About the Play:

Livin' Fat is a full-length comedy by Judi Ann Mason. The Cooper family is poor, but happy. Their world is changed when two thieves leave $50,000 behind during a bank robbery. When their son, who works as a janitor at the bank, brings the money home to his family, they must evaluate their morals in this lighthearted farce by Judi Ann Mason. Does the family enjoy the cash or give it back?

Livin' Fat, set in the 1970s, tells the story of the Cooper family. Although money is tight, their affection for each other is limitless. Everything changes, however, when son David Lee, a college graduate forced by the economy to work as a bank janitor, interrupts a robbery. In their haste to get away the thieves drop a bundle of money, which David Lee picks up – its $50,000. He takes it home and begins buying his financially strapped family the things they've long wanted but couldn't afford. But the unexplained gifts worry righteous mother Biddie and father Calvin, who becomes convinced David Lee robbed the bank and wants him to return money and turn himself in – even if it means going to jail. But his grandma, Big Mama, argues in favour of lavishing in their newfound wealth, proclaiming that "Livin' fat is merely Black folks enjoying what the White folks been enjoyin' all they lives." Hijinks ensue as David tries to please his parents while still holding onto the bills.

Livin' Fat was produced at Grambling State University in 1976 and launched the career of Judi Ann Mason, one of first female African-American television sitcom writers. She wrote it at the age of 19, and with it earned a comedy award sponsored by the Kennedy Center. Her work caught the eye of TV producer Norman Lear, who hired her as a writer for the classic series Good Times. It received a production by Houston's Ensemble Theatre in 2009.

Cast: 3 female, 3 male

What people say:

"Witty, incisive and downright hilarious." — Show Business

"This comedy had the audience stamping its feet in high glee." — Cleveland Press

About the Playwright:

Judi Ann Mason (1955-2009) was an American television writer, producer and playwright. While attending Grambling State University she won the Norman Lear Award for comedy writing from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for her play Livin' Fat. Her TV credits include Good Times, Sanford and Son, A Different World, Beverly Hills 90210, I'll Fly Away, American Gothic, Generations and Guiding Light. She was also one of the writers of the movie Sister Act 2 starring Whoopie Goldberg. She continued writing plays as well, and earned the Kennedy Center's Lorraine Hansberry Award for her play A Star Ain't Nothin' But a Hole in Heaven.