An epic escape to freedom with magic
In collaboration between Andy Jordan Productions and Hindsight Productions.
Written & Directed by Rickerby Hinds.
Adapted from Henry Brown’s memoir.
SYNOPSIS
A play disguised as a magic show where history and illusion intertwine. Enslaved in America, Henry ‘Box’ Brown conjures his life and reenacts his daring 1849 escape when he shipped himself to freedom inside a wooden crate. Each illusion mirrors a chapter of his journey: love, loss, confinement, faith and defiance.
Gospel-infused soundscapes and stagecraft transform the theatre into a site of both sanctuary and reckoning. As boxes appear, vanish and break apart, Henry’s story becomes more than spectacle – it becomes testimony, inviting audiences to witness liberation not as legend but as lived and embodied resistance.
“Theater and magic coalesce in Blackbox to deliver one of a kind,
a memorable human and theatrical experience that suspends disbelief
with amazing acting and magic while encouraging the audience
to think and reflect on the deep content.”
– Esther Gatica, The Voice
TEAM CREDITS
Writer and Director – Rickerby Hinds
Blackbox is adapted by Rickerby Hinds, professor of playwriting in UCR’s Department of Theatre, Film, and Digital Production. Hinds was one of the pioneers of American hip-hop theater in the late 1980s, using the founding elements of hip hop as the primary language of the stage. Hinds’ plays have inspired generations of young playwrights to speak to the world in the language of hip hop. In addition to his mission to open up the stage to a diversity of voices and experiences, his plays have the unique ability to challenge conventional notions of the stage while remaining respectful of its long history and traditions. Blackbox is a significant addition to the canon of plays about contemporary black experience.
Andy Jordan Productions 