The Theater Offensive has launched a $20 million campaign to build the Boylston Black Box. TTO began the quiet phase of the capital campaign in early 2021 and has now raised $11.5M toward our updated $20M goal. Our campaign success to date is thanks in part to major gifts from two high-profile national donors. MacKenzie Scott’s 2021 gift of $3M was, at the time, the largest single gift in TTO’s history. In June 2022, the Mellon Foundation invited a proposal for $5M - $3M in programmatic/operating funds from the Arts and Culture program and $2M in capital funds from the Humanities in Place program. This gift is one of only two gifts of $5M or more that Mellon has ever invested in Eastern Massachusetts, and the first in 20 years. 

In early 2019, Scape North America, in conjunction with then-Mayor Marty Walsh’s office, offered TTO the opportunity to make the dream of a permanent home a reality by offering space in their new development at 1252-1270 Boylston Street.

Anticipated to open in 2024, it will be the largest theater in the world owned and operated by QTPOC for all LGBTQ people, their allies, families and friends.

This major capital project, TTO’s first, will establish a creative hub for thought-provoking programs — a permanent home for queer and trans artists and youth who have long sought a place to truly belong in the center of Boston, including:

  • Family, educational and youth-centered artistic and leadership programs

  • Community-led artistic experiences

  • People-powered civic engagements 

The Boylston Black Box will include…

  • Over 13,000 square feet of total space

  • 150-seat Black Box Theater

  • Flexible multipurpose spaces for rehearsal, workshops, educational programming, and community gathering

  • Dedicated administrative space for TTO’s growing team

  • Welcoming lobby and transitional spaces activated by QTPOC visual art exhibitions

 
 

The TTO programming you love will thrive in this permanent, purpose-built home celebrating queer and trans people of color. The venue will honor the site’s historical importance to the Boston LGBTQ community, providing much needed space and resources at a subsidized rental rate to historically marginalized communities seeking affordable facilities for their programs and services.