Purpose - Play

Purpose - Play at OneAmerica Mainstage - Indiana Repertory Theater

Every family has a version of the story it tells in public. Purpose is about what happens when the private version walks through the front door. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' play follows the Jasper family, whose influence in civil rights, church and politics is well known. Then a family celebration begins, an uninvited guest arrives, and the secrets they have kept start to surface.

That tension is why this one is worth leaving the house for. You are not just watching a family argue. You are watching people whose public ideals are tested by their private lives. The play also leaves room for the questions that follow you out of the theater: What do we owe our legacy? Where does loyalty end? Who carries responsibility when the truth comes out? Those are conversations you will want to have with someone who saw it with you.

There is real weight behind the production, too. Purpose won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. Those honors belong to the play itself, and they make this a chance to see a celebrated contemporary work in Indianapolis. Tyrone Phillips directs this local production, presented by Indiana Repertory Theatre as a co-production with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, on the OneAmerica Mainstage. Pick your night, bring someone you trust, and secure your seats for Purpose in Indianapolis.