MEDIA PCS and Portland Playhouse to Stage FAT HAM This Spring

Portland Center Stage and Portland Playhouse will present the upcoming co-production of James Ijames' critically acclaimed comedy, Fat Ham. Winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Fat Ham is a loose adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet, relocated to a rollicking family barbecue in the modern American South.

While Portland Center Stage (PCS) and Portland Playhouse have shared artists and resources in the past, Fat Ham marks their first official co-producing partnership. The mutually beneficial collaboration allows both organizations to share production and casting responsibilities, cultivate new audiences, create more space for Black and queer voices, expand community relationships, and program unique events in support of the play. 

Finding joy and authenticity despite familial and societal expectations is a central theme in James Ijames' work. Weaver views Fat Ham's irreverent heart and unapologetic centering of Black and queer identity as a joyful act of resistance — a message that we all need right now.

Fat Ham will be presented on the PCS Main Stage at The Armory in downtown Portland. Previews begin April 19, opening night is April 24, and the show continues through May 17, 2026. Fat Ham is sponsored by Hilary Krane & Kelly Bulkeley.

ABOUT FAT HAM 

A week after Juicy's father dies, he finds himself at a backyard barbecue celebrating the marriage of his mother and uncle—sound familiar? James Ijames's Tony-nominated, Pulitzer Prize-winning reimagining of Hamlet casts the sweet prince of Denmark as a queer, Black boy from the South. In this comedy born from tragedy, Juicy must choose between seeking vengeance for his father's death or staying true to his own heart—a story of identity, family, and liberation as we become our truest selves.

Charles Grant, Producing Director at Portland Playhouse and an actor who has been featured many times at PCS, leads the Fat Ham team as Director.

The cast features performers audiences will recognize from both Portland Playhouse and Portland Center Stage productions, as well as artists who are making their debut with both theaters. Isaiah Reynolds, last seen in PCS's productions of Sweeney Todd and Choir Boy, anchors the cast as the central character, Juicy.

Jackie Davis, Director of Anna Deavere Smith's Notes From the Field at Portland Playhouse, brings her extensive experience to the role of Juicy's recently widowed mother, Tedra. Broadway and regional theater veteran Clinton Lowe makes his PCS/Portland Playhouse debut as both Juicy's uncle, Rev, and his father, Pap. Ashlee Radney (Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous and Chicken & Biscuits at Portland Playhouse), Austin Michael Young (Primary Trust and The Brothers Size at PCS), Treasure Lunan (School Girls: Or, the African Mean Girls Play, Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really and more at PCS; Chicken & Biscuits, Barbecue, and more at Portland Playhouse), and Marcel M. Johansen round out the seven member ensemble.