For most people, the thought of awards season brings to mind the glitz and glam of beautiful gowns, red carpets and gold statues.

But for the Black Box Players, a Syracuse University theater production company, those gold statues come in the form of a simple black box. The boxes are marked with gold Sharpie marker and are awarded at the end of each year to honor the hard work of those involved with the student-run company, which wrapped up its 25th anniversary with a production of ‘Autobahn’ on April 9.

‘It’s funny, it’s fun, it’s a celebration of the year we just had, and it’s our board recognizing good work,’ said Brooke Feldman, a senior stage management major and media relations representative for the Black Box Players. ‘We try to have fun with it because what we do is still work, and we’re always proud of our work.’

The Black Box Players, a not-for-profit theatrical student organization open to all SU students, started in 1986 and has since dedicated itself to operating like a professional theatrical production company.

Putting on anywhere from two to six shows a semester, the group has an executive board of 15 people, 30 regularly involved members and a membership of up to 150 people throughout a single season. Each academic year, shows are produced, managed, directed, designed and performed entirely by students.

‘I think it’s an invaluable skill that any person interested in theater or producing theater can gain from actually doing it,’ said Devon Ritchie, president of the Black Box Players and a senior costume design major. ‘You can sit in a classroom and hear how to do everything, but until you actually implement it, it only soaks in so far.’

The organization is funded by SU’s Student Association and supported by the Department of Drama in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Every production is performed at Syracuse Stage’s Black Box Theater, which seats 60 people. The small space, however, has not limited the range and creativity of the players.

‘The Black Box Theater is so intimate that the possibilities of doing any type of production are there,’ Feldman said.

Feldman recalls one performance of an hourlong adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet.’ Only a curtain was used as a backdrop, and the entire budget went into the costumes.

‘You can put on such great theater with minimalistic capabilities. Sometimes the best stuff is done through the little things done to bring out that vision and the characters themselves,’ Feldman said.

Creating these theatrical experiences takes careful planning one season in advance. The process begins with directors who come to the board with ideas and concepts for a show. After the board reviews each proposal, it decides which productions work best based on a set of criteria.

‘We weigh what it will do for the students watching the shows educationally; and also for people involved, ones that are challenging for them artistically,’ Ritchie said.

Feldman said the board members also work to find a way of developing an idea and delivering the original vision of the proposal the best they can.

From there, directors get in touch with designers and start the creative process of casting, costume design, set design and promotion. Two shows for next semester have already been chosen and are in the planning stages. The next important step for the group is publicizing the performances to the entire student body. 

Feldman said the organization is working on putting together a street team that would be solely responsible for promoting the Black Box Players throughout campus, which Feldman said is separated from Syracuse Stage.

‘No one really knows us by name, and people don’t realize that if you just take a 10-minute walk down the hill, there is so much theater with the Black Box and beyond,’ Feldman said.

Ritchie said it is a goal of the company to incorporate a wider variety of students and talents. Because Black Box Players is a production company, the need for public relations, marketing, entrepreneurship and design are all skills that can be strengthened through working with the group.

‘Theater is constantly changing in terms of dealing with different personalities and interesting, wild concepts,’ Feldman said. ‘If you can do this, you can take on the world.’

dmodiama@syr.edu

Published on April 19, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Danielle: dmodiama@syr.edu | @daniemarieodie