Fat Ham Program

WELCOME TO

ARTISTIC

DIRECTOR

TARELL ALVIN MCCRANEY

Hello, I’m Tarell Alvin McCraney, your Artistic Director. It is my honor to welcome you to the Broadway production of James Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize–winning Fat Ham. You are witnessing the West Coast premiere of a play continuing its history making run here at the Geffen. This play, its deep discourse with the classic tragedy Hamlet and its intentional drive towards joy, felt like the perfect setting to celebrate “what’s next” at the Geffen.

Our 2024/2025 is a season of beginnings in the Gil Cates Theater. The beginning of a trilogy of plays from a multi-hyphenate Broadway star: Dragon Lady (Part I of The Dragon Cycle) by Sara Porkalob. The beginning of the Geffen’s commitment to collaborations with theaters across the nation as we partner with one of our oldest and dearest colleagues, Steppenwolf Theater Company, in a co-production of Michael Frayn’s Noises Off. In addition, we introduce two powerful early-career artists: a.k. payne with Furlough’s Paradise; and, in association with Denver Center for the Performing

Arts and Alliance Theatre, Jake Brasch’s The Reservoir. We also make good on our promise to reimagine classic works by inviting Judy Hegarty Lovett to direct Waiting for Godot starring Conor Lovett and Rainn Wilson.

In the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater, my play The Brothers Size will open the doors to our new works lab. The play written 20 years ago is based on West African/Caribbean folklore. The practice of taking classic stories and introducing them as live events is the primary focus of our new lab. And in partnership with our neighbors and colleagues at UCLA, we will be inviting trailblazing artists and risk-taking audiences into the Audrey with behind-thescenes development and public programming all season long.

Big plans for our intimate space in the months to come, now please enjoy Fat Ham!

Tarell Alvin McCraney Artistic Director

PHOTO BY JEFF LORCH

S ATURDAY, MAY 18, 2024 BACKSTAGE AT THE GEFFEN

JOIN US FOR A NIGHT LIKE NO OTHER IN SUPPORT OF GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE

HONORING CHANCELLOR GENE BLOCK

FOUNDERS AWARD

LARISSA FASTHORSE TRAILBLAZERS AWARD

COLMAN DOMINGO ARTISTIC IMPACT AWARD

Be in the room for a night of inspiring playwrights, hilarious storytellers, and show-stopping headline performers you won’t want to miss—all to benefit our incredible artistic and educational initiatives. Learn more and get your tickets at geffenplayhouse.org/backstage

Welcome to Fat Ham! It is with great excitement that we present the Broadway production of James Ijames’ inventive and joyous take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Saheem Ali’s original production has been expertly stewarded for the Geffen by director Sideeq Heard, and we are thrilled to welcome a tremendous cast to tell this age-old story in a brand-new way.

Fat Ham is enjoying great success at theaters across the country, so to be graced with the Broadway team— including directors, actors, designers, choreographers, and consultants—gives us an enormous sense of pride and gratitude. It is also a testament to the play itself that all of these artists, having enjoyed a lengthy Broadway run, eagerly jumped at the opportunity to tell this story once again for Los Angeles audiences.

This play is an embodiment of the transformative power of theater. The idea that a story we think we know can be told with such a fresh and new perspective is a reminder that every play—whether old or new—has the potential to carry a profound lesson while being wildly entertaining. Further, that we always have the ability to write and rewrite our stories. In fact, changing times demand that we see old plays through a new lens. This is how we excite existing audiences and build new ones.

Thank you for joining us for the party and enjoy the show!

Amy Levinson Associate Artistic Director

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Adi Greenberg CHAIR

Dr. Gene D. Block

Gil Cates, Jr. Executive Director / CEO

Mary Ann Cloyd Vice Chair

Merle Dandridge

Lauren Shuler Donner

Dr. Brad Edgerton

Bonnie E. Eskenazi

Mark Fleischer

Susan Nahley Fleishman

Brenda Garcia

Patricia L. Glaser

Eric Heer

Carla Malden

Brian Mann

Tiffany Mayberry

Tarell Alvin McCraney

Artistic Director

Mary Osako

Danny Passman

Holly Rice

Linda Bernstein Rubin

Matt Shakman

Richard Sherman

Cynthia P. Stafford

Howard Tenenbaum Chair Emeritus

Miranda Tollman

JaHan Wang

Marc Weinstock

FOUNDING TRUSTEES

Harold A. Brown

Kirsten Combs

Robert A. Daly

David Geffen

Herbert M. Gelfand Chair Emeritus

Quincy Jones

Jeffrey Katzenberg

Glorya Kaufman

Frank G. Mancuso Chair Emeritus

Ron Meyer

Bruce M. Ramer Founding Chair

Victoria Mann Simms

Andy Spahn

Steven Spielberg

Steve Tisch IN MEMORIAM

Gilbert Cates Founder

Marcia Israel-Curley

Audrey Skirball Kenis

Charles Kenis

Karl Malden

Ginny Mancini

Jerry Moss

Jerry Perenchio

Edie Wasserman

Lew Wasserman

Dr. Charles E. Young

LEGAL COUNSEL

Nikki Kerman Venable LLP

PHOTO BY JEFF LORCH

ART LIVES HERE

FEATURED WORK #11

At the Theatre

ARTIST

Hubert Neal Jr

ON VIEW

Mar. 27 – Apr. 28, 2024

In my work, I dissect a uniquely American social sedative: that preventable mass violence is both an anomaly and an acceptable price for freedom.

Geffen Playhouse celebrates the diversity in our audiences and our productions, and it is our mission to create, foster, and nourish an environment that is open and welcoming for all. We are a home for the arts, and we believe our physical space should also reflect and be representative of our ongoing commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion in everything we do and the communities we support.

Four Los Angeles artists have been invited to create original art works to be displayed in our lobby welcoming audiences. Our 2023/2024 Season is curated by Terrell Tilford (Band of Vices), the Creative Director of Art Lives Here and Geffen Playhouse alumnus.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Hubert Neal Jr is a Contemporary Professional Fine Artist with expertise in Painting Drawing, Illustration, Writing, Graphic Design, and Photography. Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Hubert’s family is from Belize, Central America. By the age of 9, Hubert knew he wanted to be an artist, and thankfully, his mother found just the right place for him to develop as an artist. At the age of 13, Hubert was accepted to the prestigious The Chicago Academy for the

Arts where he studied Visual Arts, Theatre, Music, and Writing. Upon graduation, he was awarded the Academy’s first Headmaster’s Award. From there, Hubert continued his studies when he was accepted to the Fine Arts Department of The School of Architecture, Art, and Planning at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. In addition to the United States, some of the countries Hubert has exhibited include Belize, Jamaica, and India. Hubert is represented by iv Gallery in Los Angeles.

FAT HAM

WRITTEN BY JAMES IJAMES

ORIGINAL DIRECTION BY SAHEEM ALI

DIRECTED BY SIDEEQ HEARD

PRODUCED IN ASSOCIATION WITH NO GUARANTEES, PUBLIC THEATER PRODUCTIONS & RASHAD V. CHAMBERS

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER MARCEL SPEARS

LIGHTING DESIGNER BRADLEY KING

ILLUSIONS DESIGNER

SKYLAR FOX

FIGHT DIRECTOR

LISA KOPITSKY

SCENIC DESIGNER MARUTI EVANS

COSTUME DESIGNER DOMINIQUE FAWN HILL

SOUND DESIGNER

MIKAAL SULAIMAN

WIG, HAIR & MAKEUP DESIGNER EARON CHEW NEALY

BROADWAY CHOREOGRAPHER

DARRELL GRAND MOULTRIE

ORIGINATING PRODUCERS

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

DAVID H. PARKER

ASSOCIATE CHOREOGRAPHER

ABDUR-RAHIM JACKSON

THE PUBLIC THEATER & NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE

PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER

ALYSSA ESCALANTE

ORIGINAL CASTING DIRECTOR KATE MURRAY, CSA

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER LAUREN BUANGAN

CASTING DIRECTOR

PHYLLIS SCHURINGA, CSA

OPENING NIGHT

THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2024

PRODUCTION SPONSOR

OPENING NIGHT SPONSORS

Fat Ham is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

Fat Ham was commissioned by and received its world premiere as a filmed production at the Wilma Theatre, Philadelphia: Blanka Zizka, Yury Urnov, James Ijames, and Morgan Green, Co-Artistic Directors; Leigh Goldenberg, Managing Director.

Fat Ham, Co-Produced by The Public theater and Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre, received its live New York premiere on May 12, 2022

FAT HAM

CAST OF CHARACTERS

(IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)

Tedra NIKKI CRAWFORD

Tio CHRIS HERBIE HOLLAND †

Rev / Pap BILLY EUGENE JONES

Opal ADRIANNA MITCHELL

Juicy ................................................................................... MARCEL SPEARS

Rabby ........................................................................... BENJA KAY THOMAS

Larry .................................................................... MATTHEW ELIJAH WEBB

†Fight Captain

UNDERSTUDIES

Opal ................................................................................ JASMINE ASHANTI

Juicy ...................................................................................

ARMAND FIELDS

Rev / Pap .................................................................................. ETHAN HENRY

Tio / Larry JARVIS B. MANNING, JR.

Tedra / Rabby APRIL NIXON

Understudies never substitute for listed players unless specified.

The Actors and Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

SETTING

A house in North Carolina. Could also be Virginia, or Maryland or Tennessee. It is not Mississippi, or Alabama or Florida. That’s a different thing altogether.

TIME

The American South, to me, exists in a kind of liminal space between the past and the present with an aspirational relationship to the future that is contingent to your history living in the South. All that to say... I’m writing this play from inside the second decade of the 21st century. This world aesthetically sits anywhere in the four to six decades preceding the current moment.

RUNNING TIME

100 minutes. There will be no intermission.

PLEASE NOTE

There is no photography or filming of any kind allowed during the performance. Please turn off all electronic devices, including cell phones. Thank you!

PRODUCTION STAFF FOR FAT HAM

Associate Costume Designer

DeShon Elem

Associate Lighting Designer

Abby May

Assistant Lighting Designer

Kaitlin Trimble

Associate Sound Designer

DJ Potts

Associate Illusions Designer

Christian Cagigal

Associate Wig, Hair & Makeup Designer

Mattie Milano

Intimacy Director

Sasha Nicolle Smith

Voice Coach

Lydia René

Production Assistant

Juliet Park

Original Casting Associate

Chalin Tulyathan

Deck Crew

Erica Ammerman, Kelsey Araghi, Stephanie Benitez, Mikayla Bettner, Rebecca K. Hsia, Giulia Zucchetti

Deck Crew Sub

Sam Sully

Automation Operator

Enrique Garcia

Lead Scenic Carpenter

Philip Rossi

Stage Supervisor

Mady Krise

Wardrobe Supervisor

Michayla Van Treeck

Lighting Programmer

Ezra Fisher

Light Board Operator

Sydney Smith

Light Board Operator Swing

Jesus Cambero Elias

A1

Bob Gilmartin

A2

Michael Svolos

A1 Swing

Matt Colleran

Properties Artisans & Carpenters

J. Cody Andersen, Sigourney Chin, Danny Dolan

Carpenters

Oliver Brink, Ezra Fisher, Dave Foubert, Enrique Garcia, Mason Irwin, Rowan Knight, Mady Krise, Shadow LaValley, Greg Mueller, Lyn Nguyen, Claudia Peterson, Syd Shoell, Sam Sully, Eiden Weissblum

Scenic Painters

Vanessa Lara, Chandish Nester, Maddie Paniccia

Wigs

Haley Powell

Dresser

Kassidy Kleinsmith

Wardrobe Swing

Stephanie Castro

Stitchers

Stephanie Castro, Kiko Cheyenne, Kassidy Klinesmith, Michayla Van Treeck

Electricians

Erica Ammerman, Shannon Barondeau, Ezra Fisher, Ezra Muthiah, Emma Inglehart, Justin Kelley-Cahill, James Tatsch

Sound Technicians

Guillermo Cervera, Ilana Elroi, Stephanie Lynn Yackovetsky

PRODUCTION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Scenery Built & Painted By F&D Scene Changes, The Old Globe

Lighting Equipment Provided By PRG

Sound Equipment Provided By Jon Sound Inc., DnB Design, Launch

Fabric Printing By Enhance a Colour

Production Photographer

Jeff Lorch

Media Filming

Ramon Garcia

SPECIAL THANKS

Design + Art Direction

Base Design

Photography

Justin Bettman

UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television Scene, Prop, Sound, and Costume Shops

RECORDING NOTICE

The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production and distributing recordings or streams in any medium, including the internet, is strictly prohibited, a violation of the author(s)’s rights and actionable under United States copyright law. For more information, please visit: https://concordtheatricals.com/resources/protecting-artists

This theater operates under agreement between the League of Resident Theaters and Actors Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

The Actors and Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

This theater operates under agreement between the League of Resident Theaters and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, an independent national labor union.

The Director is a Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.

The scenic, costume, lighting, and sound designers in LORT theaters are represented by United Scenic Artists Local USA-829, IATSE.

Geffen Playhouse is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

This project was also funded in part by the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles.

Geffen Playhouse, a not-for-profit theater company, is proudly affiliated with the University of California at Los Angeles.

MUSIC CREDITS

“Square Biz”

Written by Allen Henry McGrier and Christine Mary Brockert. Performed by Teena Marie.

Published by Jobete Music Co Inc. and McNella Music.

All rights administered by Sony Music Publishing. Courtesy of Universal Music Enterprises.

“100% Pure Love “

Written by Crystal Waters, Theodore Gregory Douglas, Walter Thomas III Davis, and Jay A. Steinhour. Performed by Crystal Waters.

Published by Sony Music Publishing—MGB Songs on behalf of Basement Boys Music, Inc. and Sony Music Publishing.

“Creep”

Written by Jonathan Greenwood, Edward O’Brien, Colin Charles Greenwood, Mike Hazelwood, Thomas Edward Yorke, Philip James Selway, and Albert Hammond. Performed by Radiohead.

Published by Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music Ltd (PRS).

All rights on behalf of Warner Chappell Music Ltd administered by WC Music Corp.

Track by Sinan Refik Zafar.

“Kill the Lights”

Originally performed by DJ Cassidy, Jess Glynne, Alex Newell, and Nile Rodgers. The Broadway cover version for Fat Ham performed by Mykal Kilgore.

Produced by DJ Cassidy and Greg Cohen.

Written by Akil King, DJ Cassidy, Gregory Paul Cohen, Jaramye Daniels, John Lardieri, Kyle Owens.

Published by Cassidy Podell Publishing, Concord Music Publishing, Kobalt Music Group, Kyle Henry Bailey Owens, Songs Of Ingrooves on behalf of Hungwell Songs, and Warner Chappell.

Used by permission of Concord Music Publishing LLC for the interests of John Lardieri. Copyright Secured. All rights reserved.

Jaramye Daniels Music (ASCAP) and WC Music Corp. (ASCAP).

All rights on behalf of itself and Jaramye Daniels Music administered by WC Music Corp.

NIKKI CRAWFORD

Tedra

Tony–nominated and Obie Award winner for originating the role of “Tedra” in James Ijames’ celebrated 2022 Pulitzer Prize–winning Fat Ham, first at The Public Theater and then at the American Airlines Theatre. Between The Public and Broadway iterations of Fat Ham, starred in James Ijames’ The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Guest star roles include recurring role on Sony’s Cruel Intentions; NCIS: Los Angeles; 9-1-1; NCIS; United States of Al; Selena: The Series; and a starring role in Lifetime’s A Country Christmas Harmony. In the theater world, she was handpicked by the legendary Mike Nichols to open the Vegas company of Spamalot for which she was named Vegas Showstopper of the Year. Also starred opposite Leslie Uggams in Stormy Weather at the Pasadena Playhouse playing “Young Lena Horne” and winning the NAACP Theatre Award. B.F.A., Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama.

CHRIS HERBIE HOLLAND (he/him)

Tio

Chris Herbie Holland is thrilled to be working at the Geffen! Broadway: Fat Ham. Off-Broadway: Fat Ham (Obie Award, AUDELCO nomination). Regional credits include White Noise at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and The Box at Z Space. Holland holds an M.F.A. from NYU Grad Acting and a B.A. from Dartmouth College. British American Drama Academy alum. For the Holland’s and Helems’. Thank you, Cabinet. Mom, I did it! IG: @chrisherbieholland

BILLY EUGENE JONES

Rev / Pap

Broadway credits: Purlie Victorious, Fat Ham, 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 (The Public Theater, Obie Award), On Sugarland (New

York Theatre Workshop, Obie Award, AUDELCO Award for Best Actor, Drama Desk nomination for Best Actor), Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout Theatre Company, New York Shakespeare Festival, Atlantic Theatre Company, The Classical Theatre of Harlem. Regional: Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, Yale Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, CalShakes, Actors Theatre of Louisville. Billy is a graduate of Yale School of Drama.

ADRIANNA MITCHELL (she/her) Opal

Adrianna Mitchell made her Broadway debut playing “Opal” in the Tony–nominated, Pulitzer Prize–winning Fat Ham after originating the role at The Public Theater. Other Off-Broadway credits include What to Send Up When It Goes Down at Playwrights Horizons and runboyrun at New York Theatre Workshop. Selected regional credits include Noises Off (Two River Theater); Romeo & Juliet (as “Juliet”) and The Taming of the Shrew (Chautauqua Theater Company); Measure for Measure (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); Hamlet and A Christmas Carol (American Conservatory Theater). Televi-

sion: Mitchell heavily recurred on Snowfall (FX) and booked a series regular role on the pilot Harlem’s Kitchen, opposite Delroy Lindo and Sheryl Lee Ralph (ABC). Select guest star roles: Grey’s Anatomy and Queens (ABC); Bull, The Good Fight, and Evil (CBS); The Blacklist and Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector (NBC); and Little America (Apple TV+). Mitchell’s a proud graduate of Spelman College, Phi Beta Kappa; American Conservatory Theater (M.F.A.); British American Drama Academy.

MARCEL SPEARS (he/him)

Juicy & Associate Producer

Marcel Spears starred as “Juicy” in the Pulitzer Prize–winning play Fat Ham on Broadway, following an acclaimed run at The Public Theater. On television, Spears currently co-stars in the CBS comedy The Neighborhood opposite Cedric the Entertainer, after co-starring in the ABC comedy The Mayor. Other theater includes Othello (Classic Stage Company), Ironbound (Geffen Playhouse, West Coast premiere), At the Old Place (La Jolla Playhouse), Picasso at the Lapin Agile (The Old Globe), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Two River Theater, directed by

Ruben Santiago-Hudson), Judy (Page 73), Mother Courage and Her Children (Classic Stage Company), Trouble in Mind (Guthrie Theater), and his NY stage debut in Classic Stage’s Young Company production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Tyne Rafaeli, for which he was awarded the Rosemarie Tichler Fund Grant. Film: Always a Bridesmaid.

Marcel is a New Orleans native and holds an M.F.A. in Acting from Columbia University.

BENJA KAY THOMAS Rabby

Benja Kay Thomas originated the role of “Rabby” in the Pulitzer Prize–winning play Fat Ham, directed by Saheem Ali, both on Broadway and at The Public Theater. Also on Broadway, Thomas stood by for Phylicia Rashad in Skeleton Crew, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Select theatre credits include Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Stephen Adly Gurgis, directed by John Ortiz (Atlantic Theater Company); Miller, Mississippi by Boo Killebrew (Long Wharf Theatre); Booty Candy and Barbecue by Robert O’Hara (Playwrights Horizons). She is a two-time Obie Award winner

and a recipient of an AUDELCO Award. Film: A Love Song (Sundance), Detective Chinatown 2 Television: FBI (CBS), Gotham (Fox), Friends of the People (TruTV). When she is not performing, Thomas is passionate about photography, writing, and keeping alive the tradition of the card game Bid Whist. Hear more about Benja Kay Thomas on the podcast My Fourth Act on YouTube! Proud member of AEA and SAG/AFTRA.

Instagram: @sweetbenja

MATTHEW ELIJAH WEBB Larry

Matthew Elijah Webb is a Detroit-raised actor, writer, and creative. Theatre credits include Fat Ham (as “Larry”) at Studio Theatre of DC, and Fat Ham (u/s “Juicy,” “Larry,” “Tio”) on Broadway and off-Broadway at The Public Theater. He has developed new works with playwrights a.k. payne, Rudi Goblen, and Jeremy O. Harris. He holds his M.F.A. in Acting from the Yale School of Drama.

Instagram: @matthewelijahwebb

JAMES IJAMES (he/him) Playwright

James Ijames is a playwright, director, and educator. James is the recipient of the F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Artist, two Barrymore Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play, two Barrymore Awards for Outstanding Direction of a Play, a Pew Fellowship for Playwriting, the Terrance McNally New Play Award, Kesselring Honorable Mention Prize, the Whiting Award, a 2019 Kesselring Prize for Kill Move Paradise, a 2020 and 2022 Steinberg Prize, and the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. He received a B.A. in Drama from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA and a M.F.A. in Acting from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. James is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Villanova University. He resides in South Philadelphia.

SAHEEM ALI Original Director

Saheem is a proud immigrant from Kenya. He received a Tony Award nomination for directing the Pulitzer Prize–winning play Fat Ham on Broadway, an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Directing, Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominations for Fat Ham’s off-Broadway run at The Public Theater, where he serves as the Associate Artistic Director/Resident Director. His production of Merry Wives (Shakespeare in the Park) was recorded for PBS’s Great Performances and was the subject of the documentary Reopening Night on HBO. Productions include Buena Vista Social Club (Atlantic Theatre Company); Goddess (Berkeley Repertory Theatre); Nollywood Dreams (MCC Theater); Romeo y Julieta, Shipwreck, and Richard II (radio plays). Other productions: Fires in the Mirror (Signature Theatre), The Rolling Stone (Lincoln Center Theater), Passage (Soho Rep), Sugar in Our Wounds (Manhattan Theatre Club), Tartuffe (PlayMakers Repertory Company), Where Storms Are Born (Williamstown Theatre Festival), and Kill Move Paradise (National Black Theatre). He is a Usual Suspect at New York

Theatre Workshop, a Sir John Gielgud SDCF Fellow, and a Shubert Fellow.

SIDEEQ HEARD (he/him) Director

Sideeq Heard is a multi-hyphenate director, actor, and rapper. He was the Associate Director of the Broadway and Off-Broadway production of Fat Ham. He was awarded “Best Director” for the short film Here Is a Man at the 2023 Oscar-qualifying film festival Reel Sisters of the Diaspora. Sideeq is the creator, director, and co-writer of Men Like Us, a new digital series that follows the lives of three queer black men on their journey to self-actualization, premiering Summer 2024. He also served as Associate Artistic Director of JAG Productions. Recent directing credits include: Rhyme Deferred by Kamilah Forbes; The Waiting Room, an original play devised with Artreach Inc. premiering at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center; A Curious Thing written by Jeremy O’Brian; Word Becomes Flesh by Marc Bamahuti Joseph; and a staged reading of Fat Ham at the American Airlines Theatre with Arts in the Armed Forces. He had the privilege of serving as Associate Director to Carl Cofield on The

Classical Theatre of Harlem’s award-winning adaptation of Twelfth Night. Sideeq’s new single “Fatal Attraction” is available on all streaming platforms.

B.F.A. Howard University, M.F.A. NYU Grad Acting. www.sideeqheard.com

MARUTI EVANS (he/him) Scenic Designer

Fat Ham (Broadway & The Public Theater), Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches (Arena Stage), In Our Daughter’s Eyes (LA Opera & Beth Morrison Projects), Real Enemies (BAM), Elsewhere (BAM), CM Dance (BAM), Epiphany: The Cycle of Life (BAM), At the Wedding (Lincoln Center Theater), Daphne (Lincoln Center Theater), Kill Move Paradise (National Black Theatre), The Ring Cycle (Opera Australia), and Angel’s Bone (Hong Kong Music Festival, Beijing Music Festival). Awards: Fat Ham (Ensemble and Creative Team Obie Award), Tiny Dynamite (Drama Desk), The Pilo Family Circus (Drama Desk). Drama Desk nominations: The Peculiar Patriot, Kill Move Paradise, Deliverance, In the Heat of the Night, Slaughterhouse-Five, and Blindness.

DOMINIQUE FAWN HILL Costume Designer

Dominique Fawn Hill is a Tony Award–nominated and Obie Award–winning costume designer for Broadway and film. Dominique’s designs include world premieres of plays and

musicals produced at venues such as The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C., and Geffen Playhouse. Her theatre credits include the Broadway production of Fat Ham (Tony Award nomination) and off-Broadway productions of Tambo & Bones (Lucille Lortel nomination, Playwrights Horizons), Fat Ham (Obie Award), Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (Manhattan Theatre Club), The Dark Girl Chronicles (The Shed), 125th & FREEdom (National Black Theatre), and The Ants (Geffen Playhouse). Her regional theatre credits include Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Choir Boy, and Rent for Portland Center Stage. Dominique is currently designing across the nation while being an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Dominique earned her M.F.A. from the University of California, San Diego. You can find her work at www.dominiquefhill.com.

BRADLEY KING (he/him) Lighting Designer

Bradley King is a parent, proud union member, and lighting designer based in NYC. Broadway: Lempicka, Water for Elephants, How to Dance in Ohio, Fat Ham (Tony nomination), Hadestown (Tony, Drama Desk winner), Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (Tony, Drama Desk winner), Flying Over Sunset (Tony nomination), Bernhardt/ Hamlet. Recent off-Broadway: Moonsoon Wedding (St. Ann’s Warehouse); Endlings (New

York Theatre Workshop); Evita (New York City Center); Alice By Heart (MCC Theater); Apologia and The Last Match (Roundabout Theatre Company); The Treasurer (Playwrights Horizons); shows for Atlantic Theater Company, LAByrinth Theater Company, The Kitchen, Signature Theatre, Vineyard Theatre, Classis Stage Company, and many others. Regional: Alley Theatre, American Repertory Theater, Guthrie Theater, Long Wharf Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center, The Old Globe, Theatre Under The Stars, Yale Repertory Theatre, and many others. International: UK, Canada, Qatar, India, China. M.F.A., NYU. USA829 member.

www.bradleykingld.com @bradleykingld

MIKAAL SULAIMAN Sound Designer

Mikaal Sulaiman is a Tony Award–nominated multi-disciplinary artist who works as a sound designer, composer, writer, and director in theatre, tv/film, and podcasts. He is currently in the writers room for the new animated adult comedy #1 Happy Family USA from A24/Amazon Studios. He has also been recognized for his original works in theatre, earning the prestigious Creative Capital Award in 2022 and the CTG Sherwood Award in 2021. His sound design has been featured on Broadway productions such as An Enemy of the People (Jeremy Strong & Michael Imperioli), Doubt: A Parable (Liev Schreiber), Macbeth (Daniel

Craig & Ruth Negga), Death of a Salesman (Wendell Pierce), and the Pulitzer Prize–winning Fat Ham co-produced by Colman Domingo and Cynthia Erivo. Additionally, he hosts the podcast Black Enso, a platform for exploring creativity and spirituality. www.mikaal.com

SKYLAR FOX (he/him) Illusions Designer

Skylar Fox is an Obie Award–winning director, writer, and designer based in Brooklyn, NY. He is the co-artistic director of Nightdrive, where he has directed, designed, and co-written The Grown-Ups (Top 10 NYC Theatre Productions of the Year in Time Out New York); Alien Nation; Providence, RI; Thank You Sorry; and Apathy Boy. Other directing includes Pussy Sludge (HERE Arts Center), Sarah Ruhl’s Passion Play (IRNE Award nomination). In his other life, he designs and stages magic for theatre. Broadway: Fat Ham; associate designer for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Back to the Future, and A Beautiful Noise. Off-Broadway/International: Once Upon a Mattress (City Center Encores!); Boop! (Broadway in Chicago); The Comeuppance (Signature Theatre); You Will Get Sick (Roundabout Theatre Company); Wicked, Matilda (Atelier de Cultura, São Paulo); and Damn Yankees (Shaw Festival). www.skylarfox.com & www.nightdrive.org

EARON CHEW NEALY (she/her) Wig, Hair & Makeup Designer

Earon Chew Nealey is an Obie Award–winning and Drama Desk–nominated Hair, Wig, and Makeup Designer. Broadway: Fat Ham; Goodspeed Musicals: Dreamgirls, Little Girl Blue: The Nina Simone Musical; The Public Theater: Hamlet, shadow/ land, The Harder They Come, Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge, Fat Ham, cullud wattah, Mojada. Other designs: Dames at Sea, Kinky Boots, The Last Supper, Twelfth Night, Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, Matilda, On Sugarland, Nina Simone: Four Women, Little Women, Cadillac Crew. IG: @earonnealey

DAVID H. PARKER (they/them) Associate Director

David H. Parker is an award-winning artist from Birmingham, AL, a blue island in the US South’s sea of red. Intersectionality informs the base of their work, but the intersection of Blackness and Queerness is always at the top of their priorities. David is one of the incoming 2024/2025 Co-Artistic Directors of Birmingham Black Repertory Theatre Collective. David was also an inaugural recipient of the 2021 Cody Renard Richard Scholarship Program, the 2023 GLAAD Black Queer Creative Summit, and will earn their M.F.A. in Directing from UCLA following their thesis in February 2024. Select directing

credits include working as Associate Director to Zhailon Levingston on Patience (Second Stage Theater Off-Broadway), is anybody out there? which streams on Emmy-nominated platform Open Television, a developmental workshop of their original play Texas for Four More Years (East West Players), and an upcoming collaboration on A Juneteenth Seder: Los Angeles (The Inheritance Theater Project). Keep up with David on their Linktree: linktr.ee/davidhparker.

LISA KOPITSKY (she/her)

Fight Director

Lisa is a New York-based fight and intimacy director and movement dramaturg. She is thrilled to be making her West Coast debut here at the Geffen with this incredible play! Broadway: Fat Ham, How I Learned to Drive, Flying Over Sunset, The Iceman Cometh, The Children, The Father. The Public Theater: Hamilton, Fat Ham; As You Like It, Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, Measure for Measure (Shakespeare in the Park); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry V, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth (Mobile Unit); Detroit ‘67, Urge for Going, Neighbors (Public LAB). Selected off-Broadway: Buena Vista Social Club (Atlantic Theater Company); Nollywood Dreams, School Girls… (MCC Theater); Epiphany, Intimate Apparel, Greater Clements, Power Strip, Marys Seacole (Lincoln Center Theater). Metropolitan Opera: Carmen, Rigoletto. Lisa

is a founding member and Creative Director of the Vixens En Garde.

DARRELL GRAND MOULTRIE

Broadway Choreographer

Darrell Grand Moultrie’s select credits include Fat Ham (Broadway & The Public Theater), Disney’s new revival of Aida, Space Dogs (MCC Theater), Merry Wives (Shakespeare in the Park), Sugar in Our Wounds (Manhattan Theatre Club), Daddy (The New Group & Vineyard Theatre), Invisible Thread (Second Stage Theater), Goddess (Berkeley Repertory Theater), El úblico (Teatro Real, Madrid). Moultrie has created works for American Ballet Theatre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, BalletX, Smuin Contemporary Ballet, and Dallas Black Dance Theatre, among others. Moultrie served as a choreographer on Beyonce’s record-breaking world tour, “The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour.”

Moultrie is the recipient of The Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship Award and a graduate of The Juilliard School.

ABDUR-RAHIM JACKSON

Associate Choreographer

Abdur-Rahim Jackson was born in Philadelphia, PA. He received a Bachelor Degree of Fine Arts from The Juilliard School and performed around the world with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for a decade.

Abdur-Rahim was Associate Choreographer for Fat Ham on Broadway. He choreographed

Witness Uganda (An American Musical) in Los Angeles and the Soul Doctor Broadway musical tour in Jerusalem. Abdur-Rahim has created ballets for Kansas City Ballet, Orlando Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and (as Co-Choreographer) Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Abdur-Rahim choreographed sections of the Beyoncé “Crazy in Love” Super Bowl XLVII halftime performance on CBS and Co-Choreographed the Beyoncé “Halo” music video. He’s also choreographed for Taylor Dayne and the STAUD New York Fashion Week show.

ALYSSA ESCALANTE (she/her)

Production Stage Manager

Alyssa is a Los Angeles-based stage manager and proud graduate of Occidental College. This year she joined the Geffen full time as Production Coordinator & Resident Production Stage Manager. Her Geffen credits include: The Mountaintop, The First Deep Breath, A Wicked Soul in Cherry Hill. As a freelancer, she has worked at many of the regional and small theatre companies in Southern California such as The Old Globe, South Coast Repertory, Pasadena Playhouse, Boston Court Pasadena, Troubadour Theater Company, and Musical Theatre West. Additionally, Alyssa worked with SITI Company on their production of The Bacchae at the Guthrie Theater and was an in-town substitute on Hamilton with its Eliza Company at the Pantages Theatre.

LAUREN BUANGAN (she/her)

Assistant Stage Manager

Lauren Buangan is excited to return to Geffen Playhouse for Fat Ham. She holds a B.A. in Theater from UCLA, a Certificate of Achievement in Film from Orange Coast College, and studied drama at Queen Mary University of London. Her previous assistant stage manager credits include The Lonely Few at Geffen Playhouse and Coleman ’72, A Christmas Carol, Nina Simone: Four Women, and Million Dollar Quartet at South Coast Repertory.

KATE MURRAY, CSA (she/her)

Original Casting Director

Broadway: Hell’s Kitchen, Suffs, Fat Ham, Ain’t No Mo’, For Colored Girls..., The Crucible, A View from the Bridge. Kate is a Casting Director at The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival in New York City. Additional selected credits include work with Arena Stage, BAFTA, Baltimore Center Stage, Bedlam, Center Theatre Group, Cherry Lane Theatre, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, New Georges, Studio Theater, and Two River Theater.

PHYLLIS SCHURINGA, CSA (she/her)

Casting Director

Phyllis is an Artistic Associate and the Casting Director for Geffen Playhouse. She recently received an Artios Award for the casting of The Inheritance: Part 1 & Part 2. Before joining the Geffen, she was the Casting Director for Steppenwolf

Theater Company in Chicago where her favorites include Frank Galati’s adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath (also La Jolla Playhouse, National Theatre in London, and Broadway, where it received the Tony Award for Best Play), the original production of Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile (and subsequent productions including Westwood Playhouse and Briar Street Theater in Chicago).

Broadway transfers include One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Tony Award for Best Revival), The Song of Jacob Zulu, and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice

She is a member of the Casting Society of America.

NO GUARANTEES

Producer

No Guarantees is a Tony Award–winning, theatrical production company. Last season, No Guarantees brought James Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize–winning and Tony–nominated play Fat Ham to Broadway. Current and upcoming productions include Player Kings starring Ian McKellen in the West End, as well as Saheem Ali, Jocelyn Bioh, and Michael Thurber’s new musical Goddess. As a co-producer, productions include Leopoldstadt (2023 Tony Award, Best Play), The Lehman Trilogy (2022 Tony Award, Best Play), Company (2022 Tony Award, Best Revival of a Musical), and Hadestown (2019 Tony Award, Best Musical). No Guarantees is led by Christine Schwarzman, Darren Edward Johnston, and Megan O’Keefe.

RASHAD V. CHAMBERS

Producer

Rashad V. Chambers is a Tony Award–winning producer, talent manager, and lawyer. He is the Founder and President of Esquire Entertainment. Rashad’s Broadway producing credits include American Son, Ain’t Too Proud, Betrayal, The Inheritance, Caroline, or Change, The Music Man, Topdog/Underdog, and Fat Ham. He also produced the New York premiere of the award-winning musical Little Girl Blue: The Nina Simone Musical and the world premiere of It Happened in Key West in London. Rashad attended Morehouse College where he graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration. He also earned his JD and MBA degrees from The Ohio State University. Rashad is a founding member of The Industry Standard Group as well as a board member of On Broadway Performing Arts Training Program and Houses on the Moon Theater Company.

PUBLIC THEATER PRODUCTIONS Producer

Public Theater Productions is the commercial producing arm of The Public Theater.

THE PUBLIC THEATER Originating Producer

The Public Theater is a civically engaged theater that believes theater is a force for change and first opened its doors in the East Village in 1967 with the

musical Hair. The wide range of programming includes new work at its flagship home and on Broadway, national and international productions, and Free Shakespeare in the Park. The Public is currently represented on Broadway with the Tony Award–winning musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Suffs by Shaina Taub, and Hell’s Kitchen by Alicia Keys and Kristoffer Diaz. The Public has received 60 Tony Awards, 194 Obie Awards, 57 Drama Desk Awards, 61 Lortel Awards, 36 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, 65 AUDELCO Awards, 6 Antonyo Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes.

www.publictheater.org

NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE Originating Producer

National Black Theatre (NBT), under the leadership of CEO Sade Lythcott and Executive Artistic Director Jonathan McCrory, is a Tony and Emmy Award–nominated national institution founded in Harlem in 1968 by Dr. Barbara Ann Teer. NBT is the longestrunning Black theater in NYC, and one of the oldest in the nation founded and consistently operated by a woman of color. NBT uses storytelling as a means to educate, empower, and inform the national conscience around social issues impacting Black communities. NBT is one of the originating co-producers of this production of Fat Ham, which was also NBT’s debut transfer

to Broadway. NBT is currently embarking on a historic capital redevelopment that will transform its Harlem home into a 21st century destination for Black culture through theater arts. NBT has produced over 300 original works and this Spring will premiere The Gathering: A Collective Sonic Ring Shout at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC. www.nationalblacktheatre.org

IG: @natblacktheatre

TARELL ALVIN M c CRANEY (he/him)

Artistic Director

Tarell Alvin McCraney is Artistic Director of Geffen Playhouse. In this role, he is responsible for identifying, developing, and programming new works and re-envisioned classics. He sets the strategic artistic course for the Geffen’s Gil Cates and Audrey Skirball

Kenis Theaters.McCraney is an award-winning writer, producer, and educator, best known for his acclaimed trilogy, The Brother/Sister Plays. His script In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue is the basis for the Oscar–winning film Moonlight directed by Barry Jenkins, for which McCraney and Jenkins also won a Best Adapted Screenplay Os-

car. He is an ensemble member at Steppenwolf Theatre and a member of Teo Castellanos D-Projects in Miami, a graduate of New World School of the Arts, The Theatre School at DePaul University, and the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Warwick. He was recently Co-Chair of Playwriting at the David Geffen School of Drama, where he remains on faculty. He is an associate at the Royal Shakespeare Company, London, and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Writers Branch).

GIL CATES, JR.

Executive Director / CEO

Gil Cates, Jr. is Executive Director / CEO of Geffen Playhouse. In this role, he is responsible for managing the Geffen’s dayto-day operations; developing new, ongoing theater partnerships and leading its mission to inform, entertain and inspire diverse audiences with live theater of the highest caliber. Prior to being named Executive Director in 2015, Cates served as Geffen Playhouse Board Vice Chairman since 2012 and served as a producer and

director in theater, film and television. His theater credits include the award-winning Names (Matrix Theatre Company) and Three Sisters and David Mamet’s A Life in the Theatre (both at Syracuse Stage). Cates’ film credits include The Surface (starring Sean Astin and Geffen Playhouse alumnus Chris Mulkey), Jobs (starring Ashton Kutcher, Josh Gad, Dermot Mulroney, as well as Geffen Playhouse alumni Matthew Modine and Ron Eldard) and the 2011 feature film Lucky (starring Colin Hanks, Ari Graynor and Ann-Margret). In addition, Cates co-produced and co-directed the critically acclaimed Life After Tomorrow, featuring Sarah Jessica Parker, which premiered on Showtime. His other films include Deal (starring Burt Reynolds, Bret Harrison and Charles Durning) and The Mesmerist (starring Jessica Capshaw and Geffen Playhouse alumnus Neil Patrick Harris). Cates’ television directorial debut was an episode of the NBC comedy Joey, starring Emmy winner Matt LeBlanc. He recently directed Displaced, a documentary short chronicling the journey of one of the first refugee families to flee Ukraine and arrive in the U.S. after escaping the Russian invasion. He studied at the National Theatre Institute in Waterford, Connecticut, and holds a B.F.A. in Drama from Syracuse University.

THE NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Supporting artists is central to the mission of the Geffen Playhouse, and play commissions are a cornerstone of that support. To commission a playwright to write a play means making a commitment to their voice, craft, and vision, with the hope of sharing the fruits of their work on our stage.

The Geffen Playhouse’s New Play Development Program is made possible, in large part, through the leadership and generosity of donations from: The Edgerton Foundation, The Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Fay & Frank Mancuso, Sandra Krause & William Fitzgerald, Hilary & Jack Angelo, and Mary Bianco, The MOCA Foundation.

We are proud to have the following artists under commission:

LUIS ALFARO

JONATHAN CAREN

COLMAN DOMINGO

MICHAEL GOLAMCO

MEGHAN KENNEDY

MATTHEW LÓPEZ

MARTYNA MAJOK

QUI NGUYEN

STACY OSEI-KUFFOUR

JIEHAE PARK

JOHN POLLONO

ROBERT SCHENKKAN

JEN SILVERMAN

DAVID WIENER

CRAIG WRIGHT

LAUREN YEE

For more information on this program, please visit geffenplayhouse.org/newplays.

THE WRITERS’ ROOM

A group for Los Angeles-based playwrights, The Writers’ Room is a product of the Geffen’s deep commitment to supporting new plays and specifically to fostering bold, relevant work by the vibrant artistic community of this city. During this one-year residency, playwright members gather monthly at the Geffen to share their work and receive feedback from their peers and the Geffen’s artistic staff, culminating in a play reading series.

We are proud to have the following artists in the 2023/2024 Writers’ Room:

ASHLEY AUGUST

JENNIFER CHANG & INARA GEORGE

PARIS CRAYTON III

CHRISTINA HAM

PALOMA NOZICKA

ALEXIS ROBLAN

The Writers’ Room is made possible through the generous support of the William Randolph Hearst Foundation and Jerry & Terri Kohl.

For more information on this program, please visit geffenplayhouse.org/thewritersroom.

CONTACT

Geffen Playhouse

10886 Le Conte Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90024

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES

310.208.6500

Monday – Friday, 10:00am – 6:00pm

AUDIENCE SERVICES

310.208.2028

Tuesday – Sunday, 12:00pm – 6:00pm

Please visit geffenplayhouse.org for hours, parking and more information.

BOX OFFICE WINDOW

Tuesday – Sunday, 12:00pm – 6:00pm, as well as on performance days up until 15 minutes after curtain.

Please note: the box office window is unable to process exchanges or future sales one hour prior to curtain time on performance days.

ACCESSIBILITY

Geffen Playhouse is fully committed to providing access to patrons with mobility, visual and hearing impairments. Parking spaces directly outside the theater are zoned for drop off and pick up, as well as disabled parking spots for patrons with appropriate placards and plates. For more information, visit geffenplayhouse.org/access or call Audience Services.

LATE SEATING

Should you arrive late to the theater or vacate your seat during the performance, please expect to be held in the lobby until an appropriate pause in the action on stage. Some productions or circumstances may not allow for late or return seating. To minimize disturbances to other patrons, you may be seated in the first available location by the house staff even if it is different from your assigned seat.

NO PHOTOGRAPHY

There is no photography or filming of any kind allowed during the performance. Please turn off all electronic devices, including cell phones.

UCLA SCHOOL OF THEATER, FILM AND TELEVISION

Geffen Playhouse is affiliated with the University of California at Los Angeles, specifically the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Geffen Playhouse values its role as an important educational resource by providing students with master classes, workshops and internships. Students are also able to work and learn from distinguished visiting Geffen artists in areas of directing, playwriting, acting, design, dramaturgy, management and production.

Geffen Playhouse also draws upon the distinguished experts in the university to enhance the theater’s programs and research.

FINDING & SHARING INSPIRATION

AN INTERVIEW WITH PLAYWRIGHT JAMES IJAMES

BY AMY LEVINSON, ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

AMY LEVINSON: Tell us about your relationship to Hamlet and how it inspired you to write Fat Ham

JAMES IJAMES: I read Hamlet for the first time when I was a freshman in college and I was cast in a student-directed abbreviated production of a couple of scenes from Shakespeare. I was in the scene from Hamlet. It was the big court scene, where everybody (other than Horatio) is there for the first time. I played Hamlet and I loved it. I loved saying those words. You have that really gorgeous speech in there. And I’m just coming to terms with being gay and at an all-male college in Georgia. There was something about that speech. O, that this too too solid flesh would melt thaw and resolve itself into a dew! Or that

the Everlasting had not fix’d His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! O God! God! I still remember it because I understood it. I thought, I have felt this way. I felt like no one in my family would ever accept me if I told them this, so I couldn’t. But then in Act III, Hamlet says he can’t not be who he is. I have always attached Hamlet to that notion. The idea that there was something fundamental about him but because of the family and world he was born into, he kept rejecting it.

So, when I started to write, and I wanted to sort of dabble in adaptation, the first play that came to mind was Hamlet. It just made complete sense to make Juicy queer. I would have to make Hamlet queer. And knowing that helped me build the obstacles in the play. Because I

PHOTO BY JUSTIN BETTMAN

Playwright James Ijames

was very clear about why he felt shut out of his family. And so, the obstacle is this intense notion of masculinity? And some of the violence and signifiers of that kind of masculinity that show up in men and families that they inflict on the queer members of the family, whether intentional or unintentional. That’s the journey from when I first met the play to how we got here.

AL: How did you decide on the time and setting for your version of this story?

JI: I read this book where a writer was talking about two different kinds of nostalgia. There’s this nostalgia that’s about an imagined or fabricated past sort of like “make America great again.” It is nostalgia based on an idea that

thing coming from another. I grew up right smack dab in the middle of North Carolina, as far south as you can go before you get to South Carolina. So, I see the South in a very specific way. People don’t think about the specifics of North Carolina like they do with New Orleans or Savannah, but that part of the country has its own Southernness that I know the best. I wanted to show this version of Black Southern identity that I don’t think we typically see.

It’s funny, because I really have avoided the South in most of my other plays. But here, I wanted to write a love letter to this place that I grew up while also imprinting a different kind of expression of Black Southern identity on stage.

“PEOPLE DON’T THINK ABOUT THE SPECIFICS OF NORTH CAROLINA LIKE THEY DO WITH NEW ORLEANS OR SAVANNAH, BUT THAT PART OF THE COUNTRY HAS ITS OWN SOUTHERNNESS THAT I KNOW THE BEST. I WANTED TO SHOW THIS VERSION OF BLACK SOUTHERN IDENTITY THAT I DON’T THINK WE TYPICALLY SEE.”

— PLAYWRIGHT JAMES IJAMES

isn’t real. And then there’s restorative nostalgia, which looks at the things we have learned in practice, at the ways we learned from failure, and I knew that I wanted to set the play in a contemporary moment, and not in a time that was going to allow the audience to think about these people reflectively, with a kind of fabricated nostalgia. That is very easy to do with Black people in the South. So, it is set in North Carolina, which is, as far as Southern States go, one of the milder ones.

The culture has this very distinct mix of the Tidewater accent with this sort of coastal accent coming from one direction, and an Appalachian

AL: How has the play evolved since its first version, through Broadway, and now the many subsequent regional productions?

JI: That initial production was a movie because it was in 2021. I had written this play that I had thought of as this incredibly bombastic, stylized, hyper-theatrical event. But then we had to shoot the thing, so the world got a little tighter, and I put the theatrical fireworks into what they were saying and what they were doing and how they were reacting to each other.

Moving it into that form forced me to really dig into those characters and their words. So

that was the script we were working from when we moved from The Wilma to The Public. And I didn’t really even know if it was funny until we were in rehearsal, and I was like, oh God, it’s a lot funnier than I thought it was. People were laughing at things I hadn’t thought of as jokes. I was just writing a play about this family.

I’m really thankful for that time. It’s shocking that we were able to put that project together during that really difficult time. In terms of the shift from The Public to Broadway, there were minor character changes. For instance, I wanted to give Opal a little bit more language because I wanted her to have access to softness that she didn’t have in the earlier productions. And Adrianna [Mitchell] did such a beautiful job with that language, as your audience will see.

AL: On your website, you have a section of ideas: huge, rich, fleshed-out ideas that you are giving to the world and saying “these are the things I’m not going to write. Here they are, and please go write them.” It’s such an act of artistic generosity, and I just wanted to know where this idea came from.

JI: Well, I write pretty quickly. So, when I have an idea that I know is mine, it’s clear and I can hit the ground running. I get a draft out as fast as I can, so that the shape of the story exists in the world. And then I write the play. And none of those ideas make it to the website. The ideas I’m sharing are things I’d love to see but also things I know I’ll never write myself. They are ideas that inspire me and I’d like to see them realized in some way. I know when I am the wrong writer for an idea, so this is a way to share ideas that I have no business writing about. And my hope is that by putting it on that website, it will come to fruition one day.

You know, I started late in the theater. I was an amateur much longer than any of my peers

were before I actually became somebody that I would consider a professional. I was working and doing this because I love it and not actually making enough money. And like everyone, I wasn’t that good at it in the beginning. So much of my practice has been about the generosity of other people. People saying, “that’s interesting, you should run with that.” And this is a big thing in my family. We say all the time that you praise the bridge that brought you safely across. There’s this notion that you don’t get through this life by yourself. You enter it by yourself, you leave it by yourself, but you can’t get through it without other people—or rather, it’s very difficult to get through it without other people.

So that idea page on my website, I hope it gives someone that spark of inspiration that I had when I read Suzan-Lori Parks’ essay “New Black Math.” I remember where I was, what the room smelled like when I read that, because it radically affected who I was as a writer. I’ve never mentioned this to her, but she changed my life, and that is something I want to do for people. I want to be an artist that has that kind of engagement with other artists. So, I hope people are inspired to take the ideas and run with them.

To read more about Fat Ham, visit geffenplayhouse.org/blog.

FAT HAM ON BROADWAY L-R: Adrianna Mitchell as “Opal,” Chris Herbie Holland as “Tio,” and Marcel Spears as “Juicy.” Photo by Joan Marcus.

BEYOND THE BARRACKS VETERANS WRITING & PERFORMANCE WORKSHOP

JUNE 1–AUGUST 5, 2024

SATURDAYS , 9AM–1PM @ GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE

The Veterans Cultural Identity Monologue Writing & Performance Workshop is a 10-week theater-making intensive, in which an ensemble of military veterans come together to create personal, original monologues and share their work in a performance at Geffen Playhouse in the Gil Cates Theater.

APPLY BY APRIL 19, 2024—SPACE IS LIMITED!

TO APPLY AND FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT geffenplayhouse.org/veterans

ANNUAL DONORS

Geffen Playhouse recognizes the following individuals and organizations for their generous support of our Annual Fund. Donors are listed at the Partner’s Circle level and higher for gifts made between February 1, 2023 and March 5, 2024. A full listing of our supporters can be found at geffenplayhouse.org/thankyou.

† Geffen Playhouse Board of Directors ^ Geffen Playhouse Founding Trustees

In appreciation, Annual Fund donors enjoy a host of special benefits including house seats, complimentary drinks, receptions, and much more.

For more information, please call Tracy Reich at 310.208.6500 ext. 113.

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Anita Dann Friedman & Harvey Friedman

Kenneth J. Friedman & Marilynn J. Friedman Family Foundation

Catherine Froloff

Charlotte Gold

Lorain Goldberg

Ellie Goodman

Barry Gribble

Jill Grigsby & Rett Bull

Penny Grosz & Eugene Korney

Mary Hartley

Jackson Henry

Jack Hileman & Roxanne Huddleston

Jean Himmelstein

Dr. John D. Hofbauer & Dr. Laura E. Fox

Freya & Mark Ivener

Nancy & Len Jacoby

Linda & David Kagel

Sally & Dr. Manny J. Karbelnig

Beverlee Bickmore & James Kelly

King Nutronics Corporation

Ann & Jonathan Kirsch

Wendy Kirshner

Katherine Kleindienst & Marc Goldsmith

Dr. Leonard & Stella S. Kleinrock

Trice Koopman & Mark Freund

Lena & Mark Labowe

Hillary & Lance Milken

Carl Levinger

Linwei Li

Cathleen Fitzpatrick Linder

Judith Locke

Dr. Jennifer Lucero

The Malins Family Foundation

Michael N. Marks

David Israeli & Dr. Marie Mazzone

Sheryl McDonald & Denny Howard

Alice Greene McKinney and E. Kirk McKinney, Jr. Fund

S. McQueen & D. Whalen

Ali Meghdadi

In Memory of Jane Hall

Norma & Larry Meyers

Hillary & Lance Milken

Joan & Phil Miller

Andrew & Laura Mintzer

Thomas W. Mitchell

Mark & Diane Neubauer

Ornest Family Foundation

Ralph Page

Philip & Leslie Paton

Patrick Summers

Jacalyn & Paul Pepperman

In Honor of Frank & Betty Fouce

Phil & Agnes Peters

Ruth Popkin

Clark & Kathryn Porter

Joyce & Harvey Reichard

Dolores Rogers

Allison & Bennett Rosenthal

Oren Rosenthal

Susan Schwarz

Sylvan & Sandra Seidenman

Rita & Jose Sigal

Ron Silverman & Soraya Ross

Mitch & Sherry Stein

Eric Strom & Eileen Goodis

Melora Sundt & Rob Kadota

Audri & Stan Tendler

Ricardo Torres & Nat Damon

Catherine & Leonard Unger

Theodore H. Sweetser & Jane L. Valentine

Daniel & Shauna Valenzuela

Marcia & Charles Wasserman Ph.D

Deborah & Glenn Weinberg

Cherie Wrigley

Richard Yaffe

Arnold & Tricia Zane

Ellen & Arnold Zetcher

PARTNER’S CIRCLE

$500 – $999

Anonymous (3)

Toshka & Norman Abrams

Carol Ahmanson

Robert C. Anderson

Greg Angstreich

Eloise & Mark Appel

John B. Balen

Larry & Julie Blivas—

In Honor of Phyllis Blivas

Susan & Michael Bordy

Howard Brightman

Janet & Mark Brown

Diane Burbie

Mike Clements

Pam Coats

Hedva & Dr. Dudley Danoff

Susan Dashe

Bert Deixler

Kristin Diehl

Jan & Thea Drayer

Jeff Eckerle & Marilyn Osborn

Elizabeth A. Evans

Su Jin Feuer

Burt & Nanette Forester

Carol & John Fox

Elaine & Larry Friedman

Lynn & Barry Friesen

Dorit Goldstein

Howard Gradet

Marcy Gross

Eve Haberfield & David N. Johnson

Michael & Candie Herman

Hella Hershson

James G. Hirsch

Robin & Edgar Hirst

Paul Gordon Hoffman & Sue Caren Hoffman

Drs. Sharon & Lou Ignarro

Dr. Vito Imbasciani

Robert & Gail Israel

Victoria Jackson & Bill Guthy

Linda Kaplan

Sharon Kerson

Cynthia A. King

Dr. Phyllis H. Klein

Leana Kleinman & Jerald Johnson

Patricia Klous

Delores Komar & Susan Wolford

Deborah Lacusta & Daniel Castellaneta

Christo & Jeanne Lavagnino

Rhonda K. Lawrence

Rena & Craig Leeds

Lydia & Chuck Levy

Wendie Malick

Eric & Eva Plaza Mandel

Mark Mandel

Douglas McAvoy, Jr.

Kathy & Jim McCaffery

Erin McKenzie

Cynthia Melville

In Memory of Janet Birnkrant

Bonnie Nash

Lorna Osunsanmi

Carol F. Phillips

Gloria & Michael Rausch

Faye Ray

Valerie & Bennett Roth

Maxine Savitz

Lorin Schiff

Joel & Sonia Schneider

Nancy & Steven Schneider

John H. Scott

Marlene Sklar & Joel Moskowitz

Karen Smits

Kirk & Mei-lan Stark

Andrew Stearn

Mr. & Mrs. David Tann

The Tatasciore Family

Barbara & Larry Tenan

Johnson Thurston

Ira & Laurie Waldman

Elizabeth Wheat

Mr. & Mrs. Mark Whitman

Herbert Wolas

Albert Wolsky

HOSPITALITY SPONSORS

Thank you to our year-round in-kind hospitality sponsors for their incredible generosity and support of the arts:

STK | The ONE Group

W Los Angeles — West Beverly Hills Wolfsglen

CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE

The Chairman’s Circle acknowledges the historical contributions of the following individuals, whose support of Geffen Playhouse made the original vision of our founder, Gil Cates, Sr., possible:

Anonymous

Annenberg Foundation

Mrs. Carol K. Block & Chancellor Gene D. Block†

City National Bank

Kirsten^ & Donald Combs

Maria Israel-Curley & Jim Curley

Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman, Inc.

The David Geffen Foundation

Herbert M.^ & Beverly J. Gelfand

Rabbi Uri D. Herscher & Dr. Myrna Herscher

Audrey & Charles Kenis

Lincy Foundation

Fay & Frank^ Mancuso

Tina & Jerry^ Moss / The Moss Foundation

Perenchio Foundation

The Shubert Foundation

The Simms/Mann Family Foundation

Skirball Foundation

University of California, Los Angeles

Wasserman Foundation

Judy & Chancellor Charles^ E. Young

If your name has been misspelled or omitted from the list in error, please contact Tracy Reich, Director of Individual Giving at 310.208.6500 ext. 113.

Tarell Alvin McCraney ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

ARTISTIC

Amy Levinson Associate Artistic Director

Daniel Ionazzi Producer

Phyllis Schuringa Artistic Associate / Casting Director

Bella Luna Company Manager

Olivia O’Connor Literary Manager & Dramaturg

Lexy McAvinchey Artistic Coordinator

Dionn Richardson Assistant to the Artistic Director

PRODUCTION

Renee Duron Director of Production

Jill Barnes Artistic & Production Administrator

Alyssa Escalante Production Coordinator / Resident Production Stage Manager

Melissa Hartman Technical Director

Patty Squibb Technical Director

Alexandre Norkus Automation Supervisor

Philip Rossi

Lead Scenic Carpenter

Rick Gilles Properties Master

Daniel Lynn Associate Properties Supervisor

Audrey Lastar Costume Supervisor

Sarah Lindsley Costume Shop Supervisor

Spencer Doughtie

Lighting & Projection Supervisor

Jesus Cambero-Elias Assistant Lighting Supervisor

James Grabowski House Sound Supervisor

Bob Gilmartin

Resident A1

Chloe Shi Production Assistant

ADMINISTRATION

Sarah Sturdivant Chief Financial Officer

Erick R. López General Manager

Berenice Campos

Director of Human Resources

Janice Gompers

Payroll Manager & HR Admin

Youra Kim

Accounting Manager

Jake Jones

Staff Accountant

Clay Dzygun

Office Coordinator

Marguerite Harris

Receptionist

DEVELOPMENT

Sarah Weinberg

Chief Development Officer

Elizabeth Kegley

Director of Institutional Giving

Tracy Reich

Director of Individual Giving

EDUCATION

Brian Allman

Director of Education & Community Engagement

Mark J. Chaitin

Manager of Education & Community Engagement

Paloma Nozicka

Education Associate

Sean Michael Boozer, Paris Clayton III, DeJuan Christopher Conner, Lyssa Deehan, Sidney Edwards, Ryan Hallahan, Aja Houston, Bethany Koulias, BJ Lange, Tiffany Oglesby, Tara Ricasa, Gerry Tonella, Maddy Wager

Teaching Artists

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

Patrick Brown

Director of Marketing

Zenon Dmytryk

Director of Communications

Karen Gutierrez

Director of Advertising & Audience Development

Brian Dunning

Director of Content & Creative

Zack Hamra

Director of Audience Services & Ticketing

Isaak Berliner

Social Media & Communications Manager

Alyssa Tyson

Audience Services Manager

Janice Bernal

Box Office Manager

Gil Cates, Jr. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR / CEO

Jacob Feller

Box Office Manager

Rachel Jacoby, Anika Waco

Donor Relations Ticketing Associates

Brianna Barrett, Tori Eriavez, Peyton Fleming Rachel Jacoby, Lauren Machain, Alia Mahboob, Kayla Page, Anika Waco, Dennis Woullard

Box Office Staff

Theater Direct Outbound Sales

OPERATIONS

Jeni Pearsons

Director of Operations

Mel Yonzon

Front of House Manager

Amy Farkas

Lead Concierge

Rob Mersola Event Manager

Sarah Chute, Anya Pryjmak, Emir Yonzon

Part Time House Managers

Marlon Campos, Savanna Chute, Elizabeth Fritsch, Alia Mahboob, Taylor McClain, Shannon Noel, Autumn Oyemade, Adam Simers

Guest Services

Brynn Allen, Blaire Battle, Lauren Curet, Enzo De Cunto, Cecily Dowd, Camille Edwards, Kosi Eguchi, Blake Elder, L. Elleseg, Sydney Fleischman, Ryan Foreman, Diane Hernandez, Aja Hinds, Keo Lacebal, Dylan La Rocque, Cassidy LeClair, Austin Merrill, Chloe Miles, Elena Scaringe-Peene, Lanae Wilks

Ushers

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Abdelkrim Bouzzit

Cloud System Administrator

Dream Warrior Group System Administrator

FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

Art Guillen

Facilities Manager

Martin Ayala, Felipe Ayala

Building Maintenance

Mario Santillan-Perez

Custodial

Juan Carlos Umaña, Camerina Martinez

Cleaning Custodial