A Celebration of the National Black Theater and Fat Ham on Broadway

The Pulitzer Prize-winning Fat Ham opened its Broadway run Wednesday night to rave reviews—the New York Times called the production “outstanding” and “stunning” and previously wrote that James Ijames’ play was “hilarious, yet profound”—but it was the evening after, on Thursday, that its producers at the National Black Theater celebrated. Guests such as New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Tory Burch, Thelma Golden, Huma Abedin, and Ford Foundation president Darren Walker gathered after Fat Ham’s second official night on Broadway for dinner hosted by Dasha Zhukova Niarchos and Frida Escobedo at Casa Cruz. Their guest of honor was Sade Lythcott, CEO of the Harlem-based arts organization, which her mother Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, founded in 1968. NBT artistic director Jonathan McCrory, board member Cleo Wade, who made a touching toast, as well as playwright Ijames himself, were all on hand in the copper-toned dining room on East 61st Street.

While Fat Ham marks the NBT’s Broadway debut, the theater already has ambitious plans underway for the near future—most significantly, a multi-disciplinary arts complex at the corner of 5th Avenue and 125th Street is underway. It’s an address Dr. Teer thought was instantly iconic, Lythcott shared, pointing out that it sits at the intersection of Museum Mile and the heart of Harlem. It made a point that the dinner was hosted by Lythcott’s collaborators in the new construction, architect Escobedo and Zhukova Niarchos, whose residential real estate concept Ray will share a new building with the NBT. So while the spirit Thursday was to celebrate Fat Ham’s undisputed cultural victory—Tony nominations seem inevitable—the dinner signaled Lythcott’s focus on the brick-and-mortar future of her mother’s theater. A debut on the Great White Way may be wonderful, but for the National Black Theater, there is no place like home in Harlem.