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Black Box play needed

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Topic: Black Box play needed

Posted By: Christine
Subject: Black Box play needed
Date Posted: 9/26/05 at 10:37am

I would like some suggestions for scripts that adhere to the following stipulations:

1 - 5 characters max

2 - no set (no flats, but can use furniture and other easily tranported pieces)

3 - can be rehearsed off-site and brought into theatre space one week before opening

I would appreciate any suggestions for comedies, dramas etc, but no musicals, please.

Thanks!

Replies:

Posted By: dougb
Date Posted: 9/26/05 at 11:24am

Here are some shows I have done in non theatrical venues:
The Guys
The Gin Game
The Cemetary Club
Visiting Mr. Green
Valley Song
The Vagina Monologues
Three Viewings

Any number of Radio Shows

Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 9/26/05 at 12:59pm

If you have an 'advanced' audience, check out the original Cafe
le Mama production of "Alice in Wonderland" - it's amazing -
and one of the ol' original black box plays!

I have seen it performed on tour with amazing set 'pieces' - but
no flats

And the script is beautiful - and literate - and challenging.

It's not for the easily intimidated - it's rough going sometimes! -
but oh-so-rewarding!

Um - this ain't your grandma's "Alice in Wonderland" LOL

Posted By: Shatcher
Date Posted: 9/26/05 at 5:16pm

I like Reckless, The House of Blue Leaves, and A Walk in the Woods

Posted By: LisaJ
Date Posted: 9/26/05 at 5:45pm

We just did Dearly Departed with VERY minimal sets, and it was great!! I was apprehensive at first, but an extensive set just wasn't necessary for that script!!

Posted By: Giabow
Date Posted: 9/26/05 at 7:35pm

Eleemosynary
Vital Signs

There's a bunch of David Ives that can easily be done with minimal set:
The Philidelphia, English Made Simple, All in the Timing, Variations on the
Death of Trotsky to name a few.

Posted By: DWolfman
Date Posted: 9/27/05 at 11:21am

We just finished "ART" in a black box setting. Later this year we plan to do "VANITIES" as well. With a few set pieces "T-BONE AND WEASEL" can also be done.

-------------
Even a man who is pure of heart...

Posted By: Shatcher
Date Posted: 9/27/05 at 1:26pm

Let me just add that with a little creative thinking almost any show can be done in a black box. We had a space like this in college and did everything from A Midsummers nights dream to Little shop of Horrors in there. grant it you do need to do a little creative staging but nothing in theatre is imposible...well almost nothing

Posted By: Juliet
Date Posted: 9/27/05 at 9:42pm

what exactly is the definition of black box theater?

Posted By: tashamay
Date Posted: 9/28/05 at 3:02am

Originally posted by Giabow

Eleemosynary
Vital Signs

There's a bunch of David Ives that can easily be done with minimal set:
The Philidelphia, English Made Simple, All in the Timing, Variations on the
Death of Trotsky to name a few.

I totally agree! We have a very small theater space at our Community Center which we've used for a number of David Ives productions and they've always gone over reeeeally well. We are avid Ives supporters.

Sure Thing and Words Words Words and Time Flies are also really great. Minimal set pieces needed on all of them.

Posted By: Shatcher
Date Posted: 9/28/05 at 11:55am

A black box theatre is just what it sounds like. Pretty much it is a large empty black room. seating and staging are portable so you can set up the space any way you like. This is my faveroite type of theatre to work in because there are no limits to what you can do.

Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 9/28/05 at 2:02pm

The black-box theatre is a relatively recent innovation,
consisting of a simple, somewhat unadorned performance
space, usually a large square room with black walls and a flat
floor. Such spaces are easily built and maintained, and are
usually home to plays or other performances with very basic
technical arrangements-- limited sets, simple lighting effects,
and an intimate focus on the story, writing, and performances
rather than technical elements. The seating is typically loose
chairs on platforms, which can be easily moved or removed to
allow the entire space to be adapted to the artistic elements of
a production. Common floorplans include thrust, modified
thrust, and arena.

The black-box theatre is especially favored by colleges and
other theatre training programs because the space is versatile
and easy to change. Many theatre training programs will have
both a large proscenium theatre, as well as a black-box theatre.
Not only does this allow for two productions to be mounted
simultaneously, but they can also have a large extravagant
production in the mainstage while having a small experimental
show in the black box.

Most older black boxes were built more like television studios,
with a low pipe grid overhead. Newer black boxes typically
feature catwalks or tension grids. The latter providing the
flexibility of the pipe grid with the accessibility of a catwalk.

Black-box theatres became popular and wide spread
particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, during which low cost
experimental theatre was being actively practiced as never
before. Since almost any warehouse or open space in any
building can be transformed into a black-box (including
abandoned caf?s and stores), the appeal for nonprofit and low
income artists is high. The black-box is also considered by
many to be a place where more "pure" theatre can be explored,
with the most human and least technical elements being in
focus.

Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 9/28/05 at 2:03pm

shatcher - LOL- sorry - I didn't read your answer before
responding to juliet's question.
you said it so much more succinctly.
LOL

Posted By: ljstockham813
Date Posted: 9/28/05 at 5:07pm

Title: Divorce Sale

Logline: A group of neighbors hold a s?ance to contact the deceased husband of a ditsy mother-in-law.

Genre: Contemporary comedy. (Ideal for community theatre and dinner theatre venues.)

Set: 1, double-car garage.

Characters: 7 female, 3 male. (1 female and 1 male are cameo roles.)

Running Length: 90 minutes.

Staging: Black box or theatre in the round.

Production History: 3 stage productions (Honiara, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands; Dalby, Queensland, Australia; and New York City, New York), and 2 staged-readings (San Bernardino, California). Play is also in circulation through the California branches of the American Association of University Women.

Is available online at: http://www.singlelane.com/proplay/divorcesale.html

Posted By: Shatcher
Date Posted: 9/29/05 at 11:46am

shatcher - LOL- sorry - I didn't read your answer before
responding to juliet's question.
you said it so much more succinctly.
LOL

Hey no problem! Although some modern black boxes are getting pretty advanced on the tech side. Next time you are in Chicago check out the theatre on Navy Peir, (they house Chicago shspr) They have a great 3/4 thrust and some on the best theatre rigging and lighting I have ever seen in that town.

Posted By: pauliebonn
Date Posted: 10/05/05 at 1:01am

2 plays come immediately to mind....

Waiting for Godot and American Hurrah

Posted By: teridtiger
Date Posted: 10/24/05 at 12:02pm

I posted this on another subject page, but "Vanities" by Jack Heifner would work perfectly.

If you're looking at "Vital Signs", read "Talking With..." (both by Jane Martin).

My theatre is producing "Prelude to a Kiss" (Craig Lucas) black-box style.

Posted By: ljstockham813
Date Posted: 10/24/05 at 9:24pm

Perfect play for black box ... or bare stage with scrims and minimum props:

Title: Divorce Sale

Logline: A group of neighbors hold a s?ance to contact the deceased husband of a ditsy mother-in-law.

Genre: Contemporary comedy. (Ideal for community theatre and dinner theatre venues.)

Set: 1, double-car garage.

Characters: 7 female, 3 male. (2 are cameo roles.)

Running Length: 90 minutes.

Available online at but you might contact the playwright at mailto:artemis1940@hotmail.com - artemis1940@hotmail.com for a copy via emai attachment.

Online at: http://www.singlelane.com/proplay/divorcesale.html

-------------
Linda Stockham
Playwright/Cultural Anthropologist