About Their Eyes Were Watching God
A new play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames adapts Zora Neale Hurston’s landmark 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. A story about community, resilience, and transformation, Their Eyes comes to life in partnership with Orlando Shakes, a theater near Hurston’s hometown of Eatonville, Florida and the Arden Theater in Philadelphia. The play is developed through research trips and workshops involving both theater companies and Ijames.
First published in 1937, Zora Neale Hurston’s novel is widely regarded as a landmark work of American literature. The story follows Janie Crawford’s search for independence and identity through three defining relationships, set in Eatonville, Florida—the first incorporated all-Black municipality in the United States and a central influence on Hurston’s creative life. Ijames’ adaptation will bring Janie Crawford’s journey to the stage.
“My commitment to this project feels like a life force,” said Ijames in the announcement from Orlando Shakes. “Zora Neale Hurston is the first writer I encountered that wrote characters that spoke with the kind of musical language that my family used. Here it was, the sound of my family, my community printed and celebrated. I was never the same. So to be given the opportunity to bring this story to a new audience is a dream come true.”
Sponsored by A. Noni Holmes-Kidd & Embry Kidd
Their Eyes Were Watching God is supported by
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.
JAMES IJAMES is a Pulitzer Prize winning and Tony Award nominated playwright, a director and educator.
James’ plays have been produced by Flashpoint Theater Company, Orbiter 3, Theatre Horizon, Wilma Theatre, Theatre Exile, Azuka Theatre (Philadelphia, PA), The National Black Theatre, JACK, The Public Theater (NYC), Hudson Valley Shakespeare Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre, Definition Theatre, Timeline Theater (Chicago IL) Shotgun Players (Berkeley, CA) and have received development with PlayPenn New Play Conference, The Lark, Playwright’s Horizon, Clubbed Thumb, Villanova Theater, Wilma Theater, Azuka Theatre and Victory Garden.
James is the 2011 F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Artist recipient, and two Barrymore Awards for Outstanding Direction of a Play for The Brothers Size with Simpatico Theatre Company and Gem of the Ocean with Arden Theatre. James is a 2015 Pew Fellow for Playwriting, the 2015 winner of the Terrance McNally New Play Award for WHITE, the 2015 Kesselring Honorable Mention Prize winner for ….Miz Martha, a 2017 recipient of the Whiting Award, a 2019 Kesselring Prize for Kill Move Paradise, a 2020 and 2022 Steinberg Prize, the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Drama recipient and a 2023 Tony nominee for Best Play for Fat Ham
James was a founding member of Orbiter 3, Philadelphia’s first playwright producing collective.
He received a B.A. in Drama from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA and a M.F.A. in Acting from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. James an Associate Professor of Theatre at Columbia University where he serves as head of playwriting. He resides in South Philadelphia and the Morningside Heights neighborhood in New York, NY.
A private developmental workshop of “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
About Playfest
Orlando Shakes PlayFest is a two week long annual festival that provides a place for writers, theater professionals, and audiences to connect and share ideas that promote thought-provoking stories. Audiences experience staged readings of six new works over two weekends and participate in the development of new plays, conversing with playwrights, directors, and actors while absorbing groundbreaking new works.
Orlando Shakes is a core member of the National New Play Network, a nationwide organization devoted to developing new work through the New Play Exchange, rolling world premieres, the Producer-in-Residence Program, and annual conferences. Orlando Shakes prides itself on active participation within the national new play community while engaging its local audiences in the latest and greatest in playwriting.
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