Fat Ham

A Chorus Line
Show
March 20 - April 19, 2025
FAT HAM

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Fat Ham

Drama/Comedy

March 20 – April 19, 2025

Run time: TBD

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Click to see all dates and showtimes

Final performance: April 19, 2025

Call 415.677.9596 to buy tickets by phone.

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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. It feels like a familiar story to Juicy, well-versed in Hamlet’s woes. What’s different is Juicy himself, a sensitive and self-aware young Black man trying to break the cycles of trauma and violence in service of his own liberation. From an uproarious family barbecue emerges a compelling examination of love and loss, pain and joy.

Winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Drama

“James Ijames’s outstanding transformation of Shakespeare’s tragedy into a play about Black masculinity and queerness both echoes Hamlet and finds a language beyond it.” The New York Times

Play Details

By James Ijames
Directed by Margo Hall

THE CAST

Cast announcement coming soon.

ACCESSIBLE PERFORMANCES

For blind and visually impaired audience members, San Francisco Playhouse partners with Gravity Access Services to offer live audio description and haptic access tours for selected performances.

About the Playwright

JAMES IJAMES is a playwright, director and educator.

James’ plays have been produced by Flashpoint Theater Company, Orbiter 3, Theatre Horizon, Wilma Theatre, Theatre Exile, Azuka Theatre (Philadelphia), The National Black Theatre, JACK, The Public Theater (NYC), Hudson Valley Shakespeare Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre, Definition Theatre, Timeline Theater (Chicago) Shotgun Players (Berkeley) and have received development with PlayPenn New Play Conference, The Lark, Playwright’s Horizon, Clubbed Thumb, Villanova Theater, Wilma Theater, Azuka Theatre and Victory Garden.

James is the 2011 F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Artist recipient, and two Barrymore Awards for Outstanding Direction of a Play for The Brothers Size with Simpatico Theatre Company and Gem of the Ocean with Arden Theatre. James is a 2015 Pew Fellow for Playwriting, the 2015 winner of the Terrance McNally New Play Award for WHITE, the 2015 Kesselring Honorable Mention Prize winner for ….Miz Martha, a 2017 recipient of the Whiting Award, a 2019 Kesselring Prize for Kill Move Paradise, a 2020 and 2022 Steinberg Prize and the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Drama recipient.

James was a founding member of Orbiter 3, Philadelphia’s first playwright producing collective.

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.

The show is on stage six days a week; Tuesday through Sunday. Showtimes are as follows:

Tuesdays at 7:00 P.M.
Wednesdays at 2:00 P.M. and 7:00 P.M.
Thursdays at 7:00 P.M.
Fridays at 8:00 P.M.
Saturdays at 3:00 P.M. and 8:00 P.M.
Sundays at 2:00 P.M.

Showtimes may vary. Always consult the official show calendar or call 415.677.9596 for updated dates and times.

Tickets range from $30 to $100, although prices may fluctuate depending on date, showtime, and demand. Discounts are available to season subscribers.

Fat Ham had its world premiere on April 23, 2021 in a filmed production for the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, where it went on to receive the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It then made its off-Broadway debut at The Public Theater on May 12, 2022 and transferred to Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre, with opening night on April 12, 2023.

San Francisco Playhouse's auditorium is on two levels: Orchestra and Mezzanine/Balcony. Our intimate 199-seat theatre has only nine rows in the Orchestra, meaning every single seat is close to the stage.

San Francisco Playhouse seat map chart

 

San Francisco Playhouse is located at 450 Post St., San Francisco CA 94102. The theatre is located on the second floor of the Kensington Park Hotel. Patrons may access the venue using the elevators or stairs in the hotel lobby.

San Francisco Playhouse is ADA accessible. The theatre is located on the second floor and can be accessed by two elevators from the lobby level. Wheelchair and companion seating are located on the theatre's mezzanine level.

We do not offer onsite parking, and the hotel's valet is only available to guests of the Kensington Park Hotel. For nearby affordable parking, we recommend the Union Square garage or Sutter-Stockton garage. Limited street parking is also available.

We recommend taking BART or Muni to San Francisco Playhouse. We are four blocks from the Powell Street BART/Muni station — just a seven-minute walk.