A prolonged trill of cicadas saturates COCA’s Berges Theatre as the house lights are dimmed. It’s an onslaught of sound establishing an immediate unease, before we meet the somewhat estranged siblings of the Lafayette family. They’ve come together to liquidate their late father’s ancestral plantation home in rural Arkansas, where grievances are excavated, and pretensions are prodded.
This setup may sound familiar.
For Obie and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, the American family drama is one of this country's defining contributions to the world stage, and his play Appropriate bears the thematic fingerprints not only of Tennessee Williams, but also Eugene O'Neill and Tracy Letts. Recipient of the Sundance Institute's inaugural Tennessee Williams Award in 2013, Jacobs-Jenkins premiered Appropriate that same year at the Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Kentucky. After its Off-Broadway premiere in 2014, Appropriate made its Broadway debut in 2023, where it won three Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Play. For a season themed “The Tennessee Effect,” the festival’s decision to shift from its 11-year tradition of presenting a Tennessee Williams play as its flagship production and instead spotlight Jacobs-Jenkins is inspired.
