Read a play!

They are short and rewarding and you will feel accomplished when you're done. Fat Ham was awarded the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for five Tony Awards in 2023, including Best Play. It's a retelling of Shakespeare's tragedy, Hamlet, turned upside down into a comedy, set at a black family's backyard wedding barbecue.

Juicy is the Hamlet character, the son of a slain father, whose mother quickly remarries her late husband's brother. The backyard barbecue brings together Juicy's friends and family, and no surprise, the ghost of his father who demands that Juicy avenge his death. Juicy is a college student who is smart and handsome and has his own ideas of how he wants his life to go. Avenging his father's death is not high on the list. Accepting his new stepfather is also not high on his list.

Funny and touching, Fat Ham pokes at family dynamics, gender and sexual identities, and cultural stereotypes from the South. At its heart, Juicy must come to terms with who he is and what he wants in life. By remaining true to himself, the other characters can be true to themselves, for better or worse.