Always a Boy
JJ is the Director of Always A Boy by Jo Ivestor. The play, based on her award-winning book, follows a Joshua throughout his journey to himself as a transgender man. This show is currently in development.
Playbill Pride
JJ directed Breaking the Binary Theatre’s Spotlight On: TNB2S+ Songwriters at Playbill Pride in Times Square. Featured performers included Heath Saunders, Jaime Jarret, Murphy Taylor and Emerson Mae Smith, Truth Future Bachman, Nora Schell, Samy Nour Younes Figaredo, and hosted by Marti Gould Cummings.
Wonder Boy
JJ directed Wonder Boy by Jacob Jarrett (Musical Theatre Factory)
About the show: Wonder Boy tells the story of Jackson, a young man navigating his identity as a transgender man and as a superhero. When Jackson's super genius twin sister creates a mysterious super drug, Jackson steals it, consumes it, and transforms into Wonder Boy. He becomes his college campus's superhero, and saves the day ("but in a feminist way"). However as he takes on his new responsibility, he soon learns that his new powers may be destroying the life he planned for himself. Through an imaginative pop rock score and libretto, Wonder Boy explores vulnerability, masculinity, and the connections we make to survive the dissonance we all feel between our bodies and brains.
Power Strip
JJ is the Assistant Director to Tyne Rafaeli for Power Strip by Sylvia Khoury. Power Strip is played at the Claire Tow Theater at Lincoln Center.
About the show: In Power Strip, Yasmin, a young Syrian refugee (Dina Shihabi), spends her days tethered to an electric power strip in a Greek refugee camp. Once a middle-class student in Aleppo whose life was dictated by the expectations of men, her sheltered existence has been shattered by a brutal civil war. In the war-torn world of the refugee camp, Yasmin finds that she must betray everything she once knew and valued in order to survive.
Usual Girls
JJ was the Assistant Director to Tyne Rafaeli for Usual Girls by Ming Peiffer. Usual Girls played at the Roundabout Theater Underground and received a Critic’s Pick from the New York Times.
About the show: How do girls grow up? Quickly, painfully, wondrously. On an elementary school playground, a boy threatens to tell on the girls for swearing—unless one of them kisses him. But just before lips can touch, Kyeoung tackles the boy to the ground. The victory is short-lived. Over the coming years, Kyeoung’s stories get stranger, funnier, more harrowing—and more familiar. This hilarious, explicit gut-punch of a play bursts with playwright Ming Peiffer’s bold, explosive voice.
Goldilocks
JJ directed Goldilocks: A Drag Musical by Erin Reifler at the Hudson Guild Theater.
About the show: An unconventional twist on the children's tale, Goldilocks follows the relationship between Paul and Lisa, a young couple with an unexpected pregnancy. As Paul tries to figure out who he is, he stumbles into the drag scene and becomes Goldilocks, a drag queen performing with his “three bears.” The relationship is tested as Paul explores his new passion.