Appropriate
by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Benny Sato Ambush
Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis
September 24, 2026
Lizi Watt, Jilanne Marie Klaus, Michael James Reed
Photo by Phillip Hamer
Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis
For the first time, the Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis’s mainstage play is not by Tennessee Williams. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Appropriate, is headlining this year’s festival theme of “The Tennessee Effect”, recognizing Williams’s influence on other writers and culture. Jacobs-Jenkins has acknowledged the influence of Williams on his work, and this particular play has a southern Gothic vibe and themes that fit with Williams’s style. This production, directed by Benny Sato Ambush and featuring a stellar cast, has an increasingly disturbing but important theme, and is sure to provoke much thought and discussion.
The story is essentially one large confrontation that plays out over a few days. The Lafayette family is gathering to auction off the ancestral home and belongings of their recently deceased patriarch. Long-estranged brother Franz (Joel Moses), who was known in the family as Frank, arrives unexpectedly along with his much-younger fiancée River (Maggie Newstead-Adams), startling and angering his older sister Toni (Jilanne Marie Klaus), who remembers him as an addict and frequent troublemaker who engaged in some horrific behavior which she thinks may have been a bad influence on her teenage son Rhys (Braden Phillips). Franz is trying to make amends with Toni and their other sibling, Bo (Michael James Reed), who arrives with his wife, Rachael (Lizi Watt), and their kids, 13-year-old Cassidy (Ainsley Hammond) and 8-year-old Ainsley (Aviv Giancola-Poremba). It’s fairly obvious there are tensions in the family already, but when young Ainsley inadvertently discovers some highly disturbing pictures in a book that belonged to his late grandfather, the whole family is driven into an uproar about what to do, with some–especially Toni–being in denial of what the photos imply about her father. From there, the story gets gradually more disturbing, and secrets are revealed and tensions are laid bare.
There’s an overall haunting vibe throughout, as well, enhanced by the excellent lighting by Matthew McCarthy and sound by Mary Robinson. McCarthy also designed the detailed set, effectively bringing the dilapidated old plantation house to the stage. There’s also excellent work from costume designer Abby Pastorello and properties designer Mikhail Lynn in helping maintain a creepy Southern Gothic atmosphere that’s much in the vein of something Tennessee Williams would have approved.
The themes here start out dark and get ever darker, spelling out the consequences of generational trauma and years of racial oppression in the American South. The family’s reactions to the various revelations show how they have been affected by their upbringing whether they acknowledge it or not, and the actors all do an excellent job of bringing these complex characters to life, led by Klaus as the bossy Toni, Reed as the conflicted Bo, and Moses as the especially damaged Franz, who all go through the gamut of emotions in realistic, affecting ways. Watt as the protective mother Rachael is also strong, as is Newstead-Adams as the idealistic River, who doesn’t quite know as much as she thinks she knows about Franz. There’s also excellent support from Hammond as the precocious Cassidy, and fine performances from Phillips as Rhys and young Giancola-Poremba in a smaller but pivotal role as Ainsley. The cast does an excellent job of making these difficult and often unlikable characters compelling.
The tension builds with remarkable effect, leading up to a powerful ending that highlights the stellar lighting and sound design, reminding the audience that the issues here are not those of one family, but of the whole country. It’s a profound, highly thought-provoking and not a little disturbing production that is likely to linger in one’s mind after viewing. It’s a bold new step for Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis, and while it will be good to see more Williams plays on the main stage in the future, this departure is especially profound and memorable.
Lizi Watt, Joel Moses, Jilanne Marie Klaus, Michael James Reed
Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis
Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis is presenting Appropriate at COCA’s Catherine B. Berges Theatre until September 27, 2026
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