Theater, or is it "Theatre"?

I was recently asked to create a promotional poster for a local theater group's take on the fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea. It's community theater, which means it has a very low budget. It's also run by my talented neighbor (who does a great barbecue chicken), whose husband is my sporadically called-upon computer tech, and whose kids babysit mine so my wife and I can get out of Dodge for a few hours, and sometimes days. It's hard to say,"No", when good people like that have an art request. I actually did have to refuse an opportunity to play the beleaguered king, due to some calendar conflicts. Sorry, Christy.

I would have preferred to illustrate the thing, but I was pretty limited on time. I figured my Canon Rebel and a wide-angle lens would do the trick. I went over to the theater on Friday night, toward the tail end of rehearsal, and when they were on a short break, I asked the "Princess", who was in costume, to have a seat at the edge of the stage. Somebody unexpectedly pulled the red velvet curtains shut behind her, and I started snapping.

One challenge was to get the model to stop staring at the lens. She warmed up fairly quickly, and I popped off about a hundred shots. I chose this one because I liked the offset-triangle composition, as well as the foreshortening of the hand. I added the pea after the fact, and painted it up a little. The photo was blurred except for the hand and face, and I screwed around with levels, curves, and some different color layers before landing on this blue. The shot was in full stage light, and I like the dramatic shadows and attenuation across her face. Altering the original color to the blue simplified the scheme, and it reminds me of moonlight, which lends itself to the fairy component of the tale. The title font is a little art-nouveau. I think it contributes to the feeling I wanted. It needs some kerning love, but if I made those adjustments, I wouldn't have time to type a few hundred words for your lovely eyes to gaze upon, would I? Peg leg!

Anyhow, it's fun to work with these guys. We spend billions, collectively, in our country on big-screen films and then buy the DVDs a few months later. Believe me, I'm a contributor.
I love witnessing a well-crafted story unfold. I also don't mind throwing $20 to take my wife out for a night of Ghost Rider, because even a lousy script and non-compelling characters can't detract from the raw awesomeness of a skeletal blowtorch on a Harley. Hearing the graveled bass of Sam Elliott explain to Nick Cage, "You're the Ghostrider", is worth the atrocity that the screenplay was...Like I was saying, we throw money at Hollywood, but I feel more connected to the thousands of years of theatrical storytelling when I see people that I know and interact with, on at least a weekly basis, working through their lines, and laughing, and genuinely enjoying themselves, not for their contract wages or for the self-promotional butt kissing I used to see in L.A., rather they are performing for the pleasure of the performance.

Maybe that's why I don't mind putting these posters together. Remuneration isn't the issue, and although I don't have the luxury of spending three days on the artwork, I do have the chance to do a job for the mere pleasure of it. It's kind of nice. I should probably hook them up with a better website this year, now that I think about it.

Back to work!