Once upon a time in the not so far away Kingdom of Athens, GA, there was Rabbit Box. Only a few chosen people knew what Rabbit Box was. Some people thought it was a place where Easter rabbits were raised, but those who really knew understood it was a magical event where people addicted to their screens miraculously put their devices down for two hours and listened to real people telling real adult stories, not fairy tales, about their lives. 

Rabbit Box took its name from a song by a famous Athens minstrel named Vic Chesnutt who sang about true emotions and life-changing events, so it was natural for this special gathering to be called by this noble name. 

For nearly eight years, many brave knights and ladies from the Kingdom of Athens and other surrounding kingdoms have pitched their stories to be selected for Rabbit Box on the Rabbit Box website, rabbitbox.org. Then, if they felt unsure of their skills, a mighty wise woman named Pat Priest would help them to make their stories more powerful so they could slay their fears and inspire, amuse and enchant the people who gathered together at The Foundry, a stronghold of entertainment and culture in downtown Athens. All these stories had to be told in eight minutes or less without notes or other props to distract the rapt listeners. 

The stories must represent a theme selected for each gathering by Kingdom leaders, like “Summer Love” or “Pride and Prejudice.” For a while, the gathering met monthly, but recently, it switched to meeting quarterly, as the Kingdom leaders searched diligently for a new executive director. Hopefully, with the ascent of the new director to the throne in the near future, Rabbit Box will return to monthly shows. 

In fact, the next gathering of Rabbit Box will take place at 7 p.m. on Jan. 8 at The Foundry with the theme “Hindsight is 20/20.” A small fee of $7 is all that is required for entrance. All citizens of the Kingdom of Athens and the surrounding area are invited to attend this joyous gathering to start the New Year right with renewed knowledge and fellowship. In particular, more stalwart storytellers are sought to beguile the audience with their tales of learning from mistakes and overcoming challenges.

If you cannot make this first celebratory event of 2020, another gathering will be Apr. 8, when the theme will be “Nesting,” extolling the wonders of home and family.