‘Appropriate’: Drama Coded Into Its DNA

null By Charles IsherwoodDec. 21, 2023 5:40 pm ETSarah Paulson Photo: Joan MarcusAs families gather to celebrate the holidays, the Broadway opening of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s “Appropriate” almost seems a gift to audiences. For no matter how fraught your family’s time of togetherness might be, it will seem a blithe, ant-free summer picnic compared to the festival of fractiousness in Mr. Jacobs-Jenkins’s play. AppropriateThe Hayes Theatre, 240 W. 44th St., New York $109-$279, 212-541-4516, closes March 3, 2024The setting is a decaying plantation house in Arkansas whose amenities include two graveyards on the grounds—a family plot, and another where slaves were buried. But the skeletons inside the closets possibly outnumber those outside. This being a drama firmly grounded in the hallowed miserable-American-family tradition, by the conclusion all the secrets have tumbled out, and the ugly bones of long-held resentments have been picked over. And over, and over—the play runs nearly t