Drama & Theater
Where the Black Boys Are (staged reading)
*Masks are required*
After the show, stick around for a post-show conversation about the play led by Dramaturg Des Bennett.
This performance contains explicit material that may not be suitable for all audiences. It includes strong language, situations of violence and other mature themes. Additionally, the production addresses sexual abuse, substance abuse, mental health issues, and instances of discrimination.
Written by Jameson P. Murray, Directed by JulianX, Choreography by Giovanna Obafunmilayo Frazier, Dramaturgy by Des Bennett.
Accessibility: This performance will include closed captioning provided by Think Outside the Vox (VOX).
Sponsored by National Endowment for the Arts, The Mellon Foundation, The Barr Foundation, The Boston Foundation, Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture
is a Black, trans writer, director, comedian, and the proud playwright of FLY. A New Orleans native, he developed his play The More The Man with Fresh Ink Theatre, which will be published in Methuen Drama’s Book of Trans Plays by Trans Playwrights Vol. III.
Murray is a 2025 Sundance Trans Possibilities Fellow and a 2024 Disruptors Fellow, honored for his work in television and screenwriting. His training at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, London Academy of Music & Dramatic Arts, Boston University, and Kids in the Spotlight, Inc. shaped his multi-hyphenate artistry, earning him awards in writing, directing, theatre, and film. Most notably, he co-wrote and starred in A Movie Named: Sucka, which screened nationally at the Pan African Film Festival, Festival of Cinema NYC, and Urban 360 Fest Orlando.
is an award-winning director, performer, and multidisciplinary creator based in New York City, dedicated to radical storytelling and liberation as an artistic practice. Rooted in QTBIPOC+ lineages, they make rhythm-driven theater that reimagines power, bends form, and cultivates community-centered spaces for healing, discovery, and collective imagination.
They hold a BFA in Theatre Arts (Directing and Movement) from Boston University. X has developed and produced work with New York Theatre Workshop, Seattle Children's Theatre, The Theatre Offensive, and other leading institutions across the globe— crafting bold, genre-defying experiences through rhythm, movement, and dialogue.
Selected credits include: Laure (New York Theatre Workshop, The Tank NYC), Toni Stone (The Huntington), Smoke (The Theatre Offensive), The More the Man (Fresh Ink Theatre), Don't Let Me Disappear (Liberation Theatre Company), Out of the Earth (MITU580), Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet (Boston University), and more.
is a multimedia performance artist, Grammy-nominated songwriter, award-winning filmmaker, and poet, from Virginia Beach. Her major choreographic debut came in music video for Kehlani's "Altar". Her songwriting debut began with the gold-certified "After Hours". Her debut experimental dance-poetry film, "When We Arrive As Flowers", has been screened at over 25 film festivals since its debut in 2022. Based in New York, she continues to produce work that fuses all of these creative practices under an umbrella of spirituality, liberation, inspiration, and women's empowerment.
is a cultural worker whose practice emphasizes creativity and ethical storytelling as central to community care and liberation.They are a dramaturg, director, collage artist, zine maker, drag performer, and arts administrator. Des is the Associate Director of Queer (Re)Public Programs at The Theater Offensive, where they create liberatory spaces for art, healing, and resource sharing for QTBIPOC community.
Their recent directing work includes: The Interrobangers (Assoc. Dir., Company One), True Colors Troupe (TTO), we and other goddexxes (C1); Sunday Swings an Old-New Gospel (Huntington); Common Ground: Revisited (Ass. Dir., Hunt.); My Body Is a A Season (SpeakEasy); and Scenes From Metamorphoses (Northeastern University). Des holds a BA in Theater and a minor in Psychology from Northeastern University.
Outside of theater, Des explores transness, villainy, and creature realness through their drag persona Desdemonic. They are a proud member of the Delusional House of Meh (don’t get it twisted - there’s nothing “meh” about us!) co-founded by Killah Croc and Gnat.
Des holds a BA in Theater and a minor in Psychology from Northeastern University. They were a 2023 cohort member of the Arts & Cultural Organization Management (ACOM) Program through The American Repertory Theater and Harvard Business School.
Think Outside the Vox closes the gap between Deaf, Blind, DeafBlind, and disabled patrons, and artists, BIPOC/AAPI/marginalized/disabled access providers, and arts organizations, which are often inaccessible. We train and facilitate hiring of Deaf, Blind DeafBlind, disabled, and marginalized professionals to develop and diversify the voices of accessibility in the arts sector. Vox collaborates with theaters, museums, cultural institutions, and arts organizations to improve accessibility practices, remove barriers, and amplify Disability Justice & Joy in these spaces. We provide arts access consulting and training that centers on disability culture for arts institutions. We aim to implement measurable change within the sector by customizing access plans equitably and sustainably.
