Armory Artist-in-Residence Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Purpose, Appropriate) has made a name for himself as one of the most insightful and original playwrights of the American stage today. The two-time Tony, Obie, Pulitzer Prize winner and MacArthur Fellow skillfully blends drama and comedy to probe how different generations define heritage amongst the complex dynamics of the great American family. Commissioned by the Armory, Jacobs-Jenkins lends his signature style and unmistakable wit to the world premiere of his latest work, equal parts fantasia, memory play, and morality drama.
Following a mother and son on a fantastical, picaresque road trip through the American South, the new play allows audiences to bear witness to the pair’s surreal encounters with fellow countrymen and remnants of American history. This surreal meditation interrogates the limits of identity on a modern-day search for meaning and the overlap of personal, ancestral, and national identities as well as their ramifications in periods of social conflict and upheaval.
For the first time in over a decade, Grass reunites the creative team behind 2014’s Obie Award-winning production of An Octoroon, with direction by Obie Award-winning director Sarah Benson (Teeth, Fairview) and set design by Tony Award-winner, MacArthur Fellow, and former Armory Artist-in Residence Mimi Lien (The Great Comet of 1812, Sweeney Todd).
