Tucked away between The Gym and Nostalgia: The Vintique Market on Homberg Drive is a small black building with blacked-out windows called the Black Box Theatre. The theatre is owned by the Actors Co-Op, a non-profit theatre company founded by Amy Hubbard in 1997.

Within the black walls, thought provoking and often edgy plays are performed with limited space, technology and props.

The Black Box produces a full season of theatre.

Holding a capacity of 80 patrons, the theatre is 2,000 square feet, with 1,495 square feet of stage area.

When patrons walk into the theatre, they will enter a small lobby area. The walls are painted red. Numerous awards are displayed on the wall, including Metro Pulse`s Best Theatre Group Award.

Separating the lobby and the play area is a black curtain. Once in the theatre area, there is a counter to the left with seat cushions available for viewers. There are two sets of wooden risers, built by company members, with three levels of seating. In the back left corner is a desk with the lighting switchboard. Behind the lighting desk is one of the two bathrooms.

 
"I don`t like a lot of seperation between audience and actor. I like that exchange of energy and a smaller space is relative to that." -Amy Hubbard, Executive Artistic DirectorAll the walls are lined with black curtains and there is no separation between the audience and the stage area. A small platform is in the front right corner with props on both sides. The dressing room is behind the box office in the lobby, and there is a small green room to the side in the theatre, but it only has about two feet of moving space.

Everything in the theatre is movable and can accommodate different seating configurations.

Hubbard is the executive artistic director of the company. The company started out performing in non-traditional venues such as vacant buildings in Market Square.

When she began looking for a permanent venue, size was not really an issue. "We were looking for a space that could have a dressing room and a bathroom," said Hubbard.

She started making cold calls to local realtors inquiring about available spaces. She was looking for a space that didn't have low-bearing beams in the middle of the room and could fit at least 60 people in the audience.

Hubbard said the number of seats wasn`t as important as having a layout that would not separate the audience.

"I don't like a lot of separation between audience and actor. I like that exchange of energy, and a smaller space is relative to that. Knoxville doesn't have a big theatre crowd and it`s always good to do your best to fill your house and as artistic director, it`s important to me that the work we do be intimate," she said.

"We are doing the kind og theatre no one else is doing." -Amy Hubbard, Executive Artistic Director She attended college for a brief period at UT and later decided to settle here.

 "If I was going to settle here I had to have something going on. The kind of theatre I was interested in was not being produced here, so I thought I would produce it myself," said Hubbard.

Black box theatres are usually home to plays that have very basic technical arrangements, including limited sets and lighting. The focus is on the story and writing, not the technical capabilities.

"A traditional black box theatre is an intimate theatre space. We strive to be inventive, entertaining and thought provoking. That doesn't necessarily mean edgy, but a lot of the time it does. We don`t shy away from adult content, but we don't seek to produce for the shock value or the gratuitous nature of adult content," explained Hubbard.

The actors for the theatre consist of members from UT theatre, Tennessee Stage Company and thirteen high school students.

Now in its eleventh season at the Black Box Theatre, the co-op is looking to transition to a larger space with more opportunities. Hubbard would like to find a space that offers better lighting, more storage space and to potentially have their office, which is currently located in Homberg Square, in the same building.

Hubbard believes what attracts many to the Black Box Theatre is that "we are doing the kind of theatre no one else is doing."