By Sandi Masori in La Jolla, California
While playwright Branden Jacobs Jensen’s Purpose (now playing at the La Jolla Playhouse) is a Black story so many of the themes and situations are so relatable I could easily see them happening in a Jewish home.
The show opens with narrator and main character Naz Jasper (Matthew Elijah Webb) going home for a belated birthday celebration for his mom (Stephanie Berry). We then learn that immediately before going home, he met up with his pandemic ex-neighbor Aziza (Andrea Agosto) to help her conceive a child via sperm donation and turkey baster. He misses his flight and she drives him six hours to his parents house.
On the surface it seems that his family is the “ideal” family. Dad Solomon (Cornell Womack) is a civil rights hero and minister, and his mom is a former lawyer turned homemaker. The photos on the wall show them with all the greats of the Civil Rights movement. Aziza, upon realizing who Naz’ famous family is, gets really excited and transforms into a fan girl. This kind of reaction is exactly why Naz doesn’t tell people who his family is.
Because there’s a big snowstorm, Aziza needs to stay the night and wait out the storm. When his mom finds out that a “friend” (though she really is just a friend) has come home with Naz, she gets really excited and starts asking lots of questions and nosing into their business. (This is one of the scenes that I found super relatable and could easily see the scene happening in a Jewish family, with mom very excited that her previously asexual son might have a “friend.” I may even have caused my own children similar embarrassment as Webb and Agosto so skillfully conveyed.)
Then we learn that Naz’ brother Junior (Sean Boyce Johnson), a former congressman, has just returned from prison where he was sent because of embezzling campaign funds. His wife Morgan (Crystal Dickinson) is about to begin her stint in jail for the same offense- because of their small children, the judge allowed them to do consecutive sentences so someone could stay home with the kids.
The drama begins as the family sits down at the table for the celebratory meal, and after Naz turns to the audience and tells us to buckle up because his family is a lot, things start to devolve. (This was another moment that was very relatable to me. I could see my son telling a guest to beware as our family is a lot- in fact at Passover one of my sons did exactly that.)
We quickly learn that what seemed on the surface to be the perfect family is anything but. Solomon, while a great civil rights leader, is also a philanderer and incredibly hard on his sons. (It really makes you think about whether a person’s value and greatness should be measured by their public or their private acts, and how history can forgive private transgressions if their public image is big enough. But I digress…)
Their evening quickly goes downhill from there and drama ensues.
In spite of the show being serious, there are also many funny moments and laughs. Director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, who is a local San Diego treasure, did a great job at directing the pacing and energy of the show. It was so well done that even though there was a 45-minute hold in the middle of a scene for a medical emergency in the audience, the actors were able to jump right back into the action with the same energy and intensity as before the house lights abruptly came on. It was interesting to see how the theater handled the emergency, which thank G-d was resolved successfully. Though the house lights were on, and there was noise in the audience, the actor’s continued in the scene until the stage manager called out and told them to stop and clear the stage. This wasn’t them being insensitive to the issue, it’s the rules. The show must go on, until the director/ stage manager says otherwise. I imagine that it must have taken everything in them to stay in character and carry on when something was so obviously happening. A true test of an actor’s focus and grit.
As we have come to expect from Playhouse shows, the equity actors are all incredible, even when personally stressed as they must have been. The incredibly detailed set by Lawrence E. Moten III is the interior of a beautiful upscale home. (I always enjoy the level of detail and dimension in the Playhouse sets.)
Because of the medical emergency, the show was really long, but usually it’s only 90 minutes with a 15 minute intermission. All the same, most of the audience stayed through until the end, not withstanding the late hour. The standing ovation at the end was immediate and heartfelt.
Purpose, which has won Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize, plays through June 7.
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Associate Editor Sandi Masori is a theater and restaurant reviewer for San Diego Jewish World