You are not alone: Box

Box by Lindsay Price is a middle school vignette play with flexible casting. It can be expanded for a large cast or reduced to a cast of 10 with doubling, and has excellent small scene and monologue opportunities.

Sometimes we choose the way the world sees us. Black box – indestructible. Jewelry box – plain on the outside, shiny on the inside. Sometimes our box is defined by others – our parents, our friends, our enemies. A box built by others can feel small, confined, impossible.

How do we handle the boxes imposed upon us because of our gender? Our race? From peer pressure? From parent pressure? Do we have to live with our box for the rest of our lives? Can we change?

Michelle Wilson and the fantastic drama group at Davison Middle School in Davison, Michigan were able to share “all the feels” with their performance of Box. Cast, crew and audience members were all left with the incredibly unifying message that we’re all in this together:

I have done Box several times with my 7th and 8th grade Introduction to Theater students (public school). I love the play. A fun fact is that the scene with groups A B and C always makes a parent cry–because of all the students on stage (with each other) yelling “I am alone!” It really shows how alone we feel in our culture, even though we are surrounded by people who feel alone.

TIPS: I had a grandparent of one of the students make me 6 heavy duty plywood boxes with these dimensions (2 of each):
* 2 ½ feet high, 2 ½ feet wide, 1 ½ feet deep
* 3 ½ feet high, 1 ½ feet wide, 1 ½ feet deep
* 5 ½ feet tall and 2 feet wide and deep

They are heavy, so the students have to work together to move them, but we use them all the time for improv, and have used them for many productions of Box. They are so strong, students could jump up and down on them and they wouldn’t break.

Amazing job, Davison Middle School!