The Geffen Playhouse production of James Ijames' Fat Ham begins performances March 27 prior to an official opening April 4. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play, set to run at the Los Angeles venue through April 28, is directed by Sideeq Heard, the associate director of the work's Broadway production.
The cast for the West Coast premiere includes 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, and Matthew Elijah Webb as Larry.
Fat Ham reinvents Shakespeare's classic tragedy Hamlet, moving the action to a Southern cookout. There, queer college kid Juicy has to grapple with identity questions, the ghost of his father, and a supernatural demand for vengeance.
The work earned a Tony nomination for its extended Broadway bow in 2023, which followed its extended and sold-out Off-Broadway debut via The Public Theater and National Black Theatre in 2022.
Fat Ham is produced in association with No Guarantees, Public Theater Productions, and Rashad V. Chambers. The work made its world premiere in 2021 as a streaming production via Philadelphia's Wilma Theater, where Ijames serves as co-artistic director with Morgan Green, who directed the digital production.
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