A famous preacher father, an overstepping mother, a son earnestly and blindly searching for approval while the other son and narrator just wants to be left alone while a dinner is veering off the rails.

A photo may be worth a thousand words but this family portrait doesn’t nearly tell half the story in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Purpose.

Directed insightfully by Josiah Davis, The Huntington continues Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Pulitzer prize-winning dramedy Purpose live and in person at Calderwood Pavilion in Boston, Massachusetts through Sunday, October 11. This elaborately-staged and multifaceted production contains some adult themes and runs approximately 2 hours and 50 minutes with one intermission. Click here for more information and for tickets.

A glowing red light, reminiscent of a theatre ghost light, stands alone center stage as a crucial safelight in a photographer’s dark room. Here we meet Omari K. Chancellor as narrator and introspective Nazareth “Scootie” Jasper, a talented nature photographer who reflects on a tumultuous weekend visit with his famous and dysfunctional family in Chicago. Nazareth is most at home in his dark room and utilizes a wide array of photographs to share this increasingly eye opening story.

Enhanced by Marika Kent’s rippling lighting, scenic designer Se Hyun Oh unveils the inside of the Jasper family’s functional modern luxury dual level home boasting high ceilings and a variety of textures and surfaces including finely-detailed bronze, wood, and stained glass door trim. It is so impressive that a collective gasp can be heard in the audience at first glance. Framed photos of impactful leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. hang on the wall and the finer details such as fingerprints on the door give the house a genuine authenticity.

Chancellor proves to be an engaging and humorous storyteller as Naz who believes his peace lies in nature and his family can be a sensory overload. However, Ugo Chukwu as Naz’s troubled brother, Solomon Jr. has been released from prison and Naz is joining his family to welcome his brother home.

Shy and contemplative, Naz became close with Kalyne Ashley Coleman as lively and outspoken Aziza Houston during the pandemic and share an easygoing rapport. When Naz arrives at his family home and Aziza stops by, everyone has questions, especially from Phyllis Yvonne Stickney as Naz’s strong and inquisitive mother, Claudine…and this evening has not even gotten started yet. 

A hint…the tinkling silverware is deafening at dinner.

Ezra Knight brings gravitas and charisma as famous orator and preacher Solomon Jasper displaying a complicated dynamic with Ugo Chukwu as earnest Solomon Jr. Chuckwu depicts a distinct sensitivity behind the outlandish ideas of yearning Solomon Jr., a man stumbling with a quiet desperation for approval any way he can find it. Knight MarHadoo Effeh stings as Solomon Jr.’s wife Morgan who is pretty much at the end of her rapidly fraying rope and Stickney’s Claudine is trying to make dinner a joyous occasion any way she knows how.

The cast boasts sharp and fluent comic timing, especially from Coleman as New Yorker Aziza. She is an amusing scene stealer brimming with charm and a lively personality while drawing keen observations. Not only standing out as the sole outside observer at the Jasper family home, but Coleman’s Aziza dazzles with multicolor hair and rambunctious clothing embellished by bright neon accents, just a glimpse of Celeste Jennings’s vibrant costume design.

This production is best enjoyed as each new plot development unfolds and the plot thickens many times over during the production.  While it has its humorous moments, it also meditates and philosophizes about life, faith, humanity and why things happen the way they do and what might have been explored in a memorable scene between Chancellor and Knight.

Purpose tackles many issues while unraveling family secrets but it is mainly about a transforming family and the ways they are all losing direction in their lives…and how beekeeping fits in with its own story to tell.

The Huntington continues Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Purpose live and in person at Calderwood Pavilion in Boston, Massachusetts through Sunday, October 11. Click here for more information and for tickets.