At just 39, playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins already has a bouquet of artistic decorations.
He has been to the Tony Awards, however, only onceas a nominator.
(The show will play its final performance on June 30.)
Photographed by Hunter Abrams
[Fair warning: spoilers to come.]
Vogue: BJJ, is that a fake Zoom background, or is that literally where you are?
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins:This is my studio at the Park Avenue Armory.
Dont tell them Im here or they might kick me out.
Do you know that this is a follow-up to a conversation we had in 2014?
Iinterviewed you for Vogue.comway back when, but I dont think I did a very good job.
OK, first question.
[Third question.]
What did the 7,800-wordNew Yorkerprofileget wrong?
Did they miss anything?
To be honest, I literally cannot read press on myself.
I sped-read it to check that nothing super embarrassing was happening, and then literally put it away.
Can we circle back on that?
I want to ask you about the Broadway of it all.
Your accolades are many, but this is your first play on the Great White Way.
How does it feel to be recognized by the American Theater Wing with all these nominations?
So Im debuting on Broadway with a revival, which I think is kind of…
It feels like a surprise gift.
Ive never had a play run this long.
Ive never had a play reach this broad of an audience.
The thing about Broadway is that you dont control who shows up.
Its not a niche market.
Anyone who cares about Sarah Paulson or Elle Fanning is coming to the play.
People who like plays are coming to the play.
People who happen to be staying in a hotel nearby are coming to the play.
I never saw this coming.
Do you think of Broadwayand thereforeAppropriateon Broadwayas pop culture?
I love pop culture, but I dont know if theater ever gets considered pop culture.
Its entertainment, its comfort.
At its best, its engaging the imagination, but always in an affirming way.
High art is cast as a space in which youre meant to be challenged.
Youre on the edge of something.
And I think that my brain is received in that space more easily.
Whats interesting, though, is that Sarah Paulson, ultimately, is pop culture.
So I think, in some ways, she was the perfect person for this play.
So, maybe Sarah Paulson is the Trojan Horse?
In some ways, yes.
The whole run is a Trojan Horse.
Nobody expected us to run longer than 12 weeks.
We had one of the weirdest slots you could play in, and were still running.
Which means that it has some kind of popular appeal thats shocking everyone, certainly me.
So you admit itits pop culture!
I think about it in terms of comfort and discomfort.
Pop culture is conservative.
A tree grows in the middle of the stage, from sprouting to towering, before the audiences eyes.
Tell me about the first time you saw the stage transform at the Helen Hayes Theater.
Everyone likes to talk about that tree moment, because people cant afford trees off-Broadway!
We dont even have the fly-space.
So it was something that was only fully realized now, for the first time.
And very moving to me.
The world is a really different place in 2024 than 2014.
The audiences are more sophisticated.
Everyones had that family altercation where youre like, Uh-oh, are we going down this road?
Culturally we have more language attached to concepts like white fragility that we just didnt have 10 years ago.
How has that changed the way audiences react?
Ten years ago I remember encountering a lot of resistance and suspicion.
People are more willing to engage.
That says a lot.
It feels like the play gets to be its full self without engaging someones defense systems.
People are bringing their families and telling their parents to go see it.
What are some of the changes that you made to update the play to 2024?
Well, everyone thinks I rewrote this whole play and I really havent.
Actually,thatswhat theNew Yorkergot wrong!
One thing a friend said to me is that there are no villains and no heroes inAppropriate.
I dont come to the theater to see a hero and a villain.
Id rather see that in aFast and the Furiousmoviethats why there are 18 of them.
There are moments inAppropriatethat shock peopleone in particular.
Do you like making people squirm?
I definitely dontlikemaking people squirm.
Sometimes they howl, sometimes you hear people screaming, sometimes you hear people laughing or clapping.
Some people are having an out-of-body experience.
My intention at the end of the day is to make people feel something.
So, I guess we did it.
I dont want people to feel unsafe, but I do want people to feelfree.
It says a lot about someone to know what they most admire.
Whats the one play that you most wish you had written?
Very obvious one for me:Angels in America.
The journey of that play, both parts, is so wild.
How does one human mind contain all that?
Its an iconic piece of imagination.
BJJ, what are you wearing to the Tonys?
Mark, I have no idea.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
