James Ijames

James Ijames

James is a Philadelphia based actor and playwright. He has appeared regionally at The Arden Theatre Company, The Philadelphia Theatre Company, The Wilma Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage and Interact Theatre Company. James is a founding member of Orbiter 3 Playwright Producing Collective, a member of the InterAct Core Writers Group and a mentor for The Foundry. James’ plays include The Most Spectacularly...
James is a Philadelphia based actor and playwright. He has appeared regionally at The Arden Theatre Company, The Philadelphia Theatre Company, The Wilma Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage and Interact Theatre Company. James is a founding member of Orbiter 3 Playwright Producing Collective, a member of the InterAct Core Writers Group and a mentor for The Foundry. James’ plays include The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington, Moon Man Walk, WHITE, Kill Move Paradise, The Threshing Floor, and Osiris:Redux. ...Miz Martha was developed with PlayPenn and the Wilma Theater and received its world premiere with Flashpoint Theater. Moon Man Walk was world premiered with Orbiter 3 Playwright Collective. His play WHITE was apart of the 2015 PlayPenn New Play Conference and the 2015 Gulfshore Playhouse New Works Festival. James is a recipient of F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Artist, two Barrymores for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play for Superior Donuts and Angels in America and a Barrymore for Best Direction of a Play for The Brother Size. Is an Independence Foundation Fellow and he is a 2015 Pew Fellow. James is the 2015 recipient of the Terrence McNally New Play Award for WHITE and the 2015 Kesselring Honorable Mention Prize for ... Miz Martha. He received a BA in Drama from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA and a MFA in Acting from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. James is Assistant Professor of Theatre at Villanova University and resides in South Philadelphia.

Plays

  • TJ LOVES SALLY 4EVER by James Ijames
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    5–100
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    Genre: dark comedy, movement/physical + 3 more
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    Keyword: History, protest + 3 more
    Genre: dark comedy, movement/physical, musical, political, satire
    Keyword: History, protest, greek life, sexual harassment, universities
    TJ is a University Dean. He’s in love with Sally. Sally does not love TJ. Sally is a student. This will not be easy. There’s a marching band, several step shows and the dismantling of the legacies that keep us tied down.

    In short: Imagine if Thomas Jefferson was a University Dean and Sally Hemings was his work-study student. Isuncomfortable.
  • TANK STRANGER SEE THE FACE OF THE DIVINE IN THE CONDENSATION OF A WATER GLASS by James Ijames
    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: fable/folktale
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    Keyword: magical realism, nonlinear + 2 more
    Genre: fable/folktale
    Keyword: magical realism, nonlinear, space aliens, Dionysus
    The Stranger family are weird and Tank Stranger is the weirdest of them all. So weird he might be aliens...or part alien? Bi-terrestrial? In this, super black, super futuristic retelling of the birth of Dionysus, the Stranger family discover one of theirs is from another planet and has to choose whether to stay on this slowly warming dumpster fire called earth or go to another world in another galaxy where the...
    The Stranger family are weird and Tank Stranger is the weirdest of them all. So weird he might be aliens...or part alien? Bi-terrestrial? In this, super black, super futuristic retelling of the birth of Dionysus, the Stranger family discover one of theirs is from another planet and has to choose whether to stay on this slowly warming dumpster fire called earth or go to another world in another galaxy where the people live like ghosts and drink sunlight like water.
  • YOUTH by James Ijames
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: comedy, pageant + 1 more
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    Keyword: queer, religion + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, pageant, young audiences
    Keyword: queer, religion, miracles, Black Church, music
    A young man discovers he likes boys, A youth pastor tries in vain to connect with a pizza delivery person and a small church is disrupted when a mysterious young man joins the youth group who has magical powers.
  • Kill Move Paradise by James Ijames
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: dark comedy, experimental
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    Keyword: black lives matter, police violence + 2 more
    Genre: dark comedy, experimental
    Keyword: black lives matter, police violence, blackmen, Elysium
    Kill Move Paradise takes the Elysium of Greek antiquity and flips the script. Set in a netherworld prepared for its newly deceased inhabitants, we follow Isa, Daz, Grif and Tiny as they try to make sense of the world they have been "untimely ripped" from and this new paradise they find themselves in. Inspired by recent events, Kill Move Paradise is a expressionistic buzz saw through the contemporary...
    Kill Move Paradise takes the Elysium of Greek antiquity and flips the script. Set in a netherworld prepared for its newly deceased inhabitants, we follow Isa, Daz, Grif and Tiny as they try to make sense of the world they have been "untimely ripped" from and this new paradise they find themselves in. Inspired by recent events, Kill Move Paradise is a expressionistic buzz saw through the contemporary myth that "all live matter" and a portrait of the slain, not as degenerates who deserved death but as heroes who demand that we see them for the splendid beings they are.
  • WHITE by James Ijames
    Recommendations: 4
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
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    Keyword: Contemporary art, Race + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    Keyword: Contemporary art, Race, gay and lesbian
    In this modern Frankenstein story, a young artist trying to get into a major contemporary art museum hires a woman to claim his work. This plays spins out of control as it explores issues of race, gender, sexuality, and art.
  • Moon Man Walk by James Ijames
    Recommendations: 4
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: adventure, comedy + 4 more
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    Keyword: African American, death + 1 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, dark comedy, drama, romantic comedy, science fiction
    Keyword: African American, death, memory
    A young man learns the truth about his absent father after he travels home to attend his mother's funeral. This magical journey through space and time takes us literally to the moon and back.
  • The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington by James Ijames
    Recommendations: 14
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    Cast: 
    7
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
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    Keyword: History, African American + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, farce, period
    Keyword: History, African American, music, southern, vaudeville
    The recently-widowed “Mother of America” lies helpless in her Mount Vernon bed, ravaged by illness and cared for by the very slaves that are free the moment she dies. The fever dream of terrifying theatricality that follows investigates everything from Martha Washington’s family to her historical legacy.