James Ijames

James Ijames is an American performer and playwright from Bessemer City, North Carolina born sometime in the early 1980s. He is currently based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received a B.A. in Drama from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, and received his MFA in Acting from Temple University in Philadelphia. He is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Villanova University[1] where he teaches acting and also directs. He is a co-artistic director of the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia.[2] His adaptation of Hamlet, called Fat Ham, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2022. It ran at The Public Theater in the summer of 2022,[3] and opened on Broadway in April 2023.

Plays
  • Abandon[4] - Premiered at Theatre Exile in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with the assistance of a National Endowment for the Arts
  • Good Bones - Commissioned by Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C. in 2023[5]
  • Reverie - Premiered at Azuka Theatre in 2022[6]
  • Youth
  • History of Walking – Developed at Theatre Exile in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Matter Out of Place – Developed at InterAct Theater Company and Available Light Theater in Columbus, Ohio
  • Kill Move Paradise - Premiered at the National Black Theater in 2017
  • White – Developed at the PlayPenn New Play Conference, World Premiered at Theater Horizon in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Moon Man Walk – World Premiered at Orbiter 3 Playwrights Collective in 2015
  • The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington – World Premiere at the Flashpoint Theater Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • The Threshing Floor
  • Fat Ham - Film premiered from the Wilma Theater 2021[7]

Awards and accolades
  • F. Otto Haas Award for Emerging Artist (2011) [8]
  • Two Barrymores for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play for Superior Donuts and Angels in America [9]
  • One Barrymore for Outstanding Direction of a Play for The Brothers Size [10]
  • Terrence McNally New Play Award for White (2015)
  • Pew Fellowship in the Arts for Playwriting (2015)
  • Kesselring Honorable Mention Prize for Miz Martha
  • Whiting Award for Drama (2017)[11]
  • Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Fat Ham (2022)
  • Tony Award nomination for Best Play (2023)

Critical reviews

"Mr. Ijames's play has no sense of an ending, or of resolution. It takes place in a nightmare of history, in which events are repeated, fugue-like, into eternity. (In this sense, the early work of Suzan-Lori Parks comes to mind.)" – Ben Brantley New York Times in response to Kill Move Paradise.[12]

"The ending adds a surreal twist by driving home Ijames' exploration of black women's exploitation by feminism, by contemporary culture and white women." – Jim Rutter Philadelphia Inquirer in response to White[13]

"In short, there's a lot of talk about "new work" in theater and opera in this town, but Moon Man Walk provides the kind of artistic quality that the Philadelphia arts community needs to not only achieve with new works but invest in." – Bryan Buttler for Philadelphia Magazine in response to Moon Man Walk.[14]

Orbiter 3

James Ijames is a founding member of Orbiter 3, Philadelphia's first playwright producing organization which strives to create inclusive local art to further the Philadelphia theatre scene. Their reported goal was to produce six plays over the next three years.[15] Orbiter 3 has been host to developments and productions of Ijames' own work.

References
  1. "WELCOME". Jamesijames.com. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  2. "James Ijames". Wilma Theater. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  3. "FAT HAM". publictheater.org. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  4. "Abandon". TheatreExile. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  5. "Studio Theatre | Good Bones". www.studiotheatre.org. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  6. "Reverie". Azuka Theatre. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  7. "A New Hamlet Centers Black and Queer Characters".
  8. "F. Otto Haas Winners All Years".
  9. "Outstanding Supporting Actor Winners All Years".
  10. "Outstanding Direction of A Play Winners All years".
  11. "2017 Whiting Award Winner Profile: James Ijames". Whiting.org. Whiting Foundation. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  12. Brantley, Ben (11 June 2017). "Review: The Unspeakable Pain of an African-American Afterlife". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  13. "'WHITE' at Theatre Horizon: Racial conflict, art, and laughs". Philly.com. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  14. "REVIEW: "Moon Man Walk" with Orbiter 3". Phillymag.com. 6 July 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  15. "Home". Orbiter3.org. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
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