651 ARTS is moving deeper into its Fall/Winter 2025 season with the workshop premiere of Little Black Book, the first stage play from award-winning Brooklyn poet and playwright Najee Omar. The two-night presentation, set for Dec. 5 and 6, marks a major moment for both the institution’s new permanent home in Downtown Brooklyn and Omar’s return to the community that shaped his voice.
Little Black Book is a bold, multidisciplinary work rooted in the Black queer experience, blending theater, poetry, music, movement and live DJ mixes. The piece follows a Brooklyn poet newly embracing his queerness as he revisits the relationships and encounters that shaped him, ultimately finding that self-love is the foundation for every other kind of love.
Drawn from conversations with Black queer men across generations, the play builds a living archive of desire, heartbreak, joy, and revelation. It highlights Black queer intimacy beyond the frame of trauma and centers the humanity, softness and complexity of Black men.
The production reflects the creative pulse of Brooklyn itself, its neighborhoods, its rhythms and the artists who continue to expand the borough’s cultural canon. Echoing the influence of works by Ntozake Shange and Essex Hemphill while forging its own path, Little Black Book stands as both a personal offering and a testament to Black queer storytelling.
“As a Black queer man who came out in my late twenties, I rarely saw myself reflected on stage in ways that felt whole," Omar said. "When we did appear, it was often through trauma. I created Little Black Book to reclaim our narratives and honor our wholeness. Too often, stories about Black queer men center on pain or performance, but I wanted to make something that celebrates our softness, our love, and our ability to heal out loud.”
The production is directed by Kelly GreenLight Thomas and features a dynamic ensemble: Antonyio Artis, Colin Carswell, Jeroboam Bozeman, Jonathan Burke, Kevin Tate and Puma Saint Omar. Each show will be followed by a community talkback with the creative team.
Performances
Najee Omar’s Little Black Book
Friday, Dec. 5 & Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025
Doors 7:00 PM. Showtime 7:30PM, 10 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn
Tickets: $25
