La Jolla stages Pulitzer-winning Purpose

A new play arriving in La Jolla does not usually come in this hot. But “Purpose” is showing up with basically every stamp of approval American theater can hand out — Pulitzer, Tony, Drama Desk, New York Drama Critics’ Circle. Now La Jolla Playhouse is giving it its West Coast premiere, with performances set for May 12 through June 7 in the Mandell Weiss Theatre. The bigger story is not just that San Diego gets a buzzy title. It’s that a play can now move from Broadway coronation to major regional production almost immediately. ### What is “Purpose” actually about? It’s a big family drama with comedy in its bloodstream. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins sets the play inside the influential Jasper family of Chicago — civil-rights royalty, political operators, public moralists, the kind of family that has spent decades being looked at as an example. Then the private mess starts leaking through the public image. The Pulitzer board singled out the play for how it probes heritage and the way different generations define it inside an upper-middle-class Black family. (lajollaplayhouse.org) ### Why has this play hit so hard? Because Jacobs-Jenkins is very good at writing plays that feel both literary and combustible. “Purpose” opened on Broadway in previews on February 25, 2025, opened officially March 17, and ran through August 31 at the Helen Hayes Theater. It was directed there by Phylicia Rashad, and the production ended up winning the 2025 Tony Award for Best Play. That combination matters — critical prestige plus actual audience momentum is rarer than theater people like to admit. (lajollaplayhouse.org) ### Why is La Jolla’s production notable? Because this is not a long-delayed afterlife production. It is the West Coast premiere, and it lands less than a year after the Broadway run closed and just after the play’s awards run turned it into one of the defining American plays of 2025. La Jolla also put “Purpose” at the front of its 2026-27 season, which tells you the theater sees it as an event title, not filler. (playbill.com) ### Who is making this version? Delicia Turner Sonnenberg is directing the La Jolla staging. The Playhouse announced a full cast and creative team in April, framing the production as the launch of its 2026-27 season. That matters because regional premieres live or die on interpretation — the script is the same, but a new director and cast can make the family feel more tragic, more satirical, or more explosive. (lajollaplayhouse.org) ### Why does the Pulitzer matter here? Because the Pulitzer is still theater’s strongest signal that a play is not just successful but important. “Purpose” won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, not the 2026 award — an easy thing to muddle because the 2026 Pulitzers were announced on May 4 and honored a different drama winner, Bess Wohl’s “Liberation.” So La Jolla is staging a recent Pulitzer winner, but not this year’s. (lajollaplayhouse.org) ### Is this part of a bigger trend? Yes — and the trend is speed. Regional theaters used to feel like the second stop after Broadway, sometimes years later. Now, when a play breaks through hard enough, top nonprofits move quickly. “Purpose” is a good example because it has the cleanest possible handoff: Broadway success, major awards, then immediate pickup by a flagship regional house. ### So what should a San Diego audience expect? (pulitzer.org) Expect a prestige play that is not polite. The official materials sell it as a major American family drama, but the reason people respond to Jacobs-Jenkins is that he likes pressure points — reputation, hypocrisy, inheritance, power. The setup sounds stately. The experience is usually messier, sharper, and a lot funnier than that description suggests. (lajollaplayhouse.org) ### Bottom line? La Jolla is not just importing a winner. It is catching a play while it still feels alive in the culture — before “Pulitzer-winning” hardens into museum glass. (lajollaplayhouse.org)