Touring play 'Black Boys Cry' returns to Chicago with focus on mental health

Touring play highlights mental health

The play title grabs your attention-- "Black Boys Cry." And if you're already saying, "well, this wasn't written for me." The director says you're right. It wasn't.  But he also says anyone, no matter race or how you identify, can get something from it.

CHICAGO - Matthew Newsome did not expect a stage role to follow him home. He plays a character named Magic in Black Boys Cry, and he said the work forced him to notice how often he brushed past stress instead of dealing with it. That realization did not feel dramatic. It felt familiar, like something he had been postponing for years.

That experience runs through Black Boys Cry, a touring stage production returning to Chicago.

What we know:

The show follows seven Black men and focuses on identity, family pressure, self-worth, and the emotional weight many men learn to carry quietly. The characters are fictional. The situations show up in real households every day. The timing is not subtle.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports suicide rates among non-Hispanic Black Americans increased by more than 25 percent between 2018 and 2023. The CDC also says suicide is now a leading cause of death for teenagers ages 15 to 19 in the United States.

For Black boys, the risk is sharper. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health reports the suicide death rate for Black males ages 15 to 19 was 14.8 per 100,000 in 2022. Federal youth risk data shows more than 10 percent of Black high school students reported attempting suicide in 2023.

Care has not kept pace with need. According to HHS, only about one in four Black adults who need mental health treatment actually receive it, compared with nearly one in three adults overall. Cost, limited access to providers, and stigma continue to block care. The system does not fail loudly. It fails quietly, and people live with the consequences.

Actors in Black Boys Cry say the work pushed conversations they were not having before. Taylor Getwood, who plays Ronnie, said the show made him lean on people instead of carrying everything alone, even when he looked put together and fine on the outside.

What's next:

The production toured the country in earlier years and now begins its current national run in Chicago before heading to other cities.

Black Boys Cry runs Saturday, January 10, at 8 p.m. at Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. Ticket information and show details are available HERE.

If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available at any time by calling or texting 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.