On a day in May 2014, Jan Williams, a four-time cancer survivor, felt defeated after enduring 16 weeks of chemotherapy treatments.  After a knock on her door, she found 30 former theater students and their families on her front porch, singing broadway show tunes.  “Hearing them sing just filled my soul,” Williams said.  With revived hope, she started writing notes on a little pad of paper by her bedside on how she could help others feel what she had just experienced.^[1][2][3]

Jan Williams and a partner opened the Hope Box Theatre in a former church building in the Fall of 2014.  They started with Showstoppers, a singing and peforming group Williams originally formed in San Diego.  The first community musical production was 9 to 5 in the Spring of 2015.^[1][2]

Every production at Hope Box Theatre raises money for someone battling cancer.  For each show, a committee select a cancer patient in the community and spotlights their story with a video played before and after each performance, and during intermission.  A large Hope Box is passed around to accept donataions.  For the last show, the cast gives a special gift to the family, along with the donations and some of the proceeds from the perfomances.  By 2018, 22 names had been added the the theater's Hope Wall.^[1][2]

Williams described Hope Box as a theater "which gives back to those who are struggling, dealing with, or a survivor of Cancer or other life threatening ailments!  This is a place where creativity, vision, talents combined with love and support can give back to all those who need some new 'Hope' in their lives.  I want to be able to help those like myself find joy and hope through the performing arts as I have."^[3]

1. "Hope Box Theatre provides a show and funds for cancer patients", Ogden Standard Examiner, 19 November 2015
2. "The theatre that brings hope to families battling cancer", ABC 4 News, 12 February 2018
3. "Our Story and Mission", (Theater), 31 May 2020