Black Box is a 2013 drama film written and directed by Stephen Cone and starring Josephine Decker and Austin Pendleton.
She forsakes her advisor's direction to do a standard play for her first production opting instead to adapt a 1980s young adult novel called The Children's Reaper for the stage.
They have myriad reactions to the way the material and the rehearsals affect their real lives including their sexuality and personal interactions.
Eventually, during a drunken post-rehearsal party, Madeline asks Terra to make out with her while, elsewhere in the building, Adam and Brandon hook up and, within the next few days, seem to begin a relationship.
Eventually it is obvious that the source material is autobiographical and seeing it performed is causing Peters great mental anguish.
"[4] Paul Bower of the online magazine Tiny Mix Tapes further lauded the film, saying "Preparing a play, rehearsing and fleshing out the writing, forces its participants to get super vulnerable (if it's done right, anyway) and face things about themselves in front of a group of other people that can cause all sorts of embarrassment if done in a hostile environment.
"[5] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 3½ out of 4 stars, calling it "a worthy follow-up to Cone's previous film" and adding, "I hope Cone keeps writing and making movies because he has what a lot of other writer-directors do not: an interest in character; a facility for drawing fine, subdued on-camera work from stage performers; and a knack for pulling together a variety of sympathetic characters at a crucial point in their collective lives.