Kareem M. Lucas Presents Solo Show 'Black Is Beautiful, But It Ain't Always Pretty' at JACK

In this solo show, Kareem M. Lucas reanimates the memory of a never-ending NYC night - a wild roller coaster ride through alcohol, drugs, sex, joy, loss, and self-discovery. He weaves together his past and present to interrogate our desperate need for significance, in life and after death, and mythologizes the everyday experience of a common Black man in America. Directed by Zoey Martinson, with music composed and performed by Emily Gardner Xu Hall, Black Is Beautiful, But It Ain't Always Pretty is an epic poem about fulfilling one's purpose-if there is any-before time runs out. The clock is ticking.

Written & Performed by Kareem M. Lucas
Directed by Zoey Martinson
Original Music Composed & Performed by Emily Gardner Xu Hall
Movement by Brendan Spieth
Lighting Design by Derek Van Heel
Sound Design by Avi A. Amon

DATES/TIMES:
Thursday December 13th at 8pm
Friday December 14th at 8pm
Saturday December 15th at 8pm

TICKETS: $18 in advance (www.jackny.org or 866-811-4111) or cash only at the door

LOCATION: JACK | 505 ½ Waverly Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238 | C or G train to Clinton-Washington

Kareem M. Lucas is a Brooklyn-born and Harlem-based actor/writer/producer/director. His solo pieces include The Maturation of an Inconvenient Negro, From Brooklyn With Love, RATED BLACK, A Boy & His Bow, and Black Is Beautiful, But It Ain't Always Pretty. He is a co-collaborator on The Black History Museum..., as a writer/performer as apart of the HERE Arts Residency Program. He is also in residence in The Public Theater's Devised Theater Working Group, which included showings of his solo work in the 2018 Under The Radar Festival. MFA: NYU Graduate Acting Program. For more info visit www.KareemMLucas.com or his Instagram @KareemMLucas

Zoey Martinson (Director) is a director, producer, and co-Artistic Director of Smoke & Mirrors Collaborative. Her play Olityelwe won the Overall Excellence Award for Best Play in the New York City Fringe Festival and subsequently toured in South Africa and Scotland's Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Martinson co-created and directed Skype Duet, which won the 100 Grand award at the HAU2 Theater in Berlin, and directed the world premiere of Jeremy Kamps' Gutting at the National Black Theater in Harlem. In 2015, she produced and directed an Arts Mission for the U.S. Consul General to South Africa's informal settlements, creating original work with adults and children in Durban, Johannesburg, and Soweto. Martinson holds an MFA from NYU. She is currently a 2016/17 Directing Fellow at Manhattan Theater Club, 2016/17 Dramatist Guild Playwriting Fellow, and formerly a 2013/14 Artistic Mentor Fellowship at Lincoln Center.

Emily Gardner Xu Hall (Music) is an actor, composer-lyricist and writer. She was born in Tokyo and grew up in London. She moved to New York to get her MFA in Acting from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and lives in New York. Musicals in development: Untitled Cherry Orchard Musical (book/music/lyrics), Cymbeline Project (music/lyrics), I Am This For You (book/music/lyrics). Member, BMI Musical Theatre Writing Workshop. Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project, New Dramatists Composer-Librettist Studio, Catwalk residency. 2018 Rising Circle Theatre Collective INKtank playwright. Composer for theatre: BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL BUT IT AIN'T ALWAYS PRETTY, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, JULIUS CAESAR, CYMBELINE, EURYDICE, AS YOU LIKE IT directed by Louis Scheeder and Daniel Spector, GREY LADY at Signature Theatre. Writes and performs her original songs in NYC. Commission for organ and choir: St. Paul's Cathedral, London. Composer for film: SUMMER.

JACK's presenting season is made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts - Art Works program, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, New Music USA's NYC New Music Impact Fund (made possible with funding from The Scherman Foundation's Katharine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund), Brooklyn Arts Council, The DuBose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund, the Harkness Foundation for Dance, the Mental Insight Foundation, The Santvoord Foundation, The Laura B. Vogler Foundation, The Lida Foundation and M & T Charitable Foundation.

2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats

Best Book of a Musical - Top 3

1. David Hornsby, Chris Hoch, David Hornsby, Chris Hoch - The Lost Boys

29% of votes

2. Cinco Paul - Schmigadoon!

23.7% of votes

3. Jim Barne, Kit Buchan - Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

23.4% of votes

Vote Now! View Live Stats