ECU English Goes to Fat Ham

The Department of English co-sponsored a recent trip to New York on April 21-23, where students saw the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fat Ham.

The trip was a resounding success. Sixteen students (from English, Foreign Languages, Theatre, and Communication), three faculty members, and three friends/supporters of Thomas Harriott College of Arts and Sciences visited New York to see the play. After a nine-hour Amtrak ride, the group sang show tunes together as the city skyline appeared. By the end of the trip, many students effused that they had made new lifetime friends.

Jonah Seretti, a junior English major, said. “I knew very few people on the trip before I came, and I feel like I made some genuine friends that I’ll be hanging out with continuously after this. And I think it’s really cool that those friendships at their genesis were informed by all these experiences we had in New York. Doing all these things we’d never done before together was so awesome.”

While the group was only in New York for one full day, the students truly made the most of it. They fanned out in groups to explore the city, seeing Rockefeller Center, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Museum of Natural History, the Stonewall Inn, the Rockefeller Center, the Statue of Liberty, and other landmarks.

Then, they gathered for the main event: the Saturday evening performance of Fat Ham, by NC playwright James Ijames, at the American Airlines Theatre. The play joyfully focuses on a Black, queer, first-generation college student in the rural South and his extended family, resonating with the students. ECU’s students were an incredible audience: gasping, cheering, and highly engaged with the play.

Anna Bradley, a senior English major, said, “Fat Ham was so emotional and impactful. I was holding Victor [Aguilar’s] arm, and he was holding my arm. I experienced so many emotions. Broadway was better than I ever could have imagined.”