Playwright James Ijames makes Black queer folks feel seen with his artistry
Not many can say they took a work of Shakespeare, flip it on its head, and make it the tale of a Black queer man. But James Ijames can comfortably talk all about it.
Not many can say they took a work of Shakespeare, flipped it on its head, and made it the tale of a Black queer man. But James Ijames can comfortably talk all about it.
Last year, his play Fat Ham revolutionized theatre with his take on the tragedy Hamlet.
The play, written by Ijames and directed by Saleem Ali, premiered at The Public Theater in the summer of 2022.
Fat Ham focuses on Black queer college student Juicy. A mama’s boy looking to find his own way, Juicy’s father dies and his mother marries his uncle, much to his chagrin. But when his father’s ghost returns at a family barbecue demanding that Juicy avenge him, the young man is forced with an ultimatum – follow through with his father’s wishes or break the cycle of trauma and violence.
Ijames’ play debuted to overwhelmingly positive reviews. Already an accomplished playwright, Ijames outdid himself with Fat Ham, eventually winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2022. Fat Ham had its Broadway debut in April 2022, and wound up winning 5 Tony Awards, including Best Play and Best Director of a Play.
The beauty behind Ijames’ play is that it’s unapologetically Black, queer, and southern. From its plot, to its dialogue, and it’s stage setting, Fat Ham tells a tale well-known by many playwrights and turns into a celebration of all things Black, queer, and southern. For many who watch Fat Ham, they’ll finally feel seen in the world of theatre and Ijames is to thank for that.
“I love Shakespeare. I love dramatic literature that is written in a kind of poetry. I love the scale of the storytelling in Shakespeare. And I love being a Black person from the South. I love the culture I inherited from my ancestors who have been in the south for generations,” said Ijames in an interview for INTO.
“I feel an ownership of Shakespeare because Shakespeare is impossible without the subjugation of people. You don’t get art in a high culture like that without somebody having to suffer as a result of that. So I take ownership of that text because I feel like it’s my inheritance, just like the culture I grew up in.”
Ijames, born and raised in North Carolina, received his Bachelor’s in Drama from Morehouse. From there, he took his talents to Temple University, where he received an MFA in Acting. While Fat Ham has rightfully garnered him praise for his playwright abilities, Ijames is an accomplished multi-hyphenate creative.
He holds four Barrymore awards, two for outstanding supporting actor and two for outstanding direction of a play. Additionally, among many of his awards, Ijames is the recipient of the 2015 Pew Fellow for Playwriting, the 2015 Terrance McNally New Play Award, the 2017 recipient of the Whiting Award, a 2019 Kesselring Prize winner, and the recipient of a 2020 Steinberg Prize.
Not to mention that Ijames is a founding member of Orbiter 3, the first playwright producing collective located in Philadelphia.
It’s all in a days work for the Villanova University professor. Ijames continues to rack up on accolades with Fat Ham, and rightfully so. Through his work, Ijames is ushering in a cultural shift on Broadway and in the world of theatre. With his storytelling, Ijames is celebrating Blackness and queerness in a world that castigates it.
From winning Pulitzers to bringing shows to Broadway, there’s nothing that James Ijames can’t accomplish.
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