Recently appointed Head of Playwriting and Associate Professor James Ijames has co–written the new musical Saturday Church currently on at New York Theatre Workshop. After two extensions, the play will run through October 24, 2025. Ijames, a Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner, collaborated with Emmy-nominated Damon Cardasis on the musical’s book. Saturday Church is directed by Tony nominee Whitney White currently at work on the Broadway transfer of Beth Wohl’s Liberation. The musical’s music and lyrics are by pop singer Sia. In addition to Ijames’ involvement, two other Columbia theatre-makers are involved in the production. Adjunct Assistant Professor Jhanaë Bonnick-McDonnell serves as stage manager, and Theatre Management and Producing student Brissa Lopez serves as an assistant for the show’s commercial producer.
Saturday Church tells the story of a native New York kid, Ulysses, devoted to his family and Church, and a chance encounter with Saturday Church, a haven for LGBTQ+ youth. Pulled between two worlds, Ulysses grapples with the tension of these two spaces in an attempt to find a place where he can love and be loved, "in all his fabulousness." Tapping into the "transcendence of gospel to the exhilarating vibrations of house music and pop," Saturday Church asks if faith must be an act of devout holiness.
James Ijames received a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for his play Fat Ham, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet following a modern-day Black family. Prior to his arrival at Columbia this past August, he taught acting and collaboration in Philadelphia at Villanova University for 15 years.
In her review for The New York Times, critic Brittani Samuel says, “The music and makers of Saturday Church aren’t here only to entertain; they arrive on a mission. They know that, too often, to be queer and Christian is to face judgment long before one’s appointed day…like the program that inspired it, is well-intentioned and anchored by two types of faith: in the body of Christ, yes, but also bodies on the dance floor.”
