“The Box,” written and directed by Sarah Shourd, captures the horror of solitary confinement through both narrative and sensory experiences. Shourd herself was held for 400 days as an American political prisoner in Iran, and she collaborated with other survivors of solitary confinement to create the play, which premiered in 2016. In “The Box” Shourd plays a prison guard, alongside a cast which includes several formerly incarcerated people.
![A man in a prison uniform kneels during a performance onstage](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_featured_image/public/articles/2022-08/box-review-screengrab-sightlines.png?itok=HKIBcqB-)