Seating 150, the Kennedy Theater offers a 40x60-foot black-box space for nontraditional performances and experimental theater.

Nevertheless, he said one of his dreams was to have a third, black-box space "away from it all" for developing new writers.

It continues through Aug. 3, with performances in the Abingdon's 99-seat main-stage theater and its 50-seat black-box space.

Carnival Studio Theater A flexible black-box space designed for up to 200 seats.

It is a black-box space, allowing for all manner of configurations, where the chosen play would be produced.

The black-box space with 80 bleacher seats offers young directors what Ms. Haviland calls "a playground, where they have complete artistic control and freedom."

The facility has a main theater, with 300 seats, that is the site of most major productions, as well as a convertible black-box space.

At Purchase College, four extraordinary and extraordinarily different theaters, from a concert hall to a flexible black-box space, stand without a real theater credo.

The black-box space at the Abingdon is about the size of a walk-in closet, with the audience seated on three sides of the floor.

Both move back and forth between large proscenium theaters and small black-box spaces.