It is nearing evening. Joe is still coaxing Maggie to come into the cabin, Brian and Beverly are reminiscing, while Mark becomes frustrated by his lover's jollity, and Agnes begins to talk to the interviewer. As the act continues, cracks are shown in Brian’s brutal forthrightness about his illness and Mark's feelings about his impending death. Beverly provides some raw insight within her seemingly scattered exterior. Joe and Maggie continue to struggle to have a real conversation about their future. Agnes reveals a secret about her sister Claire. We learn that she died some years ago in an accident in Louisiana. Over the past two years Agnes has been writing letters to her mother from her sister, and the interviewer presents her with some hard questions. More is learned about the characters' lives before they became ill, material that makes their current situation more poignant. By the end of the act no moral conclusions have been drawn, no one has died, and no one is going to live forever. The audience thinks not about each person's impending death but what to do with this ‘moment’ that each has to live. "The Shadow Box" premiered in a production of the Center Theatre Group at the Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, California, in the 1975-76 season, directed by Gordon Davidson (artistic director of the Mark Taper Forum). The play opened on Broadway on March 31, 1977 at the Morosco Theatre and closed on December 31, 1977, after 315 performances. The play was directed by Gordon Davidson with scenery by Ming Cho Lee, costumes by Bill Walker, and lighting by Ronald Wallace. The cast featured Josef Sommer (Interviewer), Simon Oakland (Joe), Vincent Spano (Steve), Joyce Ebert (Maggie), Laurence Luckinbill (Brian), Mandy Patinkin (Mark), Patricia Elliott (Beverly), Rose Gregorio (Agnes), and Geraldine Fitzgerald (Felicity). Mary Carver replaced Fitzgerald on April 30, 1977 and Clifton James replaced Oakland on May 23, 1977. In 1993, a planned high school production of the play in Tucson, Arizona was cancelled due to the play's "language." Critics of the move charged that the play was being censored for its treatment of homosexuality. In response, actors including William Baldwin, Christopher Reeve, Mercedes Ruehl, Harry Hamlin, Blair Brown and Estelle Parsons staged a reading of the play in Tucson produced by People For the American Way. Cristofer adapted the play for a television movie in 1980, directed by Paul Newman.