Black Box

Writer-director Stephen Cone follows up his critically acclaimed 2011 feature debut The Wise Kids (Reeling’s Opening Night selection that year) with a fascinating treatise on the seductive, intimate power inherent in the play rehearsal process that unfolds within the “black box” of the undressed stage. Placed in the position of choosing her own first project as a graduate student in theatre directing, Holly Pollard opts to not tackle a play at all, but a book - namely, a cult young adult horror novel entitled The Reaper’s Children, a book she claims meant the world to her in her adolescence. As rehearsals begin, Holly faces growing skepticism among her ensemble of fresh-faced young undergraduates - the conservative Catholic Madeline, newly out Adam, 28-year-old and married Eddie, and British misfit Terra - none of whom are quite sure how to tackle such an outrageous story. The arrival of the author, a meek and awkward man, further provokes them into dark emotional territory and behaviors, and into the discovery that even the lowest and crudest forms of art come from the deepest chambers of our psyche. Cone draws astonishingly complex performances from his cast, which includes an extraordinary turn by legendary character actor Austin Pendelton as the author.

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