Sarah Paulson sets return to Broadway in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ racially charged play ‘Appropriate’

NEW YORK — Sarah Paulson is heading back to Broadway in a racially charged play.

The Emmy-winning star of Ryan Murphy’s “American Horror Story” franchise is set to star in the Second Stage Theater production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ family comedy-drama “Appropriate.” She last appeared on the Main Stem 13 years ago in a 2013 off-Broadway revival of Lanford Wilson’s “Talley’s Folly.”

“Appropriate,” directed by Lila Neugebauer, will begin performances Nov. 28 at Second Stage’s Hayes Theater.

“This one gets grid time,” Paulson wrote on Instagram with Thursday’s announcement. “I haven’t been on stage in a decade. But this play, playwright, director and home [Second Stage] made it impossible to say no. I feel wildly lucky for the opportunity.”

The LaGuardia High School alum’s previous Broadway credits include 1993′s “The Sisters Rosensweig,” 2005′s “The Glass Menagerie” and “Collected Stories” in 2010.

The new production, part of Second Stage’s 45th Anniversary Season, marks Jacobs-Jenkins’ Broadway debut. The Brooklyn-based playwright is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, whose previous works include the critically acclaimed plays “An Octoroon,” “Everybody” and “Gloria.” Recently, he executive produced and served as a writer for “Kindred,” the Hulu/FX drama series based on Octavia E. Butler’s groundbreaking novel of the same name.

“Appropriate” had its New York City premiere at off-Broadway’s Signature Theater in 2014. The story revolves around estranged Lafayette family members, who return to their Southeast Arkansas plantation after the death of their father. Long-buried family secrets are uncovered while planning the patriarch’s estate sale and auction, including his prized stash of pictures showing the lynching of Black people, and jars containing souvenirs ears and bones and other racist relics.