Video: Phylicia Rashad Talks Directing Broadway's PURPOSE, Praises Collaborators

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Purpose is now in previews at the Helen Hayes Theatre, marking the Broadway directorial debut of two-time Tony winner Phylicia Rashad. The director recently visited Sherri Shepherd's talk show to discuss her experience helming the new production.

In the interview, Rashad praised Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, who wrote the play. "I'm directing a play that is expertly written by a genius," she said of the playwright. "It all begins with the text. And he is one of those inspired playwrights who continues to refine that text [and] flushing out that story so that it's very clear for the audience without being pedantic."

She went on to explain the importance of a positive collaboration: "When you combine [the ensemble] with the energy of a creative team, the administration of a theater, and everybody is a collective [and] holding the same intentions, that's the direction I like to give." Watch the full interview now!

Broadway's Purpose stars Two-time Tony Award nominee LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Harry Lennix, Jon Michael Hill, Glenn Davis, Alana Arenas, and Tony Award-Winner Kara Young. Officially opening on March 17th, the production runs through July 6, 2025.

For decades, the influential Jasper family has been a pillar of Black American Politics: civil rights leaders, pastors and congressmen. But like all families, there are cracks and secrets just under the surface. When the youngest son Nazareth returns home with an uninvited friend in tow, the family is forced into a reckoning with itself, its faith and the legacies of Black political power and familial duty.

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