Review: Everything About “Appropriate” Is…Complicated

Review: Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Produced by Seattle Rep. Directed by Timothy McCuen Piggee. Scenic Design by Carey Wong. Costume Design by Trevor Bowen. Lighting Design by Robert J. Aguilar. Sound Design by Phillip Johnson. With Jen Taylor, Tim Gouran, Billy Finn, Angela DiMarco, Sophie Kelly-Hedrick, Jonas Winburn, Ellie Getman, Nolan Keany, August Mattfeld. Onstage from April 9 to May 10, 2026 at Seattle Rep. Tickets at https://www.seattlerep.org/plays/202526-season/appropriate

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is only 41 years old but is already a major American playwright with important works under his belt including last year’s PURPOSE which won both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. Other major works include Everybody, and An Octoroon which have both been successfully staged in Seattle, and then there’s APPROPRIATE, one of his first plays, originally produced in 2013 and then revived for its Broadway debut in 2023 where it won Tony Awards for Best Play Revival, and Best Actress for Sarah Paulson. Now Appropriate makes its Seattle area debut at Seattle Rep in a production staged by noted Seattle actor/director Timothy McCuen Piggee and it’s…complicated.

Actually, everything about Appropriate is a tad bit complicated. It’s centered on a Southern white family coping with a complicated family history that includes drug and alcohol addiction, sex offenses, and acute racism that includes the family being slave owners, and a lot of signs that more recent family members were in the Klu Klux Klan and participated in the lynching of African-Americans.

Like I said…it’s complicated.

The Lafayette Family has gathered at their ancestoral home in southeastern Arkansas to settle the estate of the unnamed patriarch who has died 6 months prior to the start of the play. It’s very much a crumbling old plantation complete with rundown mansion, family graveyard, creepy old pond, and the ruins of slave quarters outback. The family consists of oldest daughter Toni who is the executor of the estate, her middle brother Bo, and youngest brother Frank. Toni has arrived first, with her 18 year old son Rhys to prepare the house for an estate sale to be held in the next day or so and she’s surprised by the arrival of Frank with his new girlfriend, River. Frank hasn’t been seen for a decade after being convicted for statutory rape of a female minor.

Soon, the rest of the family shows up with the arrival of Bo, his wife Rachael, their 13 year old daughter Cassidy, and 8 year old son Ainsley and the family begins the ordeal of going through all the junk accumulated by their father who was a bit of a hoarder. Things take a turn when young Ainsley discovers a photo album containing page after page of horrifying images of the bodies of African Americans that had been lynched. This obviously opens up the discussion of why this photo album exists; where did it come from exactly? The Lafayette siblings refuse to believe that this was actually something their father had been a part of but daughter-in-law Rachael does reveal she had to deal with Papa Lafayette making anti-semitic references about her.

This leads to a particularly nasty fight between Rachael and Toni who adamantly refuses to consider any chance her father was a racist person. Soon, more awful things are discovered in the house, while family members begin revealing a load of secrets and lies about their lives with a lot of blaming and finger pointing going on. Eventually, things get really ugly and the play ends…dramatically.

Cue ominous music.

In other words, your typical Big Family Problem Play in the long tradition of such plays in American Theater, like August: Osage County and The Little Foxes.

There’s a lot to like about Appropriate…especially if you like Big Family Problem Plays. Big characters and high drama and accusations and deviousness and corruption and SECRETS and LIES! Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has said that’s what led him to write Appropriate and to give him chance to explore how racism can permeate and damage a family that’s been cursed by it. I really mostly enjoyed the first act of Appropriate and thought the playwright had done a great job of constructing this family and their history and this terrific spooky old mansion in the Deep South. The tone of Act I is well established via not only the setting and plot and dialogue but also by some great stagecraft…this production is well mostly well designed with an evocative set by Carey Wong; haunting light design by Robert J. Aguilar and the sound design by Phillip Johnson (though, as always, I could have used MORE sound design…I like a production that’s almost a radio play!)

Act II was a different story. For one thing, this is really a three act play with the first act being a managable hour long but they forced the last two acts into one long hour and a half length and it felt too long…and, not just due to length. Jacobs-Jenkins plotting gets a little lost in the second half of the work; we meander around too much with some of the characters. I also think it obvious that Appropriate is actually a very early work for the playwright and it shows…it feels a bit sophomoric and obvious at times. There are some basic plot holes; does Mr. Jacobs-Jenkins understand how estate sales work? Here, it just seems like they’re putting on a bad yard sale…estate sales involve PROFESSIONALS! And, this is an OLD family of means that has an estate…there would be a lawyer involved. You can argue, these things aren’t important but for anyone who has dealt with closing out a family member’s estate, knows there are very specific things that have to be done. Here, it all feels a bit fake and unrealistic.

Not to mention, the characters in the play that feel a tad false…Rachael is a bit of a caricature of a helicopter mom and Frank’s girlfriend River is a young Portland hippy hipster gal. It’s all a bit cliché. Yes, helicopter moms and Portlandia-esque granola chicks DO exist but if you’re going to go that route then at least make them unique or put a spin on them.

The same is true with the three kid characters: sullen older male teen; younger online obsessed female teen with crush on older male cousin (does this really happen in real life? It sure does happen a lot in fiction…) and a young boy character who is only really there for one shock moment; he barely has any lines and he just runs around the stage like a cliché of an 8 year old running around for no clear reason other than we need to give him something to do onstage since he’s not really a real character…

But, the center of attention for Appropriate is on the three Lafayette siblings and all three of the roles are strongly written, for the most part, though the middle brother Bo is a bit underwritten; he’s a bit of a bro type but a weak willed one. Frank is a more complicated role but also a confusing one…at times he feels like the most empathetic of the three but he’s also haunted by the fact he’s a sex offender. I’m assuming that’s the playwright’s intent; he wants us to feel conflicted about the character but…still.

And, then there’s Toni who is really the main character of the show…it’s a complicated role that has to project a lot of different emotions and frankly, I think it’s a very tough role to pull off since she’s frequently not very likable. But, there is some warmth and charm in the character; you can hear in in the lines but it’s not being played very much. I think director Timothy McCuen Piggee and actor Jen Taylor, who plays Toni fail to capture the essense of the character and how to make Toni work as the main character of the play. Because frankly I think their Toni is far too rough and abrasive…there’s not ANY light in the performance and she ALWAYS feels negative and depressed and frankly, just mean. There’s zero charm there and zero humor and there SHOULD BE some warmth and humor to the character. Instead, she’s just sullen and depressed and bitter for 2 and a half hours.

I think some of the other actors also have similar problems, especially Tim Gouran’s Beau; his character is also missing some of the humor inherent in the script. But, I think Billy Finn’s Frank managed to find those beats with his very difficult/complicated character; his Frank does manage to hit some comedy homers including a very funny bit on a large tricycle; obviously the director knew that was a great moment for levity but missed other opportunities. (And, obviously, it’s my opinion that Appropriate is, at heart, a VERY dark, twisted comedy/drama and judging by the history of Branden Jacob-Jenkins’ other work, I don’t think I’m wrong.)

And, I was a big fan of what Angela DiMarco brought to the table with her Rachael…she managed to make that helicopter mom very real and vibrant. As did Sophie Kelly-Hedrick with her rainbow chick River; she made a caricature feel authentic and charming…you could really imagine River slumming around on Hawthorne checking out a show at the Bagdad.

The three young actors were fine though I think all three of their characters have issues with how they were developed. As stated before, Ainsley is only a plot device (Nolan Keany and August Mattfeld alternate in the role) and the sullen problematic Rhys doesn’t have much to do than be sullen but Jonas Winburn did a fine job with what he had to work with. I think the Cassidy character is actually a bit overwritten; she’s equal parts a budding sociopath (she’s pretty much unbothered by the lynching photos) and a silly twit crushing on her mess of a older cousin but I liked Ellie Getman did with her; a very believable performance of a tween monster.

And, I’m going to give a rare thumb’s down on a design issue; I had a problem with the costumes. Why are all the characters who are visiting southeastern Arkansas wearing SO MANY CLOTHES?!?!?? Long sleeves and pants and layers…it’s the Deep South! And, I’m assuming it’s summer since there are kids out of school and cicadas present so it’s supposed to be muggy and hot and nasty! They should be in tanks, tees, and shorts. Frankly, it’s like watching an episode of The Golden Girls which featured characters wearing layers and layers of clothes, including sweaters, while living in Miami! WHY?!?!?

So, yeah…I told you it was complicated. The play AND the production. I like aspects of both but also have problems with both. I think Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a huge talent and while Appropriate has many things going for it, I think he’s written better plays and will continue to write them in the future. (Knock wood). Despite some misgivings, I also think serious lovers of dynamic theater should check out this production. There are still powerful moments worth experiencing in Appropriate.