Black Box Theatre

A theater designed to be as flexible as possible. Black boxes typically are square in shape. They have portable seats so the playing area can be relocated anywhere in the room. Black boxes can be used for the standard theater seating styles (arena, thrust, and proscenium). Other unusual seating styles are possible, such as "Alley" where the audience sits on north and south sides while the action runs east to west down the middle or corner stage configurations where the audience sits on the north and west walls while the stage is in the south east corner. The lighting and many of the technical aspects of production in a Black Box Theater are exposed to the audience view... hanging directly over their heads. The entire theater is typically painted black so that the exposed elements do not distract.

Designing for a Black Box Theatre can be especially challenging and extremely fun at the same time. The massive amount of possibilities and things that you can do in such a space makes for the challenge.