The Value of a Black Box Performance Space in Schools

As communities across the country grow and expand, the facilities that they provide for the education of their youth must grow and expand to match. When building new schools or renovating current ones, those changes provide the opportunity to consider other ways to use the square footage available.

Standard classrooms will still be the primary use of the available space, but many renovations and new construction are now including the addition of a Black Box performance space to the floor plan. By allocating the space and funding to create a Black Box, the community is providing their students and citizens with an incredibly flexible space. And that flexibility allows the Black Box to serve multiple purposes, host a variety of events, and furnish teachers with the opportunity to creatively expand or enhance their teaching – creativity that has been limited by their traditional classrooms.

The specifics of a Black Box – dimensions, ceiling height, shape, seating arrangement, lighting and sound, staging, and technical infrastructure – vary as much as classrooms do between schools and districts. However, to be considered a Black Box, there are some commonalities that include black walls and ceilings, flexible seating and staging, and adjustable lighting. These aspects are what allow teachers to use the space in an unlimited number of ways to support their teaching. The only limit on what is possible is how creative the teacher wishes to be, how willing they are to consider different ways to instruct their students, and how many varied methods their material can be presented, reinforced or assessed.

So, what can you do with this oddly shaped, black painted space with moveable seating, lighting and technology?

For a traditional classroom teacher, the Black Box would provide the space and freedom of movement to expand their understanding and expressions of the lessons being taught and learned. The mathematics teacher can have students physically demonstrate solutions, graphing and word problems. The science teacher can use the extra room to expand students’ understanding of motion, momentum, resistance and energy.

Stories, plays, poems and other literature can come alive for students when they are personally involved in their presentation to their classmates and friends. Re-enactments bring important moments in history alive. With space to separate, small group discussions become easier and allow for follow-up efforts including sharing what was learned or discussed, re-alignment of group membership and physical demonstration of the concepts taught. And hands-on demonstration materials can be easily shared in small groups, reducing the setup and supplies needed. A Black Box makes possible what a classroom stuffed with chairs cannot.

During the day, the seating would allow a teacher or department head or the administration to bring groups of students or teachers or community members together easily. Class meetings can be held in the space to ensure better communication of important information.

With the staging, the Black Box could host panel discussions allowing for audience interaction when the larger auditorium would not do so. A small assembly designed for a specific group would fit perfectly in the space as well as any community meetings that often get stuffed into the library (and disrupt that space’s proper daytime use). The Black Box provides the meeting space needed during the day without disrupting the school’s educational flow.

By simply adding some or all of the staging, the humanities can have students share their work through readings of literature and poetry, small plays or full productions. Fine arts classes can use the same setup for solo or small ensemble performances, demonstrations of art techniques, dramatic readings, or individual or small group presentations in dance, public speaking, debate or forensics.

Special presentations can be made to multiple classes at the same time, presentations that may include two or more teachers presenting or demonstrating material at the same time, student work being shared with other classes or an invited guest speaker or other outside presenter. Photography teachers may not use the staging as such, but they will appreciate the ability of the Black Box to become completely dark to teach the creation of photographic art by controlling the light sources and subjects the camera can see. And the extra space allows for those light sources to move in a plethora of ways to paint different images.

Once the school day ends, the Black Box continues to be useful. The potential uses for the space by afterschool activities is unlimited as just about every group, from National Honor Society to Crochet Club, can use the space for meetings and activities.

Athletic teams in need of a space for team meetings, training instructions, or pre-game pep-talks would find the space useful and flexible enough to meet their needs. Robotics would appreciate the open space to set up their competitive field to prepare for their next event. The Dance Club would take advantage of the adjustable lighting to make their rehearsals more like the final performances. Afterschool music groups, from Jazz Ensemble to Barbershop Quartet, could rehearse in the space, adjusting their placement to take advantage of the best acoustics. The Black Box gives freedom to their expression.

All of the Black Box’s capabilities come into play during the evening. The possibilities are endless but include meetings, presentations, small audience performances (although some Black Boxes can seat up to 300) including music, drama, theater, forensics or debate, art or photography shows, school demonstrations, school board meetings and panel discussions.

The real challenge to a Black Box is scheduling the use of that space so that all who would benefit have equal access. By designing the Black Box to include flexible seating and staging, along with sufficient technology, every class or group using it can find what they need to make the most of their time in that space. Maybe you should build two!

Steffen Parker is a retired music educator, event organizer, maple sugar maker, and Information Technology specialist from Vermont who serves as the Performing Arts/Technology representative on the NFHS High School Today Publications Committee.