The Philly Pulitzer winner's latest world premiere is happening here

The BSR Podcast: Season 7, episode 6: Theatre Exile presents James Ijames's Abandon

Darnelle Radford
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In
1 minute read
Abandon cast: Finister, in pink nightgown at center, fearfully holds a bat indoors. A man behind her stills it with his hand.
'Abandon' opens May 3, 2023, at Theatre Exile. (Image courtesy of Theatre Exile.)

BSR podcaster Darnelle Radford gets the story on the newest play by James Ijames, who won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama with his Fat Ham, which got its world premiere in a streaming video production with the Wilma during the pandemic shutdown, and is now getting its Broadway premiere.

Abandon, running at Theatre Exile through May 21, 2023, follows Luella, who lives with the ghost of her son, and Joshua, a man kicked out of his house by his brother. Over the course of a momentous night, they become "an American Family in its truest sense," in this "sometimes violent, sometimes healing" play with "a gossamer veil that separates the worlds of the living and the dead, and shame and acceptance." Brett Ashley Robinson directs.

Actors Melanye Finister and Brenson Thomas talk with Darnelle about the show, and about the Philly arts scene—its unusual cross-pollination between genres, and why they think it's more of a theater community than a theater industry.

Listen above, visit the BSR Podcast episode page, or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

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