The Black Box Theatre was built as a home for The No Strings Theatre Company in 2000.  Construction began on February 9, 2000. Rather than having a ground breaking, we had a string cutting where local friends of the theatre came, tied strings to the chain link fence surrounding the building site on the Downtown Mall and then ceremoniously cut them.  Out of town friends sent strings from as far away as Sweden to be cut as part of the ceremony.   After many delays, the theatre opened with its first production, Edward Albee's Seascape on September 15, 2000.  Below are some pictures of the birth of the theatre.

The String Cutting
Left: Ceil Herman welcoming the guests. 
Right: Ceil cutting the Swedish ribbon sent by the lab where she sabbaticaled in 1995

Early Construction 
Left: Ceil posing by the ditch witch excavator used to trench the footings and plumbing trenches 

Early Walls
Left: The Styrofoam Reward Wall System block forms being  set in place
Right: Filling the forms with concrete

Partially Done!
The Roof parapet being framed in

Early Interior Work
 Installing sheet rock on the wall between the theatre and the lobby. Pictured from the theatre side.

Scratch Coat Stucco
Left: The parking lot (east) side of the building 
Right: The Downtown Mall (west) side of the building

Early Rehearsals 
Seascape started rehearsing even before the building was complete.  While there were lights, there was little finish work and no air conditioning!  Pictured here are L to R: Deb Brunson (Costume Designer). and Ceil Herman (Director) (standing), Garrick Garcia (Leslie) and Daniella Vestal (Sarah) (crawling) checking out the ability of the lizards to be able to move effectively in their partially completed costumes.