After winning the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for his play *Fat Ham*, playwright James Ijames' new production explores gentrification and the growing price of the American dream in his sharp and funny play, GOOD BONES. A work opportunity to revitalize the blighted neighborhood she grew up in has led Aisha and her chef husband Travis to buy and renovate a charming old house. But as everyone knows, renovation is expensive and stressful—both for buildings and the communities that surround them. Aisha’s young contractor Earl grew up in the area too, but his memories are of more than just dangerous streets and hollowed-out homes. When their purely professional relationship gives way to heated debate about who gets to stay and who has to go, Aisha is forced to reckon with the choices she’s made to get ahead and the painful, joyful, complicated ghosts that haunt her dreams…and her dream house. The Public’s Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director Saheem Ali directs this world premiere play about community, change, and the soul of our cities.
For spouses Aisha and Travis, a charming historic home in Aisha’s hometown offers the ideal renovation opportunity when the couple relocate for her new job. The home has good bones — a solid foundation, sound framing, and long-term durability. Likewise, James Ijames’s Good Bones, directed by Saheem Ali, has the framework of a great new play, with nuanced characters and a charged conflict.
The play doesn’t come down on one side of the gentrification debate or another, but neither does it both-sides the issue. It remains rooted in character, and its conflicts are played out in good faith; its piercing ending is, in miniature, a nudge for us all to reject fear and open our doors and minds, and, most importantly, to fully live in the communities where we live.
2024 | Off-Broadway |
The Public Theater Off-Broadway Premiere Production Off-Broadway |
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