For The Tavern Brawlers' production of The Underpants by Steve Martin, I designed all the promotional material, as well as the set. I worked closely with the director to realize his vision of a black and white silent movie. The hero image is inspired by 1930s title cards, complete with the authentic, blurry graininess you'd see on the silver screen.
Other companies' productions of the show advertise it quite unimaginatively, with depictions of the titular garment promising silliness and camp. But I like to stay away from redundant imagery; a show's key art should convey what the words can't. The flowers and bird represent our young heroine's blossoming sexuality and caged spirit, illustrated in the painterly style of the era. Steve Martin's name tells you it's a comedy, we don't need to hit our audience over the head with it.
My concept designed during the furniture acquiring process, and the final set!
On the stage itself, we used almost all muted and neutral tones to simulate a black and white movie, and to represent the drab life of poor Louise. Color was used very deliberately to symbolize desire, and as she discovers her power and independence, little bits of red start to be revealed in dish rags, books, flowers, and of course, the underpants.
The opening lines of dialogue were delivered over the top but silently, then projected with a flicker on the back wall like a classic Chaplin film. These were a challenge at first because the area we had to project was quite small. When I designed the set, I didn't commit to a wall length upstage center because I knew it'd feel different in the space. I typically don't mind that uncertainty, because when you design for live theatre you have to be flexible. But the projections were done afterward, and had to be designed to fit the tight space while staying legible. If I had to do it all over again, I would take my initial measurements with the projections in mind.
It was such a privilege having complete artistic control of this production to bring the director's unique vision to life. I learned so much about large scale, three-dimensional, immersive design and I can't wait for my next opportunity to work on another collaborative and creatively fulfilling theatrical project!
