Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

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Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Princeton Class of 2006) is a Brooklyn-based playwright and producer. A two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, Jacobs-Jenkins won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, a Tony Award, and a Drama Desk Award for his play, Purpose. He also received the 2024 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for Appropriate, which completed an acclaimed, record-breaking, 8-month run on Broadway. Other recent theater credits include The Comeuppance (Signature Theatre, NYC; Almeida Theatre, London), Girls (Yale Rep), Everybody (Signature Theatre), War (Yale Rep; Lincoln Center/LCT3), Gloria (Vineyard Theatre), An Octoroon (Obie Award; Soho Rep, Theatre for a New Audience), and Neighbors (The Public Theater). He was showrunner, executive producer, and writer for HULU/FX’s drama series, Kindred, based on Octavia E. Butler’s groundbreaking novel.

Jacobs-Jenkins currently teaches at Yale University and serves as Vice President of the Dramatists Guild council and on the boards of Soho Rep, Park Avenue Armory, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and the Dramatists Guild Foundation. Additional honors include a USA Artists fellowship, a Guggenheim fellowship, the MacArthur fellowship, the Windham-Campbell Prize for Drama, and the inaugural Tennessee Williams Award.

He is currently writing the book for the upcoming stage adaptation of Purple Rain.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Is, and Is Not, Writing About Race | The New York Times Magazine, Nov. 21, 2014

Not Black and White | Princeton Alumni Weekly, Dec. 3, 2014

MacArthur Foundation — Meet the Class of 2016 | MacArthur Foundation, 2016

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, From the Heart | The New Yorker, Feb. 27, 2017

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Revisits His ‘Illusion of Suffering’ on Broadway | The New York Times, Dec. 12, 2023

New Yorker profile: The Playwright Has a Few More Changes — January 8, 2024

Purple Rain Forecast for Broadway in Stage Adaptation by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins | Deadline, January 8, 2024

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins nominated for 2024 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play, Appropriate — Broadway World, April 29, 2024

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins nominated for 2024 Tony Award for Best Play Revival for Appropriate — April 30, 2024

The Comeuppance by Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins wins 2024 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play | Lucille Lortel Awards, May 5, 2024

Tony Nominations: Interview with Branden Jacobs-Jenkins | Playbill, May 8, 2024

Appropriate wins 3 Drama Desk Awards | Playbill, June 10, 2024

Appropriate wins 2024 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play | June 2024

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Purpose wins 2025 Pulitzer Prize in Drama | The Pulitzer Prizes, May 5, 2025

Purpose wins 2025 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play | June 1, 2025

Purpose wins 2025 Tony Award for Best Play | June 2025

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Interview with Vanity Fair | June 5, 2025