Fat Ham

Winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, James Ijames’ Fat Ham reinvents Shakespeare’s masterpiece in startling and hilarious ways amidst the backdrop of a family barbecue in the American South.

Juicy--a young, queer, Southern man, who is grappling with questions of identity--is visited by the ghost of his father (Pap) at his mother’s wedding/family barbecue. Pap demands that Juicy avenge his recent murder. How will Juicy, a sensitive and self-aware young Black man, trying to break a cycle of trauma and toxic masculinity, avenge his father’s premature death? Fat Ham reinvents Shakespeare’s masterpiece in startling and hilarious ways amidst the backdrop of a family barbeque in the American South.

James Ijames is a playwright, director, and educator. Ijames’ plays have been produced by Flashpoint Theater Company, Orbiter 3, Theatre Horizon, Wilma Theatre, The National Black Theatre, Definition Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Shotgun Players, and have received development with PlayPenn New Play Conference, The Lark, Playwrights Horizons, Clubbed Thumb, Villanova Theater, Wilma Theater, Azuka Theatre, and Victory Garden.

Ijames was a founding member of Orbiter 3, Philadelphia’s first playwright producing collective. He received a B.A. in drama from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA and a M.F.A. in acting from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. Ijames is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Villanova University and the Lead Artistic Director of the Wilma Theater. He resides in South Philadelphia.