Calvin Leon Smith News

The 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy Fat Ham by James Ijames will make its Broadway premiere in 2023. The Public’s Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director Saheem Ali returns to direct the complete original Off-Broadway cast, including Nikki Crawford as “Tedra,” Chris Herbie Holland as “Tio,” Billy Eugene Jones as “Rev” and “Pap,” Adrianna Mitchell as “Opal,” Calvin Leon Smith as “Larry,” Marcel Spears as “Juicy,” and Benja Kay Thomas as “Rabby.”

BARD AT THE GATE will launch its 3rd season on October 19 with the premiere of Laura Schellhardt’s play SHAPESHIFTER, with an opening night pre-show Zoom party hosted by the digital theater series’ creator, Paula Vogel at 7 pm, followed by a performance of the play online starting at 7:30 pm.

In honor of Veterans Day, Arts in the Armed Forces will present a reading of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning play FAT HAM by James Ijames, directed by Sideeq Heard, featuring original cast members from the successful off-Broadway co-production between The Public Theater and National Black Theatre ​​directed by Saheem Ali.

Four plays by women – including a solo work written and performed by U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo – will be featured in the third season of BARD AT THE GATE, the digital theater streaming series created by Paula Vogel in 2020.

Mykal Kilgore and Company members of Fat Ham came together for a cover of Kill The Lights! Watch the music video here!

The 2022 Pulitzer Prize-Winning Play FAT HAM has extended for a third time at The Public Theater and will now run through Sunday, July 17th.

Critically-acclaimed playwright James Ijames reinvents Shakespeare's masterpiece with his new, Pulitzer prize-winning drama, FAT HAM, which is currently playing at the Public Theater. Below, watch as PBS NewsHour's Jeffrey Brown gets the scoop on the new show from Ijames as a part of the arts and culture series, CANVAS.

FAT HAM, the 2022 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, celebrated its opening night last night at The Public Theater! Go inside the celebration!

Check out the critic's reviews from the New York Times and elsewhere for the The Public Theater and National Black Theatre production of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize-Winning Play FAT HAM at The Public Theater.  

The Public Theater and National Black Theatre has announced that the 2022 Pulitzer Prize-Winning Play FAT HAM has extended again now through Sunday, July 3rd at The Public Theater.  

See the first photos from FAT HAM! Critically-acclaimed playwright James Ijames reinvents Shakespeare’s masterpiece with his new drama, FAT HAM. Juicy is a queer, Southern college kid, already grappling with some serious questions of identity, when the ghost of his father shows up in their backyard, demanding that Juicy avenge his murder.

FAT HAM, the reinvented, comedic version of HAMLET, started previews last week at The Public Theater, co-produced with National Black Theatre. Playwright James Ijames won the Pulitzer Prize for FAT HAM last week.

The Public Theater and National Black Theatre will begin previews on Thursday, May 12 for the upcoming New York Premiere of FAT HAM, written by James Ijames and directed by Public Theater Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director Saheem Ali.

Following an exciting and innovative filmed production produced by The Wilma Theater in 2021 during the shutdown, FAT HAM will make its live New York premiere this spring in the Anspacher Theater.

Special Offer - Fat Ham: A new kind of Hamlet 👑

Special Offer - Fat Ham Casting: Meet Juicy

The Public Theater and National Black Theatre announced complete casting today for the upcoming New York Premiere of FAT HAM written by James Ijames and directed by Public Theater Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director Saheem Ali.

Symphony Space will present Wall to Wall Selected Shorts, a monumental celebration of short fiction, March 26 in Symphony Space’s Peter Jay Sharp theater in New York City (2537 Broadway at 95th Street).

The second annual Write It Out! program for writers living with HIV will stream performances of students' work during a final sharing on Wednesday, December 1 at 7pm ET.

The HBO comedy series HIGH MAINTENANCE, created by Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair, returns for its nine-episode fourth season FRIDAY, FEB. 7 (11:00-11:30 p.m. ET/PT). The critically acclaimed series uses The Guy (Sinclair), a marijuana dealer, to connect a variety of distinctly authentic, empathetic and insightful stories about the New York community, including his own.