PHILADELPHIA: For the first time in the region, and in what may be the first effort of its kind dedicated to a single contemporary playwright, three theatres are launching the Citywide James Ijames Pass. Arden Theatre Company, Wilma Theater, and Philadelphia Theatre Company, who are each presenting a play by the Philadelphia-based Pulitzer winner in 2026, and are accordingly offering a theatregoers a citywide three-play package that celebrates his work.
“I’m really moved to have my work featured at three theatres in my artistic home of Philadelphia,” said Ijames said in a statement. “It’s rare that audiences can look at a writer’s canon over time. All three of these plays were written in Philly, and having each play produced by theatres that have had such a massive impact on my career and practice makes this moment very special for me. I’m so honored.”
The season begins at Arden Theatre Company with the Philadelphia premiere of Good Bones (Jan. 22-March 8, 2026), a reflection on community, change, and the soul of the contemporary city. “How great to be celebrating James Ijames and his extraordinary work with these three productions,” Terrence J. Nolen, Arden’s producing artistic director, said in a statement. “James is a writer with an international reputation, with deep roots here in this community. Philly audiences love Philly artists, and there is so much pride for James’s success. I hope audiences will come to see all three plays by this hometown hero.”
At the Wilma Theater, Ijames’s satire The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington (March 17-April 5, 2026) promises to combine “high-stakes clowning, striking imagery, and biting truth,” and will be directed by Wilma HotHouse Company member Brett Ashley Robinson. “James Ijames’s plays are integral to Philly’s theatre community and to the Wilma,” said Wilma Theater co-artistic directors Morgan Green, Lindsay Smiling, and Yury Urnov in a joint statement. They called this collaboration “a historic move toward establishing Philly as a top theatre town…This pass is a game-changer for audience members and a match made in Philly theatre heaven.”
The season will conclude at Philadelphia Theatre Company (PTC) with the world premiere of Wilderness Generation (April 10-May 3, 2026), a play about legacy, secrets, and the ties that bind, directed by PTC co-artistic director Taibi Magar. “It’s a tribute not just to Philly’s own Pulitzer Prize winner, but also a way to link together the extraordinary Philadelphia theatre community that continues to nurture and inspire him,” PTC co-artistic directors Taibi Magar and Tyler Dobrowsky said in a joint statement.
The pass will be available at an intentionally accessible price of $130 for all three shows, giving passholders savings, preferred seating, flexible exchanges, member benefits at all three theatres, parking discounts, and a James Ijames-inspired yellow beanie. It can be purchased online and in person at the TKTS Philadelphia ticket booth at the Philadelphia Visitor Center.
“Philadelphia’s theatre scene is one of the best in the country: bold, original, and deeply rooted in community,” Maita Soukup, vice president, experience and engagement at the Philadelphia Visitor Center, said in a statement. “This exclusive pass is a powerful way to experience it…The Visitor Center is proud to offer this unique opportunity for visitors and locals alike to dive into his storytelling and feel the creative energy that makes our city a true arts destination.”
Ijames is a Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony-nominated playwright, director, and educator based in Philadelphia. His play Fat Ham won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Drama and was nominated for the 2023 Tony Award for Best Play. Ijames began his career as an actor working in Philadelphia’s theatre scene, where he later became co-artistic director of the Wilma Theater. Honors include the F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Artist, multiple Barrymore Awards, the Whiting Award, two Steinberg/ATCA Prizes, and the Terrence McNally New Play Award. Ijames’s works have been produced nationwide and internationally, including at Broadway’s American Airlines Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, the Public Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Theatre Exile, Wilma Theater, and even the U.K.’s Royal Shakespeare Company. According to American Theatre, Fat Ham has been one of the top 10 most-produced shows across the country over the last three years.
