Before she had even seen a production by award-winning contemporary playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis executive artistic director Carrie Houk had already decided that the 11th festival season would be dedicated to “The Tennessee Effect.”
While there are certainly plenty of exceptional works to choose from among Williams’ own body of work, Houk wanted to take a look beyond the man himself and instead examine the impact he had—and continues to have—on other voices.
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“I had read that one of [Jacobs-Jenkins] playwright influences was Tennessee Williams, and I went to see his Pulitzer/Tony award-winning play, Purpose, in April 2025,” Houk says. “His writing just wowed me. I think he is a playwright for our new century and the new generation and to keep our young folks engaged with live theater, which is very important to me on many levels. For our Year 11, which I already had designated ‘The Tennessee Effect’ thinking that I would feature one of Tennessee’s contemporaries who was influenced by him, I made the decision that day sitting in the Hayes Theater that it would be Branden.”
The resulting production is the St. Louis premiere of Jacobs-Jenkins’ Appropriate, on stage at COCA’s Catherine B. Berges Theatre from September 17–27, directed by Benny Sato Ambush. The dark dramedy sees the three Lafayette siblings come together at their late father’s crumbling Arkansas plantation mansion to settle the estate. Along with their own families, they sort through the detritus and uncover much more than they bargained for.
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“First and foremost it is a Southern Gothic tale, which is very Tennessee Williamsesque,” Ambush says. “There was a famous quote from Tennessee Williams, who said his plays are a plea for understanding the delicate people. As with many of Tennessee Williams’ plays, Appropriate it is peopled with delicate, tormented, flawed, fragile people trying to do their best in impossible circumstances. You have many secrets and surprises that are revealed…bombshell revelations.”
The word “appropriate,” Ambush points out, has two pronunciations. There’s the appropriate thing to say or to do, the right thing, the correct thing. Then, there’s the verb, to appropriate, as in to take or use—with or without permission. “Both of those connotations are relevant in this play,” he says.
Both Houk and Ambush believe that Appropriate, with its themes of confronting dark history and generational legacies, is more relevant than ever. And while some want their live theater to act as an opportunity for escapism, Appropriate instead offers audiences a place to reckon with big issues in a more focused way.
“This award-winning play came out in 2013, but Branden began writing it in 2010. I think it has grown in relevance in the ensuing years, given what’s happening in our country and in the world now,” Ambush says. “This story is very much about who we are as a country, as an American family, as seen through the lens of this particular Lafayette family that is gathering not just to settle the estate, but to settle scores.”
It’s a bold move to bring in a new voice as the headliner for a festival focused on Tennessee Williams, but Houk believes that it’s not only the right time to shake things up a bit, but essential to the mission of the festival.
“I’m thrilled for people to see us through a new lens,” Houk says. “We look at our festival as 10 years of retrospective examination of Tennessee Williams, and the new decade were in, Year 11, is looking forward to the future of the Tennessee Williams Festival as a permanent piece of the St. Louis arts landscape and to introduce new audiences who will be excited by a contemporary playwright who carries the legacy forward.”
And indeed, the 11th iteration of the festival still has plenty of Williams for attendees to look forward to. In addition to the mainstage production, programming includes scholar panels on Williams’ relevance and influence, a swanky tribute to the playwright at the home of University City mayor Terry Crow, a collaboration with the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival, and more. Jacobs-Jenkins will also be on hand to discuss his own artistic dialogue with Williams at a talk at the St. Louis County Library’s Clark Family Branch on September 19.
The goal, as always, is to produce an event that enriches and inspires audiences while celebrating Williams and his influence. With Appropriate, Ambush hopes that people take a little more home with them than usual.
“One [thing I hope people walk away with] is the power and relevance of theater. Theatrical storytelling as an essential part of living,” Ambush says. “The other is recognizing the reckoning that our country is facing right now and how we the people have to decide what kind of country we are choosing to become. That question will resonate with anyone who sees this play, and they will be talking about this production for months after.”
Appropriate runs September 17–27 at the Catherine B. Berges Theatre at COCA (6880 Washington). Tickets are available online for the mainstage production and additional festival events.
