.png)
Rehearsals are in full swing for Geffen Playhouse’s West Coast premiere of the Broadway production of five-time Tony Award nominee and 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner Fat Ham, written by James Ijames (Kill Move Paradise, The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington). The Geffen Playhouse West Coast premiere of Saheem Ali’s (Merry Wives, Goddess) Broadway production of Fat Ham will be directed by Sideeq Heard (The Hot Wing King, A Curious Thing), who also served as associate director for the Broadway production.
The cast includes Nikki Crawford (The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington, Stormy Weather) as Tedra; Chris Herbie Holland (White Noise, The Box) as Tio; Billy Eugene Jones (Purlie Victorious, A Soldier’s Play) as Rev/Pap; Adrianna Mitchell (Snowfall, What to Send Up When It Goes Down) as Opal; Marcel Spears (The Neighborhood, The Mayor) as Juicy; Benja Kay Thomas (Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven, Bootycandy) as Rabby; and Matthew Elijah Webb (YELL: a “documentary” of my time here, A Raisin in the Sun) as Larry.
Previews for Fat Ham begin Wednesday, March 27, 2024, in the Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse. Opening night is Thursday, April 4, 2024.
Meet Juicy, a young, queer Black man with a Shakespearean-sized dilemma. When the ghost of his dead father shows up at his family’s BBQ wedding reception demanding his murder be avenged, does the poetic and sensitive Juicy have it in him to do the deed, or will he “to thine own self be true?” See what the New York Times calls “a hilarious yet profound tragedy smothered in comedy,” in this Pulitzer Prize–winning take on Hamlet, direct from Broadway to L.A.
Fat Ham is produced in association with No Guarantees, Public Theater Productions & Rashad V. Chambers. Fat Ham first premiered in 2022 at The Public Theater as a co-production between National Black Theatre and The Public Theater. Fat Ham made its Broadway premiere on April 12, 2023.
FAT HAM
Written by James Ijames
Original Direction by Saheem Ali
Directed by Sideeq Heard
Produced in Association with No Guarantees, Public Theater Productions & Rashad V. Chambers
Previews: March 27, 2024 – April 3, 2024
Opening Night: April 4, 2024
Closing Night: April 28, 2024
CAST
Nikki Crawford as Tedra
Chris Herbie Holland as Tio
Billy Eugene Jones as Rev/Pap
Adrianna Mitchell as Opal
Marcel Spears as Juicy
Benja Kay Thomas as Rabby
Matthew Elijah Webb as Larry
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Monday, Tuesday No performance
Wednesday – Friday 8:00 p.m.
Saturday 3:00 and 8:00 p.m.
Sunday 2:00 and 7:00 p.m.
LOCATION
Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse
10886 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets currently priced at $30.00 – $129.00. Available by phone at 310.208.2028 or online at www.geffenplayhouse.org. Fees may apply.
All Geffen Playhouse productions are intended for an adult audience; children under ten years of age will not be admitted.
Rush tickets for each day’s performance are made available to the general public one hour before showtime at the box office. $35.00 General/$15.00 Student.
COLLEGE AUDIENCES
Through a variety of events and other opportunities, Geffen Playhouse welcomes college students to experience the live storytelling presented on our stages. We are proud of our association with UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television, and open our doors to all college students throughout Los Angeles. More information is available at www.geffenplayhouse.org/college.
