Q & A with Monteze Freeland, director of "Fat Ham"
From left: Khalil Kain, Maria Becoates-Bey, Elexa Hanner, Brandon Foxworth, Linda Haston, and LaTrea Rembert. Photo by Wesley Hitt.
“Fat Ham” director Monteze Freeland is the current Co-Artistic Director of City Theatre and was named Pittsburgh City Paper’s Person of the Year for Theatre in 2021, in addition to being named the Performer of the Year in 2017 by the Post-Gazette. He answered some questions for us about the process of directing “Fat Ham” which was first produced on his home turf of City Theatre before transitioning to the TheatreSquared stage.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about when you first encountered James Ijames’ “Fat Ham” as a script?
A: I thought, This is something I've never seen before. This is something I have to do. And I related to it so much that I needed to read it again just to truly make sure that what I read was what I read. And once I realized that, I said, well, we got to do what we can to produce this play. And my team felt the same way. And they were like, ‘You need to be in it.’ And I said, ‘I’m too old!’ But I would love to direct it. And the pieces came together, and we were able to make it happen with TheatreSquared.
Q: What were some of the images you saw in your mind while you were reading?
“Fat Ham” Director Monteze Freeland
When I read it, I immediately thought of my cousin Lynette's house, because that's where we would have the big family cookouts. She had this large yard and a deck and those sliding doors and big wooden fence and a trampoline in one corner and a swimming pool in another and a shed.
Where I grew up in Baltimore, we didn't necessarily have all that real estate. So when I read this play, I instantly started to see it in that environment. The set is actually modelled on her house for our production here at TheatreSquared.
I think that James created experiences and characters that are so rich and true to Black culture, and people in general, that when I read it, I saw the action immediately. I saw when they would dance, I saw when they would crowd around the table to eat, when people would duck off to another part of the yard, when folks would go inside. It was clear to me from reading it, the action of the piece. But I don't think I immediately knew how much fun it was going to be, because there are some heavy themes, and when you read it, sometimes the heavy parts can sit with you because they're on the page, and it's your mind, it's your voice saying those words. But then I discovered the fun inside of this piece, and I haven't looked back since. It's all fun now.
Q: Say more about that: James Ijames has managed to write this incredible script about generational trauma and it’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever read. How does he do that?
You know, the play is about grief. It's about grief, and it's about mourning. And I think that if you really look back in your life, at least in my life, at those deepest points of grief and mourning, something small happens that just makes you fall out laughing. I mean, there are funerals I've gone to where it's been really sad, and I'm really missing the person, but something will happen, and I can't get myself back together. I'm in stitches. And so, for me, I knew that from personal experience. So it was about, how do we put that on stage? How do you put that in bodies? And James allows the beats to just flow so quickly and effortlessly if you really work at it. But that it requires a true, I would say, mechanic of an actor to go in and use the right tools to calibrate and to understand what's funny and what's not, because it's easy to turn serious aspects into something that's funny. But you also have to realize that going for the joke may not be necessary for the story. So while there are some lines in this piece that make me laugh so hard, I have to realize and stop myself and say that actually, that's trauma, that's violence, and maybe I should give reverence to people who have experienced that. And, I think the audience goes on that journey as well. Last night, I heard people laughing at things I never heard them laugh at before. And I said, okay, all right, that's different. You know, so I think it's like that every night—different for every audience. It's what you bring into the room, what the audience brings into the room. They let us hear it, you know, they gasp and they guffaw, and they are shocked and also impressed at the same time. And I see the wave of emotions go over them, and my only hope is that it continues to leave the theater and into their world.
“They let us hear it, you know, they gasp and they guffaw, and they are shocked and also impressed at the same time. And I see the wave of emotions go over them, and my only hope is that it continues to leave the theater and into their world.”
Q: You’ve had an experience that’s pretty rare for a director — you’ve seen this show performed in front of two vastly different audiences. What secrets has that revealed to you, if any?
A: The audience is the last piece of a production. You can rehearse as much as you want, but there's a missing element, and the audience is that element. And I believe that audience has a responsibility to come to the theater, to be in communication and community with the art, even if it doesn't speak to you. Read the room, you know, be in communication with the art, because that's really what you're paying for, is an experience. In Pittsburgh, we were the hometown heroes. There are a lot of folks in Pittsburgh who knew the cast and who I know, and friends came to see the show. So there was a lot of built in love that was coming with the piece. And what's been so wonderful and loving and surprising is that that's here in Fayetteville as well. And it's not something that I didn't expect, but it's something that I'm growing to really appreciate.
Q: I would suspect that reading this play, seeing it on the page, is quite different than seeing it on stage. You saw the Broadway production — can you talk a little bit about how seeing that changed or influenced your thoughts on directing the show?
A: That's a great question. So when I saw it on Broadway, one of my first thoughts was, how are we gonna do this magic? Because it's a lot of magic in the piece, and good magic, and magic that's supposed to really take the audience on a journey, and we're supposed to believe it. You have the resources that you have in regional theater. But one of our biggest resources in regional theater are the creative minds. And so for me, collaborating with our scenic designer, lighting designer, sound designer, costume designer, our intimacy director, and also our fight choreographer — all of those people were instrumental in creating the work, because they have to build the world in which I can then play on in my mind. And then I have to deliver that to the actors and say, ‘So this is what's in my head. Trust me. Let's figure it out.’
But it is a play that allows you to use all of your strengths. There are musical numbers inside of the piece, and I love musicals, so it allows me to direct a few musical numbers. There's choreography inside of the piece, and I love dancers and how dancers work and the physicality that they marry with the storytelling is so important. And then there are just true moment to moment acting juggernauts that you have to navigate. Then you have Shakespeare on top of all of that. And people feel a way about Shakespeare! No matter what it is, they feel it. So we have to honor that, honor the history, honor the legacy that James has remixed into ‘Fat Ham’.
“I’ve learned that the world is not looking at us through our insecurities. They’re looking at us through our potential. ”
Q: You mention the musical numbers, and there are some gorgeous musical moments on stage, including Juicy’s passionate, heart-wrenching version of Radiohead’s song, ‘Creep’. Why do you think Ijames made this specific choice?
A: Before this play, I’ve got to be honest, I never heard ‘Creep’, which is surprising, because when I was a teenager, I was very much like Juicy. I was very pensive, in my own mind, in my world, and I listened to, alternative rock at times. My family would be like, what are you listening to? But somehow ‘Creep’ never came into my life. But when you look at the lyrics of it and the lyrics of, ‘I wish I was special, but I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo,’ I think that so many young people, no matter what your race is or demographic or socioeconomic status, any of that, I think you go through a transition of just feeling other, of feeling different, of feeling as though the world is looking at you through your insecurities. And I've learned that the world is not looking at us through our insecurities. They're looking at us through our potential. And if we lean into knowing that, if we lean into the aspect that it could be good, that it could be great, that you can thrive, and that you can be a person who has a bit of a weird side and maybe is a bit of a creep to others, but it doesn't have to define you.
Q: Your cast is phenomenal. Have you worked with many of them before?
A: I have been so blessed to have this cast part of this team, and that they all said yes. Not only did they say yes to Pittsburgh, but they said yes to Arkansas. And this is a cast full of people who I've known for a very long time, folks who I've worked with in the past and people who I just met on this production. But we are family now. It is clear. It's evident that we are family. And I said the other day in rehearsal, we're going to remember this experience for the rest of our lives. And it's true. You don't find this all the time. And I don't believe in going to work and making friends. I believe in going to work and doing my work. But when you can go to work with people you love — every day we hug each other, the first thing we do is everyone hugs one another, we ask, ‘How are you doing?’ We laugh constantly, we eat together, we pray together, we hang out together. It's truly a bond that I'm going to miss so much because they get to continue, but I'm going to leave them and I'm going to miss them truly and dearly. I am so blessed to have shared creative space and time with them. And I'm probably getting a little emotional about it because I understand it. I'm glad that I understand it.