Passions

This is NOT advertising. Honest. But I am a bit of a poster/graphic design whore. It hasn't come up here too often because A) I keep it under wraps since it's uber-geeky and B) there is so very rarely anything to crow about in the world of theatre graphic design. I know this comes as a huge shock to you all. But it is quite true. Theatre graphic design tends to the, um, well, boring. So very boring, stilted, and lame. It's hard to capture what is a fluid, living medium in a two-dimensional one, but, come on, people, we can try harder! Or at least aim for cool. Which brings me to this:

This is the poster for the upcoming Epic Theatre Ensemble's production of Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play (in case you couldn't, you know, read it) and it is, in a word, lovely. Seriously. I don't know this play, have no idea what it's about or what's going on, but this image makes me want to, you know. It's arty and cool and much more intriguing than what we normally see in theatre poster design. You can see it a little better here.

The NY Times did a little piece on the making of it here, which is where I saw it. My favorite part? This:

One of the many images Mr. Scalin ultimately rejected was inspired by Marilyn Monroe’s iconic stance in the film “The Seven Year Itch.”

“One idea was to have Jesus wearing a robe standing over a street vent and having the wind blow up his robe,” said Mr. Scalin. “It was an amazing image but we realized it would send the wrong message.”

For the record, I would also want to see the show with that poster. Honestly, maybe a little more.