FAT HAM MAKES ITS ATLANTA DEBUT AT THE ALLIANCE THEATRE

James Ijames’ Highly Acclaimed Play Reinvents Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Through Identity, Love, Loss, and Self-Acceptance

Directed by Tony Award nominee, Stevie Walker-Webb, with Associate Direction by Dawn M. Simmons

Fat Ham, the deliciously funny, Pulitzer Prize-winning new play, makes its Atlanta debut at Alliance Theatre following its critically acclaimed Broadway run. Playwright James Ijames has reinvented Shakespeare’s masterpiece, Hamlet, creating what The New York Times calls “a hilarious yet profound tragedy smothered in comedy.”

Juicy is a queer, Southern college kid, already grappling with some serious questions of identity, when the ghost of his father shows up at their backyard barbecue, demanding that Juicy avenge his murder. But here’s the rub! Revenge doesn’t come easy to Juicy, a sensitive and self-aware young Black man in search of his own happiness and liberation. From an uproarious family cookout emerges a compelling examination of love, loss, masculinity, pain and joy.

ATLANTA, March 14, 2024 – The Alliance Theatre is excited to announce its upcoming production, the critically acclaimed new play, FAT HAM. Written by James Ijames and directed by Tony Award-nominated Stevie Walker-Webb, with Associate Direction by Dawn M. Simmons, the 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winner for drama is presented in association with The Huntington Theatre Company and Front Porch Arts Collective, and runs on the Hertz Stage from Wednesday, April 3 through Sunday, May 12, 2024. Opening night is Wednesday, April 10, 2024.

 

Playwright James Ijames has reinvented Shakespeare’s masterpiece, Hamlet, turning “Hamlet upside down” according to the Boston Globe, and creating what The New York Times calls “a hilarious yet profound tragedy smothered in comedy.” Juicy is a queer, Southern college kid, already grappling with some serious questions of identity, when the ghost of his father shows up at their backyard barbecue, demanding that Juicy avenge his murder. But here’s the rub! Revenge doesn’t come easy to Juicy, a sensitive and self-aware young Black man in search of his own happiness and liberation. From an uproarious family cookout emerges a compelling examination of love, loss, masculinity, pain and joy.

 

“Bringing FAT HAM to Atlanta is like a homecoming for the story itself,” said Director Stevie Walker-Webb. “Shakespeare’s Hamlet is set in a castle in Denmark. James Ijames’ FAT HAM takes place in a backyard BBQ in the South. Atlanta is the perfect place for a southern premier.”

 

The cast features James T. Alfred (Off-Broadway: Black Odyssey, National Tour: Jitney) as Rev/ Pap, Thomika Marie Bridwell (The Huntington: Joy and Pandemic) as Rabby, David J. Castillo (Actors’

 

Shakespeare Project: Edward II, New Repertory Theatre/Boston Center for American Performance, Baltimore) as Larry, Marshall W. Mabry IV (Pittsburgh Public Theatre: A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Harlem, Speakeasy Stage Boston: Once on this Island) as Juicy, Ebony Marshall-Oliver (Broadway: Ain’t No Mo’ and Chicken and Biscuits) as Tedra, Victoria Omoregie (SpeakEasy Stage: Fairview, Actors’ Shakespeare Project: The Bomb-itty of Errors) as Opal, and Lau’rie Roach (Alliance Theatre: Toni Stone and The lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe) as Tio.

 

The creative team for FAT HAM is led by Tony Nominated Director Stevie Walker-Webb and Associate Director Dawn M. Simmons, and includes Choreographer PJ Johnnie Jr, Dialect Coach Adi Cabral, Sound Designer Aubrey Dube, Fight Director and Intimacy Coordinator Jesse Hinson, Costume Designer Celeste Jennings, Hair and Wig Designer Earon D. Nealey, Illusions Designer Evan Northrup, Scenic Designer Luciana Stecconi, and Lighting Designer Xiangfu Xiao.

 

Additional production support is provided by Stage Manager R. Lamar Williams, Stage Management Production Assistants Myah Harper and Madeline Conrad, Line Producer Jody Feldman, and Production Management Lead Courtney O’Neill.

 

“As an artist who has worked all over the world, I know that the audience is the most important scene partner for a play. I’m excited to share this juicy story about family and faith, love and longing,” said Walker-Webb. “This story is full of surprises, and ‘JUICY’ comic bits of family gossip, but ultimately takes you on a journey of celebration and victory as you watch characters become their truest selves. FAT HAM will resonate powerfully in a city with as much heart as Atlanta.”

Get tickets here at the Alliance Theatre.