Black Box

Overview

September, 2002. A dancer visits her late husband’s station, sparking an affair. A 9/11 fireman hides from his wife and himself. His son struggles alone, caught between an army recruiter and an uncle obsessed with the missing black boxes. Originally written for the 2021 Philadelphia Fringe Festival, this play was adapted for the screen and shot in Philly and NYC on and around the 20th anniversary of the attacks after citywide mandates ruled out participation in the festival.

About the Artist

YBC is an independent production company committed to producing artistically daring, thematically challenging work at the interface of theater and film. Its flagship space, the Yellow Bicycle Theater, opened this summer in the heart of Philadelphia.

Designed and built by a conservative writer/director, theater critic, translator, and former Marine in response to pandemic-era polarization and censorship, the theater serves as an affordable space where artists across the ideological spectrum can develop and present their work and engage in productive debate. The cornerstone of this effort to bridge the divide is the Wednesday Workshop, where actors write, writers act, and directors do both. The results will be shown at the upcoming "Dialogue" festival.

Another key aspect of YBC's mission is to expose moviegoers to work outside the commercial mainstream. Indie Mondays offer local filmmakers an opportunity to screen their movies for a split of the box office rather than a flat fee, while Arthouse Tuesdays present foreign and experimental films from the Criterion Collection, followed by informal discussions.

Finally, YBC aims to bridge a second divide: the liminal space between theater and film. As technology advances and live audiences shrink, the future of in-person entertainment may well lie in intimate productions combining the ritual, communal experience of a lived text with the visual richness and montage effect of film. YBC founder Joshua Crone's experiments in this area range from plays, such as the award-winning Washed in the Blood, which rely heavily on interactive video, to screen adaptations, such as Black Box, which attempt to translate theatrical conventions into the language of film. A "Stage and Screen" festival dedicated to this largely uncharted territory is coming soon.

Local artists interested in joining the workshop, submitting a film, or auditioning for future roles please email josh@yellowbicycle.com.

Credits