, really was always nudging us towards honesty, truth and connection.

[Harry Lennox]

Most importantly, Harry Lennox couldn't be with us in person. So I'll ask you about Solomon Jasper Brennan.

[John Michael Hill]

Okay. Should I pretend to be Harry Lennox? Yes. I try to imitate that gorgeous voice of his.

[Harry Lennox]

It's a good one. Can you describe what Solomon Jasper has meant for the civil Rights movement?

[John Michael Hill]

Gosh, yeah. I mean, I kind of conceived Solomon as, you know, a member of that kind of SNCC generation, silent generation. These are the people who really were the bridge from, I would say the cohort that was MLK and Abernathy and those folks. And these are people who kind of carried that mission into what we think of as policy. Right. Who were kind of among the biggest supporters or people holding up the kind of Voting Rights Act. And I wanted to think about a person who was literally. I mean, there's a line where he's called living history, and he hates that. But it's like, you know, in your lifetime, you have helped shape the world, and yet you're still in the world and you're still having to witness that not all things are permanent. Yeah.

[Harry Lennox]

It's funny because while he is an.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

Icon, he does have some views. You know, he's not quite sure about climate change.

[John Michael Hill]

That's right. Yes.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

He's not up to date, so to speak.

[John Michael Hill]

Yeah. I mean, isn't this the experience of life that, like. I mean, I'm now in my 40s and I have students who get younger as I get older, and you start to, like, be. You're marveling at this notion that they could have these different ideas that are both somehow cockamamie, but also possibly the truth, you know, and that's maybe the experience of moving through life is having to readjust to these new concepts and ideas. Yeah.

[Harry Lennox]

So Naz doesn't seem that close to his dad. Doesn't know that Naz takes photography, doesn't know about his sexuality until his friend Aziza shows up, played by the great Carrie Young. You should say, why does Naz. Why does he keep his card so close to the chest with his family?

[WNYC Studios]

That's so interesting, because I'm not sure how much we should reveal about his sort of childhood and what he's dealing with internally, with his identity and his behaviors. But we can. It's safe to say he's simply a solitary person who, you know, he's dealing with a lot of expectations. Your father was a civil rights leader who expected you, sort of identified you as the one to follow in his footsteps in terms of divinity school and preaching. And to walk away from that, I think, is what sort of caused the rift. But walking away is even kind of prescriptive. I think that Nazareth has found another way into that sort of practice of spirituality, and that's one of those divides between the generations. I think that that needs to be bridged in this play, which I think Brandon does an expert way of. He doesn't really give you answers on each side. There's a conversation. There's real debate. There's real gray area. And I think art is at its best when it does that, because then the conversation continues after the play is over in the minds of the people that have come to see it.

[Harry Lennox]

My guests are John Michael Hill and Brandon Jacob Jenkins. We're speaking about the new play Purpose, about the family of a civil rights leader and their secrets. It's running now at the Hayes Theater.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

We learn.

[Harry Lennox]

I don't know if this is giving too much away. I'm gonna skip that. It's giving too much away. Let's talk about the matriarch of the family, Claudine. Claudine, played by Latonya Richardson Jackson. She is a matriarch with a capital M. What went into crafting her character?

[John Michael Hill]

Oh, man. I mean, you know, American theater is littered with these incredible powerhouse mother characters. I mean, I think there's a bit of Amanda Wingfield in her from Glass Menagerie. There's Mama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. You know, there's obviously Mama Younger. You know, there's a whole, like, shadow that you can build these characters inside of.

[Harry Lennox]

Can I tell you, my friend who saw it said, it's Tennessee Williams meets a Different World.

[John Michael Hill]

Lol. Listen, I'll take it. Those are two of my favorite properties. Cultural properties. Yes. I did it. I nailed it, guys. I nailed it. Mom, did you hear that? But, yeah, no, I think for me, it was about trying to build a. So one of the things, when you have an actor like Latonya, she is like. She oozes charm, you know, it's not very hard to fall in love with her the minute she walks on stage. And when you have that kind of actor, you can build an interesting character on top of that. And I wanted to build a woman who you didn't quite understand how. Just how in control she was of the house she had been entrusted to build. And I think what's beautiful about the job that I think Latonya does is you really do slowly begin to understand what the cost of that kind of matriarchal work is. I think early on they say, you know, she has a law degree. She could have been a million other things, but she chose to be a matriarch. That was a calling for her. And I really wanted to kind of like expose how that is not just. That's not that choice. Like any job is work, you know, and that work takes something from you as much as it gives you something.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

Naz and his father, they don't spend a lot of time together? John?

[WNYC Studios]

No.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

How would you describe their relationship?

[WNYC Studios]

Strained. Strained. I think there's a lot that's unsaid. You have this Adrian patriarch who's sort of set in his ways, and then you have a person who's not openly sharing their inner life readily. So these two forces are sort of have to come to a meeting at some point in this play. And I think those scenes are some of my favorite to work on ever, when the father and son actually get to try to connect. But there's a lot in the way. And then, you know, as the play goes on, you finally get to see these two men bare their souls. And I think it's quietly explosive what's shared. I think that's a really hard thing to achieve, But I think Brandon's done it.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

We see Aziza kind of is a stand in for the audience. She's from the outside. She comes into this house and she's totally awed by what she sees about this family. When she realizes who you are, as she says, what does her reaction, Brandon, to Solomon and the Jasper family tell us about their status?

[John Michael Hill]

First? Yeah, I mean, in some ways, ironically enough, Aziza's biography is probably closest to mine. You know, I was raised by a single mother in a city. I went to an Afrocentric education where we had what we called famous blacks and posters everywhere on the walls, you know, and it's the way in which you come of consciousness with a sense of who matters in the world to you and who's. You meet this sort of. It's a kind of celebrity almost, and she's totally steeped in that. She's walking into this space with an idea of who these people are, but not really knowing the people that they are. But I think it tells you a story about how a lot of political moments shore up celebrities as much as any movie or sports thing. That there is an element of political life that is about the public. And the stories that you begin to tell publicly about them become as much a part of a cultural fabric as anything.

[Harry Lennox]

It was interesting the set.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

Tell me a little bit about what.

[Harry Lennox]

Went into the direction of the set. You like a stare?

[John Michael Hill]

First of all, I love a stare. Give me a level.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

I'll take that.

[John Michael Hill]

And this one has a spiral in it.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

And there are just pictures everywhere.

[Harry Lennox]

Who does the audience see?

[John Michael Hill]

Oh, my goodness. I mean, this is truly a coup of Todd and his team. I described a very simple home, I would say, but they really went ham. And there's a whole gallery of these amazing portraits that have the actor Harry Lennox kind of photoshopped as our character Solomon Jasper into these. What would you call them?

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

Yeah, like Marsh on Washington.

[John Michael Hill]

Yes. He's like holding Rosa Parks hand. It's actually the stuff that I want to keep the most. I'm like, when we close, can I please have all these? But it does give you a sense of the family business, right? The family business was about public intellectualizing or moralizing. That's what the character says. And that there is this way in which they intersect with what we would think of as important people, you know, when truthfully those important people are only a tenth of who they probably really are in their life.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

You know, Azizah has a special relationship with Naz. How would you describe it?

[WNYC Studios]

I don't think Naz has very many friends in the world. And Aziza is someone who I think even helped him with the language for his self identification. I think her group of friends and her family have been sort of an influence on him, just sort of finding his path towards photography and all that. I think Brandon mentions that in one of the monologues. But he, Naz has also kept her away from learning about his family for a very specific reason. I think he understands the magnetism of his family. And having this friendship that's all his pulled into that orbit is problematic. And hilarity ensues.

[Harry Lennox]

This isn't giving too much away because it happens. Pretty early on we learned that Naz has agreed to be a sperm donor for Aziza. Is that something he's excited about?

[WNYC Studios]

So I think perhaps unbeknownst to him, it's sort of the thing that's singularly important in his life. It's sort of a more buried purpose that's shining through. And it's only in the events of the weekend where he realizes just how important this is for him. But mostly he is trying to keep these two worlds separate. He's done this thing with his friend and he knows the consequences of his family finding out about that. So when she shows up at the house, there is a huge, huge Time bomb waiting to go off.

[Harry Lennox]

He's also, like, he's going to bring his family to her, literally, with his sperm. That's the other thing he's got to come to realize. Like, I'm bringing this to this person.

[WNYC Studios]

Yeah.

[John Michael Hill]

But what's funny is that she doesn't know anything about his. You know, he's hid his family's identity so well. She has no idea what she signed up for. She thinks she's signing up for anonymity, you know, and that's part of. That's the hilarity that ensues, I guess. Yeah.

[Harry Lennox]

My guests are Brandon Jacob Jenkins and John Michael Hill. We're talking about the play Purpose, which is now at the Hayes Theater. So we don't get to hear a lot from Morgan. She is the wife of your brother Junior, who's been let out of jail. And Morgan's about to go into jail. We learn why she's been real quiet throughout the whole play. But she's about to have this huge meltdown. It's coming. I wanted to ask you, as a playwright, how did you. How did you meter that out? How'd you know when Morgan would explode?

[John Michael Hill]

I mean, you know, I knew that she was gonna have to say something. Cause she doesn't say anything for the first. You know, I think her first line in the play comes, like, 30 minutes in, and she says, thank you. And then she says nothing else for, like, 20 more minutes. And so, obviously, you're welcome. She says, you're welcome. And obviously, she's building a kind of tension as a character. But honestly, when I'm writing, I try to really stack the characters. It's up to me to make her talk. Right. That's what I feel in the moment when I'm writing it. So I had to make enough things happen over the course of that scene that she had no choice but to speak up, you know, because so much of what's happening is not about her. When she does speak up, it's about how it's not about her. Wow. You know what I mean? And, of course, Alana Reynis, who is. To me, when I was asked to write this play, I was supposed to write it on three actors, including this incredible actor right next to me. But Alana was one of them, who I'd only seen in one show in New York called Head of Passes, where she was on stage for 10 minutes, and I was like, this woman is a magician. Yeah. And what she's able to just do with language and also with silence is, like, truly Original and honestly, to me, one of the highlights of the show, you know. And so she made it easy for me, you know. Cause she does so much by doing so little already. So when you give her something to do, it's like you're in Jupiter by the time she's done speaking. You know what I mean? It's really wild.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

Is set around a dinner table. What does the dinner table offer you as a space?

[John Michael Hill]

Good question. Well, you know, it's useful because people are there for a reason. They're hungry, so they're probably gonna try to stay, you know, on a base level that helps. You know, I think it's also where everyone has to sit around each other and they can all see each other. Right. That's really what it's about. You can't hide at a dinner table unless you get up and leave. And that's an event in a story. Right. So for me, I guess a lot of the joy was kind of cooking everything until we get to that dinner table. And then you just sort of let the timers go off and see what happens.

[WNYC Studios]

We were talking about this scene the other day. It was a very complicated one to orchestrate. There's so many moving pieces with the food and the lines. So it requires a heightened level of listening and focus. And it's sort of maybe our most enjoyable part of the night. Cause we're all looking at each other.

[John Michael Hill]

And I love it because to me, that's like a pure ensemble scene. It's like a concerto, basically. If you really are someone who's a freak, like I am about actors and technique, watching them work that scene. Because also, what happens if someone makes the slightest adjustment? The ripple effect through the. I mean, of course, I'm someone who gets to see the show all the time. That's right. But it can be a completely different dinner one night to the next, based on what one of these geniuses decides to then move your fork the wrong way. It's so cool. I love that stuff. I love, you know, how am I.

[WNYC Studios]

Gonna get the grade baits?

[John Michael Hill]

Yeah, how are you gonna get the grade baits? It's so fun. It's so fun.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

What is Naz's strategy for getting through that dinner?

[WNYC Studios]

I think somebody astutely observed that, you know, in the monologues, Naz is free flowing with the information, charismatic. There's a lot of things to his personality. And then in the scene work, it's a bit different. He's very economical about what he says. So he's learned to sort of keep Quiet as much as possible until he's really forced to share. And usually when he shares it is to give just enough information to retain his sort of solitary life. So that's his main strategy at the dinner table. But then his friend is the opposite of that. His friend is really speaks up for herself and is firm in her beliefs and unapologetic. So watching that dynamic, I think is one of the joys of that dinner scene.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

What's something that's had to change during previews in the play?

[John Michael Hill]

I mean, so like now I think it's the secrets out that I just rewrite to death. So everything to me, I mean, it's basically a whole new play as far as I'm concerned, from day one to day, you know, day 17, we open. What would you say has changed, really?

[WNYC Studios]

Just we're always constantly working on being more clear and more connected to each other. The technique of being in conversation with each other in a way that also communicates to the audience without being presentational. So I think early on in previews, you know, we're still grappling with the text and it can become more presentational. But Phylicia Rashad really kind of had a conversation with us and was like, all right, the turning out for jokes and all that kind of thing. We don't need to do that. We can do that.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

Oh, that's interesting.

[WNYC Studios]

Talk to each other and trust that that's going to translate to the audience. So literally every night I'm thinking about that when we get out there.

[John Michael Hill]

Yeah, like the plot hasn't changed, but something for me, it's about like deepening and it's about detail. Like, I feel like I'm always like painting a painting. Like I'm pushing in detail, pushing in like a finer grain. And that's really what changes. But I think that just means that hopefully the picture is more vivid. You know, the story is more vivid, the characters are more vivid. That's what I hope at least is happening.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

It's funny. Cause the person who Tennessee Williams person I saw this with, had seen it really early on and described a scene where Morgan, she used to take a little piece of the cake and go up to the room. And now she takes her whole hand, takes a piece of cake and goes to the room.

[John Michael Hill]

Yeah.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

And he said it was like a real different vibe going on.

[John Michael Hill]

Because we remember the day that came out where I was like, you know, she knows whose cake that is. That cake is her mother in law's cake. And so she knows what she's Doing when she takes that cake. And when we had that conversation in class, you know, in class, it feels like class of. Yeah, but, you know, Alana was like, she took that cake.

[WNYC Studios]

It communicates so much, and it tells.

[John Michael Hill]

You everything that's happening inside her. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

When people leave the theater, John, and they decide they want to talk about the play, what it is, what do you hope they talk about?

[WNYC Studios]

What we hear a lot is seeing their family reflected in these characters, which, you know, is surprising and gratifying because what Brandon has done is so specific, so beautifully specific, and yet it has become universal. People from all walks of life have shared this with me, that I had a lady be like, we just found out my father has kids all over the country. There's a lot of. Sorry, that might be a little too much information.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

No, it's okay. You're all good.

[WNYC Studios]

There are.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

But people have secrets.

[WNYC Studios]

People have secrets and they feel like.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

They can tell you.

[WNYC Studios]

Yeah. And there's also conversations about sexuality, neurodivergence. There's all kinds of things in this play that Brandon touches on beautifully that people have. There's so many points of entry, and I think that's the beautiful thing. People go away saying they want to come back and see it with other people, bring family members, bring friends. So these conversations must still be swirling in them, and that's, I think, the best you can hope for.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

What have you heard overheard an audience member say about the play?

[John Michael Hill]

Uh, oh, My instinct was to be rude to myself, but I'm not. You know, people. You know, oddly, for the first time in my life, the word I'm hearing the most from people is the word beautiful, which is shocking to me. I didn't think I wrote this to be, like, beautiful, but people are feeling moved by it and also laughing. And that is the kind of constant refrain I'm hear. Like I'm laughing and I'm crying. And that's awesome to me. That's, you know, to speak of, you know, Tinsey Williams, only advice he gave to playwrights was don't bore me. And I think about that all the time. I'm like, all right, that's all I gotta do is not bore people. So it sounds like people aren't bored, and that's making me glad.

[Brandon Jacob Jenkins]

It definitely did not bore me, I can tell you that much. It was really good. The play Purpose is at the Hayes Theater. My guests have been John Michael Hill and Brandon Jacobs Jenkins. Thanks for coming to the studio.

[John Michael Hill]

Thank you, Alison.

[Progressive Insurance]

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