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)

How Ivanka Trump And Donald Trump, Jr., Avoided a Criminal Indictment

How Ivanka Trump And Donald Trump, Jr., Avoided a Criminal Indictment

We've got a story from the WNYC newsroom that we really want to share with you. Our WNYC colleagues, Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz, in partnership with ProPublica and The New Yorker investigate ho...

10 Okt 201718min

The Counter-Jihad Movement & the Making of a President

The Counter-Jihad Movement & the Making of a President

President George W. Bush, speaking at a mosque on Sept. 17, 2001: "The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace." Donald Trump, campaigning for...

11 Sep 201733min

Help Us Map the Confederate Flag

Help Us Map the Confederate Flag

In the wake of the recent violence in Charlottesville, where a protester was killed by a white supremacist, dozens of monuments to the Confederacy are being taken down. It's an extraordinary moment in...

23 Aug 201713min

America's Fourth: Beyond Pie and BBQs

America's Fourth: Beyond Pie and BBQs

This fourth of July, one year after the podcast began, we look back at a culture that’s made us so anxious, but also what holds us together, and where we’re going as a nation. Since nothing seems to b...

4 Jul 201756min

The Drug War

The Drug War

As the opioid epidemic continues to increase, we take a look back at the Sixties when the War on Drugs, a federal effort to decrease illegal drug use, was beginning to take shape. It was a decade of i...

3 Jul 201735min

Nixon's Enemies

Nixon's Enemies

This week we’re looking at a President Richard M. Nixon, a man obsessed with winning. Whether it was an election or becoming a great leader, he would go to great lengths to ensure his success. But Nix...

23 Jun 201725min

These 'Witches' Are Empowering the Next Generation

These 'Witches' Are Empowering the Next Generation

In 2016, the campaign promise to “Make America Great Again” highlighted an important cultural shift. It represented the idea that the country needed to return to its “traditions” in order to be prospe...

20 Jun 201721min

In Jesus' Name... We Legislate

In Jesus' Name... We Legislate

There’s been much progress for the LGBTQ community over the past decade: the legal debate over same-sex marriage has been resolved, popular culture has largely embraced gay and lesbian people, and tra...

13 Jun 201734min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

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