Meet the Cast of FAT HAM, Beginning Previews on Broadway Tonight!

Fat Ham begins previews tonight, Tuesday, March 21, 2023, and will officially open on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, at the American Airlines Theatre. This is a 14-week limited engagement through Sunday, June 25, 2023.

The cast for the Broadway production of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy Fat Ham by James Ijames*, directed by The Public Theater's Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director Saheem Ali* features Nikki Crawford*, Chris Herbie Holland*, Billy Eugene Jones, Adrianna Mitchell*, Calvin Leon Smith*, Marcel Spears*, and Benja Kay Thomas, RJ Foster (u/s Rev/Pap), Marquis D. Gibson* (u/s Juicy/Larry/Tio), Alexandria Lewis* (u/s Opal), Matthew Elijah Webb* (u/s Juicy/Larry/Tio), and Rema Webb (u/s Tedra/Rabby).

Meet the cast bringing this play to the Broadway stage below!

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Nikki Crawford (Tedra)

Regional: The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington (The Steppenwolf); Fat Ham (The Public Theater); Fairview (Woolly Mammoth Theatre); Stormy Weather (Pasadena Playhouse); Spamalot (1st Las Vegas Co); Man of La Mancha (La Mirada Theatre); Immediate Family (Mark Taper Forum); Showboat (Sacramento Music Circus); Play On! (Arena Stage). TV: Lifetime: "A Country Christmas Harmony," "NCIS LA," "9-1-1," "NCIS," "Selena: The Series," "United States of Al," "Criminal Minds," "PBS Great Performances: Play On!" Awards: NAACP Best Actress Theatre Award winner and LA Ovation Best Featured Actress nomination for Stormy Weather; Helen Hayes Award Best Supporting Actress nomination for Play On! Training: Carnegie Mellon, BFA.

Chris Herbie Holland (Tio)

is an actor, music producer, songwriter, and creative. He recently starred in the off-Broadway Pulitzer Prize winning play Fat Ham at The Public Theater in NYC. Regional credits include White Noise at Berkeley Rep and The Box at Z-Space. His productions have gotten music placements on Showtime's "The Chi" as he frequently works with his longtime partner and collaborator Robyn Hood aka Miriam Hyman.

Billy Eugene Jones (Rev/Pap)

Broadway credits include A Soldier's Play, The Book of Mormon, A Raisin in the Sun, The Trip to Bountiful, The Big Knife, The Mountaintop, Passing Strange, Radio Golf and Gem of the Ocean. Off-Broadway credits include Fat Ham (Public Theater) On Sugarland (NYTW/ [Audelco Award for best actor, Drama Desk Nomination for best actor]), Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (Manhattan Theater Company), Much Ado About Nothing (NYSF), Pitbulls (Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre), The Jammer (Atlantic Theatre Company), In the Footprint (The Civilians), Waiting for Godot and Three Sisters (Classical Theatre of Harlem). Regional credits include Seven Guitars, Death of a Salesman, Good Faith, Richard II, Breath Boom (Yale Rep), Macbeth (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), The Good Negro (The Goodman), Stick Fly (Elliot Norton nomination for Best Supporting Actor/ Arena Stage and Huntington Theatre Company), Othello (CalShakes), Spunk (Actors Theatre of Louisville), The People Before the Park (Premiere Stages). Other stage credits include productions at Two River Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Hartford Stage, and numerous productions at The Dallas Theater Center. Billy is a graduate of Yale School of Drama.

Adrianna Mitchell (Opal)

is honored to make her Broadway debut as "Opal" in the 2022 Pulitzer Prize winning Fat Ham after originating the role at The Public Theater. Her other major New York stage credits include "Three" in What To Send Up When It Goes Down at Playwrights Horizon; "Sister" in runboyrun at NY Theatre Workshop. A selected list of her regional credits includes Noises Off (Two River Theater); Romeo and Juliet (as "Juliet") and Taming of the Shrew (Chautauqua Theater); Measure for Measure (Actor's Shakespeare Project); Hamlet (opposite John Douglas Thompson) and A Christmas Carol (American Conservatory Theater). Ms. Mitchell heavily recurred as "Tanosse" on the FX hit series "Snowfall." She also performed guest star roles on "Queens" (ABC), "Bull" (CBS), "The Good Fight" (CBS), "The Blacklist" (NBC), "Little America" (Apple TV+), and "Lincoln Rhyme" (NBC). Other notable television includes a series regular role on "Harlem's Kitchen" opposite Delroy Lindo and Sheryl Lee Ralph (ABC Pilot). Ms. Mitchell is a graduate of Spelman College, Phi Beta Kappa, American Conservatory Theater (MFA); British American Drama
Academy.

Calvin Leon Smith he/him (Larry)

Off-Broadway: Fat Ham (Audelco nom). Tour: Sweat (The Public Theater's Mobile National). Regional: On the Grounds of Belonging (Long Wharf); Several plays at The Clarence Brown Theatre and The Actors Theatre of Louisville, Macbeth (Shakespeare on the Sound). TV/film: "The Underground Railroad" (Amazon),"The Deuce (HBO)," "High Maintenance" (HBO); Better Man (Best Actor in a Short, Queens World Film Festival), Paper Friends, RSVP. Upcoming: Benny and James; The Raging Heart of Maggie Acker. BA: University of Tennessee, Knoxville. MFA: The Juilliard School.

Marcel Spears (Juicy)

Marcel played the role of 'Juicy' in The Public Theater/National Black Theatre production of Fat Ham. Spears co-stars in the hit CBS comedy series "The Neighborhood", now airing its 5th season. Prior to that, Spears was seen on the ABC comedy "The Mayor" and in the Netflix/BET film Always a Bridesmaid. Marcel's theater credits includes the West Coast premiere of Ironbound (Geffen Playhouse); At the Old Place (La Jolla Playhouse); Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Old Globe Theater); Ruben Santiago-Hudson's production of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Two River Theater) and Trouble in Mind (Guthrie Theater). On the New York Stage, Spears was seen in Othello (Classic Stage Company), Mother Courage (Classic Stage Company), Judy (Page 73), and made his New York Stage debut in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Classic Stage Company, Rosemarie Tichler Fund Grant). Spears holds an MFA in acting from Columbia University.

Benja Kay Thomas (Rabby)

is a New York based actor. Broadway: Skeleton Crew. Off-Broadway: Fat Ham (The Public), Barbecue, (Atlantic Theater); Halfway Bitches Go Straight To Heaven and Bootycandy (Playwrights Horizons). Regional: Booty Candy (Baltimore Center Stage); Jazz (Wilma Theater). Film/TV: A Love Song, FBI (CBS), Gotham (FOX) A Beautiful Distraction (Netflix), Detective Chinatown 2, Warrior Class, A Gun For Jennifer. Awards: OBIE & AUDELCO! Benja is a proud member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and is a member of The Actors Center and the LAByrinth Theater Company.

RJ Foster (u/s Rev/Pap)

Broadway: The Lehman Trilogy. Off-Broadway: Public Theatre, Classic Stage Company, Billie Holiday Theatre, Classical Theatre of Harlem. Regional: Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Folger Theatre, Arena Stage, Shakespeare Theatre Company. TV: "Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," "Bull," "The Good Fight," "Power," "Homeland," "Blacklist," "Blue Bloods." Love to B and Z.

Marquis D. Gibson (u/s Juicy/Larry/Tio)

Credits include: Fat Ham (Public Theater); Toni Stone (American Conservatory Theater); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Marin Shakespeare); The Christians, Sex With Strangers (Hippodrome Theatre); Shakespeare in Love (Cincinnati Playhouse; Baltimore CenterStage); 295N (Signature Theatre, DC); Wig Out (Studio Theatre); The Piano Lesson (Cape Fear Regional Theatre). Marquis is a graduate of Howard University.

Alexandria Lewis she/her (u/s Opal)

is a recent graduate from NYU Graduate Acting. Her credits there include: King Charles III, In the Blood, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Romeo and Juliet, among others. She has worked with directors such as Mark Wing-Davey, Cristina Angeles, Bob McGraff, Arin Arbus and Stevie Walker-Webb.

Matthew Elijah Webb (u/s Juicy/Larry/Tio)

Matthew started his NYC career understudying in Fat Ham at The Public Theater and is excited to make his Broadway debut a part of the HAMily! Earlier credits include the Yale Repertory Theater and Yale School of Drama in productions by Jeremy O. Harris, Rudi Goblen, and a.k. payne, among others. He is grateful to God, his family, team, and Eloise for their continuous support. MFA: Yale School of Drama. @matthewelijahwebb

Rema Webb (u/s Tedra/Rabby)

is excited to be a part of the Fat Ham family. Most recently, she appeared as Mrs Squires in The Music Man. Other Broadway credits: Escape to Margaritaville, The Color Purple, Violet, The Lion King, The Book of Mormon, & Ragtime. Off-Broadway/Regional credits: Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, Unmasked, Hercules, Little Shop of Horrors, Footloose, The Cradle Will Rock, The Colored Museum. She is Founder of the youth performing arts school www.onbroadway-patp.com. @remaweb