April 3 – May 4, 2025
By Denny Patterson
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames turns Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy on its head in Fat Ham, a dazzling comic reinvention set in the American South.
Swapping a Danish castle for a backyard barbecue, Fat Ham follows Juicy, a young Black queer man navigating questions of identity, family, and fate when the ghost of his father appears, demanding vengeance. However, unlike Hamlet, Juicy isn’t convinced that violence is the answer. As the smoke from the grill rises, so does a powerful exploration of trauma, joy, and the radical choice to break cycles of pain.
Hilarious and deeply moving, Fat Ham is a bold and refreshing take on a classic tale, and it will soon make its highly anticipated South Florida debut. Co-produced between three prominent theater companies, the production will run at Island City Stage from April 3 to May 4, 2025, before moving to GableStage in Coral Gables from May 16 to June 15.
OutClique recently caught up with Brévo Theatre’s producing artistic director, Terrence “T.M.” Pride, who will be directing Fat Ham, to explore the play’s powerful themes and his vision for the production. He also shared insights on collaborating with Island City Stage and GableStage, and how this historic partnership was brought to life through the generous support of the Warten Foundation.
Denny Patterson: Hi, Terrence! How excited are you for the South Florida premiere of Fat Ham?
T.M. Pride: I’m kind of leading with anticipation! I’m very excited about how audiences will respond to what is really a genuine, yet funny adaptation, of a great Shakespearean work. I’m definitely thrilled about it.
Denny Patterson: For those who aren’t familiar with this show, what can they expect?
T.M. Pride: I consider this to be an invitation to the cookout (laughs). All this talk that we’ve had for so long about who’s invited to the cookout, this is that one opportunity. You can sit back, kick your shoes off, and enjoy. I know the talent that we have on stage is going to serve, and it’s going to be good for the soul, heart, and humanity. For us to break bread together and laugh at the way life comes at us sometimes. What this story teaches us is that we sometimes do have to laugh to keep from crying. There are some ugly truths that happen from time to time, but I think the optimism is when we find the joy and laughter as we journey through it together.
Denny Patterson: You would say that Fat Ham is timely right now?
T.M. Pride: Oh, yes. Definitely.
Denny Patterson: Fat Ham is being co-produced between Island City Stage, GableStage, and Brévo Theatre, which you are the producing artistic director for. How did this partnership come to be, and why did you all decide on this production?
T.M. Pride: I have to give all kudos and a huge shoutout to Andy Rogow because he is the brain child of this entire situation. We did a production of The Brothers Size at Island City Stage, and right afterwards, and I do mean the day after we closed, Andy hit us up and said, I want to talk to you guys about producing this play called Fat Ham. And everything grew from there. As we started our partnership and collaboration, we found out that GableStage had already requested the rights for the show, so that’s what brought GableStage to the table. Later, Bari Newport, the producing artistic director of GableStage, did a panel discussion with a couple other artistic directors throughout South Florida, and in the midst of that conversation, Andy spoke about the future of theater and how he saw it being rooted in collaborations. I thought he was correct with that, and it was an interesting insight to have. So, when he brought Bari to the table, who was very open minded, she was like, let’s entertain this idea. Let’s all sit around the table and see what it looks like. I think the reason why it’s working is because one, we all want to produce this show and put great talent on the stage, and two, we want to see this work. We are learning from each other – strengths, weaknesses, and challenges. However, the underlying thing that is keeping us all in tune to the final goal is that we want to create art that’s going to bring our communities together.
Denny Patterson: And this historic partnership between these theater companies has also been made possible through major funding from the Warten Foundation. Can you talk more about that?
T.M. Pride: Absolutely. The Warten Foundation was founded by Fredrick Warten, and they came to the table because they were already supporters of Island City Stage. One of the biggest questions Andy, Bari, and I had about Fat Ham was, who’s going to fund this? How much is this going to cost, and where are we going to get the money from? Andy thought the Warten Foundation would be keen on this type of work that we were doing. He spoke to the president of the foundation, and he was a big fan of Island City Stage, as well as Brévo Theatre. The president then talked everything over with the foundation’s board, and they said yes to the amount we needed to be able to produce this. They gave us an amount of $250,000, the biggest amount they’ve ever given to any theater. The Warten Foundation supports a lot of great work that’s rooted in community and helps organizations be seen.
Denny Patterson: You are directing Fat Ham. What is your overall vision for the show?
T.M. Pride: My overall vision for Fat Ham; I want to show the authenticity of being a Black queer man navigating through your own desires, as well as what your family desires from you. Juicy an interesting journey, but along his journey, he’s also an inspiration to a friend. My goal is to use Juicy’s story to ignite what is hopefully the beginning of another beautiful story that happens with his friend, Larry. I think that Juicy is a torch bearer, and by him carrying this torch and navigating his family, Larry is able to observe him going through these motions and notions, dismantling the care for what people think of him and what his family specifically desires for him. By watching, Larry is able to have his own moment of clarity.
Denny Patterson: And what do you ultimately hope audiences take away from it?
T.M. Pride: There are so many things, but ultimately, I want audiences to simply love one another despite our own preconceived notions of what we want for those individuals. Let their happiness be their happiness. Not ours.
Denny Patterson: As mentioned earlier, you are the producing artistic director for Brévo Theatre, which is a company I don’t know much about. What can you tell us about it?
T.M. Pride: Brévo Theatre is a newer theater company that was founded by myself and my business partner, Zaylin Yates. We met each other at Florida A&M University in the theater program, and what kind of ignited this whole vision was a student production that we did, and it went over extremely well. From there, we went through this dark period with COVID, and in that time, we really got a desire to push out and start creating art that was coming from a place of healing. We wanted to have a place where we could authentically be ourselves and show up in our own identity. There weren’t a lot of places like that in South Florida, so that ignited us to spark something and get something started.
Denny Patterson: Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects or anything else you’d like to mention or plug?
T.M. Pride: I do want people to be on the lookout for Artisan Bloom. It’s a Brévo celebration night of giving, which I’m very excited about. I will also say people should be on the lookout for Young, Gifted, & Brave, our theater for the youth program, where we serve youth ages 14-22. We do this every single summer.
Stay up-to-date and connect with Pride by following him on Instagram, or visit TerrencePride.com. For more information and to purchase tickets for Fat Ham, visit IslandCityStage.org or GableStage.org.
