The Box

One Concrete block weighs one ton. Two concrete blocks weigh two tons. The box is on two concrete blocks. The box weighs one half ton plus its contents: string, a chair, a bucket of black paint, a rubber band, and a hose. The box is five feet long and five feet wide. The box is ten feet tall. On one side of the box there is a door. The door is seven feet tall and three feet wide. The door opens into the box. Attached to the bottom of the door is a block of chalk. The chalk makes an arc-like shape on the floor of the box when the door is opened. The chalk is white. The chalk is not included in the weight of the contents. The door will be prevented from fully opening because of one of the five feet walls. The door is brown and the door has nothing written on it to suggest that it is an opening into a box.

Outside the box there is a light bulb. Inside the box there is a socket for the light bulb. There are no windows in the box and there are no shelves in the box. The socket for the light bulb hangs from the ceiling of the box. The socket is included in the weight of the box. The chair is in the corner of the box but does not obstruct the door when the door is opened into the box. The chair is made of wood and metal and plastic. It is a common looking chair though uncommon because it is not only made of wood, or only made of metal, or only made of plastic. Like the door, the chair is brown and the weight of the chair is included in the weight of the box.

Each concrete block is ten feet by ten feet by five feet. The two blocks are placed directly on top of one another. There are no stairs to the top of the second concrete block. There is a ladder against the wall next to the light bulb. Like the light bulb, the ladder is outside the box. The ladder is ten feet tall but can extend to fifteen feet tall. The ladder is made of plastic and metal. The ladder is green.

The proposed action is as follows: the stagehand, Mark, is to pick up the light bulb, place the ladder against the concrete block, climb the ladder, open the door to the box, walk into the box, screw the light bulb into the socket by standing on the chair, and sit in the chair and paint a black window on each of the three walls of the inside of the box that do not contain the door. The weight of Mark will not be included in the weight of the box. Mark is to regard the rubber band and the hose and the string as unnecessary items. Mark has fifteen minutes to complete the task and will be judged on his willingness and ability to follow directions as well as his ability to fully comprehend, and express, the world of the box in each of his actions.