JAMES IJAMES

On his Pulitzer Prize winning play Fat Ham, playwright James Ijames has said “I thought it would make people laugh when they read it.” That they did. Billed as a deliciously funny work of art, Fam Ham sold out its six week preview at the Public Theater in New York during last summer. The play, which Variety said “is a witty take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet where the only death is the patriarchy,” makes its Broadway debut in early 2023. Ijames developed his writing and performance skills as a student at Morehouse College and then later at Temple University. When he isn’t working on his own craft (or garnering praise as a stage artist; he won two Barrymore awards for outstanding supporting actor), Ijames helps shape the minds of young thespians as an associate professor of Theater at Villanova University. —K.M.