Sandbox Theatre Project

Sandbox Theatre Project is a Chicago-based theatre company founded in 2003. STP is a collaboratively run and producing ensemble including ensemble members Cliff Chamberlain, Chelsea Cutler, Lee Keenan, and Justin D.M. Palmer. In 2003, STP produced the Chicago Premiere of "papers dreams and plastic promises", a one-person show written and performed by ensemble member Cliff Chamberlain, at Chicago's Athenaeum Theatre. Dedicated to creating theatre where the artists, audience and space play equal roles in the act of storytelling, STP creates an environment that engages the audience from the moment you join them for the evening -- not just when the lights go down... if they even need to go down!

Sandbox Theatre Project recently completed a sold-out run of "Can You Spot Me?", an original work created by the company members and performed in the real Lincoln Park fitness center Webster Fitness . TimeOut Chicago hailed "Can You Spot Me?" as "wisely ditching the obvious slice of life realism one would expect from in situ drama, Palmer's company embraces a quirky, heightened style that's nonetheless rooted in real emotion", and The Chicago Reader gave "Can You Spot Me?" a Highly Recommended rating -- STP's third consecutive Highly Recommended review from The Chicago Reader.

Prior work from STP includes extended sold-out runs of "Bottle Can Draft" (played in the real Lakeview bar Matilda in October 2005) and "Where We Live" (performed in a real Wrigleyville apartment in three consecutive runs over the course of 2005), both created by the company members. The Chicago Tribune lauded "Bottle Can Draft" by calling it "an elliptical mediation on barroom anthropology, twentysomething style The milieu is clearly home for most of the cast, and they are remarkably loose and entertaining in their mocking of it. " The Chicago Reader praised "Where We Live" by saying "the writing sparkles pure huckster genius."

New City Chicago Magazine named "Bottle Can Draft" one of the Top Five Site-Specific Shows of 2005.

In addition to "paper dreams and plastic promises", "Where We Live", "Bottle Can Draft", and "Can You Spot Me?", STP's plays have been seen in Single File: a Festival of Solo-Performance in 2003, The Rhinoceros Festival at Curious Theatre Branch in 2004, UC Santa Barbara New Plays Lab in 2005, and Et Cetera IV at The Spareroom in 2005.

Much of STP's work is influenced and generated with the idea that good theatre embraces a commitment to play, and that great theatre can be found in unexpected places and forms.