Fat Ham

Winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, James Ijames' play Fat Ham reinvents Shakespeare's Hamlet 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 was first staged in a filmed production for the Wilma Theater, Philadelphia, in April 2021. It made its Off-Broadway debut at The Public Theater in May 2022, transferring to Broadway in 2023. It was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Play and Best Director of a Play, and won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.