How We Work
We only create new plays from scratch, so how we make is as important to us as what we make.
Leadership
What defines us as a true ensemble is that we come together as a collection of individuals to create a unified voice. A unified voice means there is no sole decision-maker — the decisions are an organic extension of the group as a whole. Our leadership team is there to provide the framework and structure for the process that enables the ensemble to build and create as one.
Creation
We build our work using exercises designed to create without edit, resulting in spontaneous, honest creativity. These include free writing to inspire text and story, improvising on musical themes, viewing images to provoke evocative movement, and creating stream-of-consciousness text.
(All of our creation rehearsals are open to visitors, so if you are interested, send us a note and we can set something up.)
How We Work
Performance
From countless compositions built, we keep only what best tells the story. Whatever doesn’t fit falls away almost naturally. What’s left is something completely unique to the artists who built it.
We’ve been making new plays this way for over 15 years, but we’re never afraid to try new things or explore new methods. Our work changes and evolves, but at the heart, we combine long-term planning with intense, in-the-moment creation to make something none of us could have imagined alone. That is why we love ensemble theatre.
Production History
2005
Victoria in Red
aphasiatica:duet
2006
Koogoomanooki
Zelda:Wonderland
2007
What Remains
War with the Newts
2008
The Horse, The Bird, The Monkey & The Dancer
2009
June of Arc
.faust
2010
Unspeakable Things
2011
FARGO
The Mad Trapper of Rat River
2012
Beatnik Giselle
2013
Suitcase
This Is A World To Live In
2014
Marie-Jean Valet, Who Defeated La Bete du Gevaudan
Killer Inside
2015
War with the Newts
The Little Pilot
2016
Queens
600 Years
2017
Big Money
In The Treetops
2018
Houdini
Words Do Move
2019
The Golden Record Project
Bone Mother
2022
Light My Way
The Swingset
The Swingset is the aerial wing of Sandbox conceived and developed by Evelyn Digirolamo. Aerial theatre radically opens up the vertical space of the stage, creating the opportunity for a performer’s physical vocabulary to expand in new and imaginative ways.
Play has always been the heart of Sandbox’s work — The Swingset is one more way we’re exploring new languages for storytelling, and bringing with it a sense of joyful theatricality and wonder.
The Swingset’s Learning Series is on hold until 2022. If you’d like to know more, or have questions on aerial training, you can email Evelyn at evie@sandboxmn.org.
