HISTORY OF MR. JOY

Mr. Joy was originally produced by ArtsEmerson in the Emerson Paramount Center in October of 2015. The play’s themes of ‘transforming pain into power’ – a signature concept of playwright Daniel Beaty – strongly resonated with Boston audiences both through sold-out performances and provocative post-show conversations. The experience of the play became a catalyst to begin important discussions on race, class and community, and ArtsEmerson felt an urgency to continue them by touring the production as part its ongoing commitment to help transform Boston's reputation, and reality, around race.

April 2017 marked the first iteration of the Mr. Joy: The Neighborhood Tour and ArtsEmerson joined forces with the Mayor’s Office of Resilience and Racial Equity in the Boston neighborhoods of Hyde Park (in partnership with Riverside Theatre Works), Allston (in partnership with the BCYF Jackson/Mann Community Center), East Boston (in partnership with ZUMIX), and culminated at Dorchester's historic Strand theatre (in partnership with The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative and Fairmount Cultural Corridor) with an official proclamation of April 20, 2017 being Daniel Beaty Day in the City of Boston.

For this, its second iteration, Mr. Joy will again tour to four communities as a prompt for new audiences to engage with its themes and each other.