Take a look at our history...
The beginning of everything
We found an old warehouse in the centre of Ljubljana that was in a very unattractive state.
With a group of friends and the guidance and design of Slovenian architect Luka Florjanec, we started renovating the small warehouse that used to be an iron workshop.
The first thing we did, which the Rolling Stones would have approved of, was to “Paint it Black”.
As soon as the space was ready, we started a programme of theatre workshops for young theatre enthusiasts at the end of spring and during the summer of 2014.
Soon we started to organise performances to attract the public and introduce them to the work of the participants.
The workshops were run by our founder, Carlos Pascual.
Our first house theatre production was Don Nigro’s “Something in the Basement”, with Pia Prezelj and Carlos Pascual.
Our first co-production was with AGRFT students; Hamlet’s Monologue performed by Robert Korošec and directed by Daniel Day Škufka.
Our next co-production was an adaptation of Marguerite Duras’s “Suzanne A”, with Drama actor Petra Govc, Jure Kopušar and Daša Doberšek, directed by Petra Govc with a dramaturgy by Mojca Medvedšek.
Concerts soon became the one of the most popular events at our venue, with Slovenian music group Bossa de Novo starting the trend and The New Creatives Inc. continuing it.
With their powerful show “Meduza”, Liza Šimenc and Urška Ru also opened up the space for contemporary dance.
But it was the presence of Urška Centa and her contemporary take on flamenco that turned the Black Box into a “tablao” and put it on the map of Slovenian dance with three incredibly successful seasons.
Since then, we have collaborated with many foreign companies – from Catalonia, Belgium, England, Argentina – and have hosted several local productions.
At the same time, we continued to produce our own plays and performances, sometimes in co-productions such as “La Musica 2” with Cankarjev dom.
And just before the first lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we premiered “Let’s do it!”, a Black Box Vaudeville, which turned out to be our most successful production.
The Black Box continues to evolve — shaped by the artists who use it.
