Prestigious Yale Drama Prize Goes To Seayoung Yim’s ‘Jar Of Fat’ Satire On Beauty Standards

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EXCLUSIVE: Seayoung Yim, a playwright and educator from Seattle, has won the 2022 Yale Drama Series Prize for her new play Jar of Fat, a work selected from more than 1,500 entries.Set in a fantastical fairytale world where two Korean American sisters are deemed too fat to fit in their family grave, Jar of Fat was described by the Prize committee as an “irreverent and vicious satire on beauty standards” and was cited for its “thought provoking subject matter (the universal problem of obesity) as examined through a unique cultural prism, and by the singular voice that the playwright possesses.”The play follows the sisters as their close bond is threatened under the pressure of their community and fretful parents, who will spare no effort to get them tinier.

Jar of Fat “is a prescient absurdist comedy that explores desire, ugliness, and beauty,” the committee said.In a first in the Prize’s 15 years, the winner was decided by a body of six judges – the honor has traditionally been decided by one award-winning playwright.

This year’s six judges are all past Prize winners, including Neil Wechsler, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, Virginia Grise, Jacqueline Goldfinger, Leah Nanako Winkler and Rachel Lynett.

As the 2022 Prize winner, Yim receives the David Charles Horn Prize of $10,000, as well as publication of the winning play by Yale University Press and a celebratory event.“When I first received the news at winning this prize, I was very much in shock and disbelief,” said Yim in a statement. “Jar of Fat is a darkly comedic Korean American fairy tale about the allure and danger entangled within the quest for beauty and thinness.