WORKS IN PROGRESS

Six actors before opening night.

- SORAYA NADIA MCDONALD, JACKSON MCHENRY, DEVON IVIE

LaTanya Richardson Jackson in rehearsal for Purpose.

In previews February 25 at the Hayes Theater

In the dressing room of a Hell's Kitchen rehearsal space, Richardson Jackson's voice is warm and her eyes are full of mischief. She refers to herself as a "blue-collar actress" (she also directed her husband, Samuel L. Jackson, in The Piano Lesson), but here she is preparing to introduce a new grande dame to Broadway: Claudine Jasper, the matriarch of Purpose, the latest work of irreverence and soul-searching by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Appropriate). This season, the playwright turns his attention to Chicago and the tensions swaddled within a domestic prison of upper-middle-class Black striverly discontent.

Two-time Tony-winning actor Phylicia Rashad directs this production, developed at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre. The show retains most of its original company, save for two roles: Aziza, a "friend" played by Kara Young (Purlie Victorious), and Claudine. “I have not tried to infuse her historically with my life, but it is so me,” Richardson Jackson says of her parallels to Claudine. “What holds her together? Those are the kinds of questions I’m asking myself.”

SORAYA NADIA MCDONALD

GEORGE CLOONEY in Good Night, and Good Luck