The Hot Wing King

by Katori Hall

Ready, set, fry! It’s time for the annual "Hot Wang Festival" in Memphis, Tennessee, and Cordell Crutchfield knows he has the wings that’ll make him king. Supported by his beau Dwayne and their culinary clique, The New Wing Order, Cordell is marinating and firing up his frying pan in a bid to reclaim the crispy crown. When Dwayne takes in his troubled nephew however, it becomes a recipe for disaster. Suddenly, a first place trophy isn’t the only thing Cordell risks losing.

“The funny, moving tale of Black gay friends and lovers navigating responsibility and guilt — all while prepping for a hot wing festival — touches on pressing issues such as mental health as well as on the intricacies of Cajun marinade.” —Washington Post.

“A funny, deeply felt consideration of Black masculinity and how it is perceived, filtered through the experiences of a loving gay couple and their extended family as they prepare for a culinary competition.” — Pulitzer Prize Jury.

Genres: Plays

Paperback

About the author

Katori Hall (born May 10, 1981) is an American playwright, journalist, and actress from Memphis, Tennessee.

Hall graduated from Columbia University in 2003 with a major in African-American Studies and Creative Writing. She was awarded top departmental honors from the university's Institute for Research in African-American Studies (IRAAS). In 2005, she graduated from the American Repertory Theater's Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University with a Master of Fine Arts in Acting, and graduated from the Juilliard School's Lila Acheson Wallace playwriting program in 2009.

Her awards include a Susan Smith Blackburn Award, Lark Play Development Center Playwrights of New York (PONY) Fellowship, Kate Neal Kinley Fellowship, two Lecompte du Nouy Prizes from Lincoln Center, Fellowship of Southern Writers Bryan Family Award in Drama, NYFA Fellowship, and the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award. Hall was shortlisted for the London Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright Award and received the Otis Guernsey New Voices Playwriting Award from the William Inge Theatre Festival. She is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. In 1999, Hall graduated from Craigmont High School (Memphis, TN) as the first African-American valedictorian.

Hall has been published as a book reviewer, journalist, and essayist in publications such as The Boston Globe, Essence, Newsweek and The New York Times. She has been a Kennedy Center Playwriting Fellow at the O’Neill.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

The improbable winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Drama was not even published till just recently, to coincide with the recent production at the National Theatre in London. It's an uneven proposition, and initially difficult to get into, largely due to an overabundance of ghetto slang - but eventually one gets swept up in the dramedy of four middle-aged black gay men, who come together each year to try to win a Memphis Hot Wing contest. It all plays out like an all- black version of The Boys in the Band.

Hopefully that NT production was filmed for NT Live, since the play's set and prop requirements: a fully functional kitchen, a second floor, and an outdoor basketball court, not to mention 400 chicken wings cooked at each performance, curtails its viability for all but the flushest theatre companies.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/th...
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/art...
https://www.timeout.com/london/theatr...
https://variety.com/2020/legit/review...
https://www.thewrap.com/the-hot-wing-...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5LGX...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTa3X...

[Suzanne Sayers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the script and will see the show in a couple of weeks. I loved this play! I thought it was funny, showed vulnerable relationships/friendships between a small group of black, gay men set in Memphis. It's sometimes difficult to read a play and see the potential for it on stage, but I could see and hear the characters in my mind. I look forward to seeing if it lives up to my expectations on stage.

[Van Angelo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great play, l loved reading it. Was specifically enamored by the way the accents were written out. It was so black and gay and I , as a black gay, l love that

[Bobby Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good play. Not sure if it deserved the Pulitzer, but there's plenty of humor and dramatic tension, and the characters are well fleshed out.