NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Don't bother asking Kara Young which one of her roles is her favorite. They're all her favorite.
鈥淓very single time I鈥檓 doing a show, I feel like it is the most important thing on the planet,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 don't have a favorite. It鈥檚 like this: Every, every single project has held its own weight.鈥�
Right now, the weighty project on her mind is Broadway's celebrated 鈥淧urpose,鈥� Branden Jacobs-Jenkins鈥� drawing-room drama at the Helen Hayes Theater about an accomplished Black family revealing its hypocrisy and fault lines during a snowed-in gathering.
鈥淭here鈥檚 so much in this play,鈥� says Young, who plays an outsider who witnesses the implosion. 鈥淟ike a lot of the great writers, he creates these universes in a line or the space between the words.鈥�
A tense family gathering
鈥淧urpose鈥� is set in the Jasper family鈥檚 living room in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Chicago. The patriarch is Pastor Solomon Jasper, a Civil Rights legend, and his steely wife, Claudine.
They are reuniting with their two sons 鈥� Junior, a disgraced former state senator, recently released after serving a prison sentence for embezzling funds, and Naz, who fled divinity school and is now a nature photographer.
Young plays Aziza, a Harlem-bred social worker who has been close friends with Naz but didn't know anything about his family. 鈥淭his kind of thing never happens to me! I never meet famous people and you鈥檝e been famous this whole time?鈥� she screams.
Her awe quickly fades as sibling jealousies, parental frustrations, past sins and the pressures of legacy come tumbling out over a fraught dinner. There is some slapping.
鈥淲e are so susceptible to get angry with the people we love the most,鈥� says Young. 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e seeing in the less than 12 hours of them being together for the first time in two years, they鈥檙e sitting down and having dinner, and all of these things come up, as they often do.鈥�
Young poised to make history
Young's work has earned her a Tony Award nomination and a chance to make history. Already the first Black person to be nominated four times consecutively, if she wins, she鈥檒l be the first Black performer to win two Tonys in a row.
Young made her Broadway debut in 2021 in 鈥淐lyde鈥檚,鈥� was in 鈥淐ost of Living鈥� the next year and co-starred opposite Leslie Odom Jr. in 2024's 鈥淧urlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch,鈥� winning a Tony.
Jacobs-Jenkins calls Aziz in his script a 鈥渄eeply perceptive person and empathetic鈥� and that could also apply to Young, She says she closely identifies with her character in 鈥淧urpose,鈥� 鈥� they're both Harlem-bred advocates for others, hoping to make the planet better.
鈥淚 feel connected to that core of her,鈥� says Young. 鈥淓very single play I've done since my 10-minute play festivals, I鈥檓 always like, 鈥榃ow, this feels like this can change the world,鈥� you know? And I feel like at the core of Aziza, that鈥檚 how she feels. She wants to change the world.鈥�
鈥淧urpose,鈥� directed by Phylicia Rashad, also stars LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Harry Lennix, Jon Michael Hill, Alana Arenas and Glenn Davis.
鈥楯oy and curiosity and enthusiasm鈥�
Hill, who as Naz also earned a Tony nomination for best lead male actor in a play, calls Young 鈥渢he heart and joy of our little family over there at the Helen Hayes.鈥�
鈥淪he enters the building and she just makes time for everyone and is genuinely excited to see people and hear about how they鈥檙e doing,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檝e really never seen anyone have as much room in their consciousness and their being for everyone she encounters. She approaches every day with joy and curiosity and enthusiasm.鈥�
If there's one story that shows who Young is, it would be from the day of the which she and cast members of 鈥淧urpose鈥� were invited, along with its playwright. That same day, Jacobs-Jenkins won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
Young found out while getting her makeup done and began screaming. When she got to the gala 鈥� a look-at-me moment, if there ever was one 鈥� she was a walking advertisement for the play. 鈥淚 told everybody, 鈥榊ou have to come and see this play. He just won a Pulitzer!鈥欌��
Hill was right behind her and smiling as Young made connections and introductions. 鈥淪he was just going up to everyone and introducing us and talking about our show and trying to get folks in the door.鈥�
Young made her 2016 stage debut in Patricia Ione Lloyd鈥檚 play 鈥淧retty Hunger鈥� at the Public Theater, a play about a 7-year-old Black girl who didn't know she was Black. The playwright told her she wrote it with Young in mind.
鈥淚one Lloyd is one of the people who really made me see myself as an artist,鈥� she says. 鈥淪he鈥檚 the one that kind of set a path for me in a really beautiful way.鈥�
Next up for Young is the movie 鈥淚s God Is,鈥� which playwright Aleshea Harris is directing from her own 2018 stage play. Sterling K. Brown, Vivica A. Fox and Janelle Mon谩e are in the cast. Young calls it 鈥渁 spaghetti Western-meets-Tarantino-meets-the Greeks.鈥� Next summer on Broadway, she'll star in a revival of 鈥淭he Whoopi Monologues鈥� opposite Kerry Washington.
After that, who knows? 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 next, but I can鈥檛 wait, whatever that is,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f something comes along, it鈥檚 about jumping into the next thing. If there鈥檚 life in me, I got to live it.鈥�
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Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
