A youth theatre lab that focuses on unleashing the most authentic storytelling imaginable while simultaneously nurturing the capacity to be authentically human.
About Us.
A nonprofit arts and education organization in Salt Lake City, Utah, focused on theater education.
In the Theatre, we use stories as a way to travel the distance between the experiences and circumstances of individuals with vastly different identities across time. This LAB is about learning to travel that distance as both performers and human beings.
As an arts and education organization, BLK BOX Lab focuses on the development of artistic excellence in performance and performance education through the integrated use of social and emotional learning models, social justice pedagogy, and current research in neuro and behavioral sciences to create a generative model that is constantly questioning the human condition while making art that represents it.
What we do.
Youth Theatre Conservatory
BLK BOX Lab creates Youth Theatre that views young artists and youth audiences as capable of tackling timely and age appropriate issues through theatre. We expect the youth to challenge each other, challenge us, and challenge their audiences while working together to create excellent works of art that are innovative because of the diversity, texture, and complexity the performers embody.
Educator Training
Educators are invited to observe any rehearsal and each production will have a corresponding education packet available. We train educators to look for markers that indicate students are maximizing the full benefits of engagement, and we will provide paradigms and strategies for them to use with their own students. Educator LABS allow for intensive training and collaboration. The LAB provides a liminal space to practice performance techniques that will activate this fully connected state of being and allow for the most authentic type of storytelling.
Targeted Projects
We are building a roster of artists, educators and researchers who are specialists in their field and can build targeted curriculum and intervention strategies in partnership with a wide range of organizations and populations who might benefit from using theatrical strategies.
IDEA
Inclusion, Diversity, Education, and Access
We believe that the stories we tell should encompass the human experience, and so we intend to constantly consider diversity, inclusion and equitable access as a practice at all levels of our organization until it becomes part of the natural way we think about and create stories. We believe this effort involves intense reflection and education and recognize that we will have to actively reflect and rework our process.
Land and Story Acknowledgment
BLK BOX LAB operates on the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute, and Ute Tribes. Historically, the policies and practices that forced tribal members from their native land, also led to the banishment of their histories and altered stories in progress.
We acknowledge the interruption and erasure of these stories and the collective harm that comes from privileging a limited range of stories while excluding others. Beyond tribal injury, we recognize that BIPOC individuals have a relationship to whiteness that has resulted in a loss of freedom, agency, and dignity. Contemporary relationships with indigenous communities are still strained and it’s imperative to restore the stories of these losses, alongside the stories of celebration, resilience and community in order to build a more inclusive and healthy future. We believe in the power of stories to connect and heal individuals and communities and commit to use artistic methods that expand the storytelling tradition by including diverse human experiences and ways of expressing those experiences.
BLK BOX LAB is registered with the State of Utah to accept charitable donations, and has been recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)3 non-profit charitable organization. Make a contribution today. Thank you!