Tony-Nominated Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins on Using Theater to Make Sense of Nonsense

Tony-Nominated Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins on Using Theater to Make Sense of Nonsense

Ten years after its original staging, “Appropriate” has received eight Tony Award nominations. Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins talks about the moments of his life that inspired it.

The play tells the story of three siblings reuniting in their family home after the death of their father. Charged with going through his belongings, the children discover troubling relics within the home. They are left to deal with the question of an inheritance, but also this new challenge to their late father’s legacy.

Jacobs-Jenkins has since staged “Appropriate” several times, been a Pulitzer Prize finalist for two subsequent plays, and been awarded a MacArthur “genius” fellowship. But it wasn’t until December 2023 that the playwright made his Broadway debut with “Appropriate,” which is now up for eight Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Play and Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for actress Sarah Paulson.

Host Kai Wright sits with Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins to discuss the real-life moments that inspired the creation of this show, and the playwright’s efforts to understand the complicated inheritances of race in America.

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at notes@wnyc.org. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here.

Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.

Episoder(424)

Monterey Park: The Making of America’s First Suburban Chinatown

Monterey Park: The Making of America’s First Suburban Chinatown

A mass shooting in Monterey Park, California – on the eve of Lunar New Year – sent shockwaves through the predominantly Asian American ethnoburb and the Asian American community nationwide. The toll o...

26 Jan 202319min

Living With And Learning From Estrangement

Living With And Learning From Estrangement

Estrangement isn’t linear. For those who have severed ties or been cut off, it can be necessary, empowering, devastating and confounding—all at once.  A recent series from WNYC’s Death, Sex & Money po...

23 Jan 202347min

The Not-So-Sunny Side of Louis Armstrong’s Legacy

The Not-So-Sunny Side of Louis Armstrong’s Legacy

What made Louis Armstrong’s music so groundbreaking? And after he broke that ground, why were later generations of Black people reluctant to embrace him?  From his renditions of “On The Sunny Side Of ...

19 Jan 202319min

The Legacy of MLK Jr. Is To Be Young, Gifted and Black

The Legacy of MLK Jr. Is To Be Young, Gifted and Black

How does Martin Luther King Jr.’s generation of young, gifted, and Black people inspire today’s changemakers and their ideas for how to achieve racial justice? The Apollo has a decades-long tradition ...

16 Jan 202358min

New Congress, New Consequences

New Congress, New Consequences

From near-fisticuffs on the House floor to Kevin McCarthy’s concessions to win the gavel, the chaotic start for the 118th Congress has finally settled – with consequences for us all.  In his bid for s...

12 Jan 202333min

The Future of Work As We Know It

The Future of Work As We Know It

The Great Resignation. Quiet quitting. These concepts allegedly defined the way we worked last year. Will anything change in 2023? Journalist Anne Helen Petersen, co-author of Out of Office: The Big P...

9 Jan 202331min

Faith Ringgold Creates Space for Black Americans

Faith Ringgold Creates Space for Black Americans

Faith Ringgold’s art is an intimate dialogue and debate between generations of Black women, stretching from the formerly enslaved to today. Producer Rahima Nasa takes host Kai Wright to an exhibit dis...

5 Jan 202318min

How Afrofuturism Redefines Our Past

How Afrofuturism Redefines Our Past

Afrofuturism is an old idea that’s reaching new people. Hollywood production designer Hannah Beachler walks us through some fantastical, imagined paths to Black liberation. There is a cosmic vision of...

2 Jan 202332min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
forklart
popradet
stopp-verden
det-store-bildet
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-gukild-johaug
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
rss-ness
fotballpodden-2
hanna-de-heldige
nokon-ma-ga
aftenbla-bla
rss-dannet-uten-piano
e24-podden
rss-utenrikskomiteen-med-bogen-og-grasvik
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
bt-dokumentar-2