The Last of 8 Theater J illustrations

In April, I was hired by Theater J to create 8 illustrations; one for each play in their 2012-2013, taking over for Waltz with Bashir art director and illustrator David Polonsky. Because of time issues, I was asked to create line drawings with some shading instead of paintings.

The eightth play of the season is The Hampton Years by Jacqueline E. Lawton:

"Emerging from Theater J's inaugural Locally Grown Festival, this breakthrough premiere explores the development of great African-American artists, John Biggers and Samella Lewis under the tutelage of Austrian Jewish refugee painter and educator, Viktor Lowenfeld. Focusing on the pivotal years at Hampton Institute, Virginia during WWII, this richly researched tapestry of African American luminaries like Elizabeth Catlett reveals the dreams and travails of young artists in a still segregated society while examining the impact of World War II on a Jewish immigrant and his wife finding shelter in the US and his controversial influence in shaping the careers of African American students."

Rough Sketches

 



Final Rough Sketch

 

Final Line Drawing

 

Final Illustration

(graphite and colored in Photoshop)

7th of 8 Theater J illustrations

In April, I was hired by Theater J to create 8 illustrations; one for each play in their 2012-2013, taking over for Waltz with Bashir art director and illustrator David Polonsky. Because of time issues, I was asked to create line drawings with some shading instead of paintings.

The seventh play of the season is Andy and the Shadows by Ari Roth:


"A family comedy with Freudian hallucinations and pre-marital angst by Theater J’s Artistic Director and award-winning playwright. Andy Glickstein is the son of Holocaust refugees who fears he can't get married because he hasn’t suffered enough. His family's gathered on the South Side of Chicago to celebrate his engagement to clear-headed Sarah, but party preparations are interrupted as Andy is pulled by memories and pre-adolescent enchantments of his mother's bath-time stories recounting her dramatic escapes from the Nazis. Andy's search for his duendé—the Spanish expression of soulfulness and tragic ecstasy made popular in Ernest Hemingway novels--leads him to make a movie mythologizing his mother's triumphant legacy and, when that fails, his father's unsung Zionist heroism, but he ultimately finds more meaning in a jar of jam and a hospital bed that sleeps two. Winner of the Streisand Award for Playwriting, by the author of Born Guilty and Love and Yearning in the Not-for-Profits."

Rough Sketch

 

Final Line Drawing

 

Final Illustration

(graphite and colored in Photoshop)

6th of 8 Theater J illustrations

In April, I was hired by Theater J to create 8 illustrations; one for each play in their 2012-2013, taking over for Waltz with Bashir art director and illustrator David Polonsky. Because of time issues, I was asked to create line drawings with some shading instead of paintings.

The sixth play of the season is Race by David Mamet:


"The latest work by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Glengarry Glen Ross ruthlessly examines guilt, betrayal and racial posturing. Two male lawyers are called to defend a wealthy white client charged with the rape of a black woman, while their female associate betrays an agenda of her own."

Rough Sketch 1

the original art direction for this play was to do a tabloid

cover reminiscent of the Strauss-Kahn affair but was quickly shelved

Rough Sketch 2 and 3

 



Rough Sketch 4

 



Final Line Drawing

Final Illustration

(graphite and colored in Photoshop)

5th of 8 Theater J illustrations

In April, I was hired by Theater J to create 8 illustrations; one for each play in their 2012-2013, taking over for Waltz with Bashir art director and illustrator David Polonsky. Because of time issues, I was asked to create line drawings with some shading instead of paintings.

The fifth play of the season is Boged: An Enemy of the People by Boaz Gaon and Nir Erez based on the play by Henrik Ibsen:

"A sudden chemical leak in an Israeli industrial park endangers the region’s water supply. The mayor is quick to cover up the scandal, but his brother fights to expose the truth. The family feud quickly turns into a political war with major environmental repercussions. Emerging from Israel’s social justice movement of the past year, this timely adaptation of Ibsen’s play is the brain child of the Israeli playwright and adapter of Ghassan Kanafani's Return to Haifa, produced by the Cameri Theatre so successfully at Theater J in 2011."

Rough Sketch

Tweaked Rough Sketch after art direction

Final Line Drawing

Final Illustration

(graphite and colored in Photoshop)

4th of 8 Theater J illustrations

In April, I was hired by Theater J to create 8 illustrations; one for each play in their 2012-2013, taking over for Waltz with Bashir art director and illustrator David Polonsky. Because of time issues, I was asked to create line drawings with some shading instead of paintings.

The fourth play of the season is Apples from the Desert by Savyon Liebrecht:

"A poignant drama about love and reconciliation adapted by one of Israel's most beloved authors from her own short story, this hit Israeli play follows the young Sephardic Rivka, a religious teenager, who falls for Dooby, a secular kibbutznik, at a dance class in Jerusalem. She arranges to follow him back to his kibbutz in the Negev Desert, but not before Rivka's orthodox parents bar her from leaving, forcibly at first, only to chase after Rivka as she flees. A timeless and timely confrontation between tradition and modernity becomes a moving reckoning, as the sweetest of meals is offered and two generations learn to make peace. Winner of Israel’s Best Play Award, 2006."

 Rough Sketches

Final rough sketch

Final Line Drawing

Final Illustration

(graphite and colored in Photoshop)

3rd of 8 Theater J illustrations

In April, I was hired by Theater J to create 8 illustrations; one for each play in their 2012-2013, taking over for Waltz with Bashir art director and illustrator David Polonsky. Because of time issues, I was asked to create line drawings with some shading instead of paintings.

The third play of the season is Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie  devised by David M. Lutken with Nick Corley:

"This boisterous retelling of the life of America’s troubadour blends musical numbers, scenes from Guthrie’s life and excerpts from his progressive newspaper column. The infectious and moving piece brings to life a true American hero, who proudly declared he would “always be there whenever working folks fight for their rights.”

First Round of Rough Sketches

Final Rough Sketch

 Final Line Drawing

At the last minute it was decided that Woody in a jacket and tie did not work, so they were switched for a flannel shirt.





Final Illustration

(graphite and colored in Photoshop)

2nd of 8 Theater J Illustrations

In April, I was hired by Theater J to create 8 illustrations; one for each play in their 2012-2013, taking over for Waltz with Bashir art director and illustrator David Polonsky. Because of time issues, I was asked to create line drawings with some shading instead of paintings.

The second play of the season is Our Class by Tadeusz Stobodzianek:


"Starting in 1926 and spanning 80 years, moving between Poland and America, this epic play has profoundly affected audiences and critics since its premiere at London’s National Theatre. As ten Polish classmates – five Catholic, five Jewish – grow up, their lives take dramatically unexpected turns as their country is torn apart by invading armies, first Soviet, then German, then Soviet again. Friend betrays friend and violence quickly escalates, reaching a crescendo that will forever haunt the survivors."

First two Rough Sketches

(above and below)

Final Rough Sketch

Final Line Drawing

Final Illustration

(graphite and colored in Photoshop)

Theater J and the first of 8 New Illustrations

Theater J, housed at the DC JCC, just announced their 2012-2013 season so I now can show you some of the other things I've been working on.

In April, I was hired to create 8 illustrations; one for each play in their 2012-2013, taking over for Waltz with Bashir art director and illustrator David Polonsky. Because of time issues, I was asked to create line drawings with some shading instead of paintings.

The first play of the season is Body Awareness by Annie Baker:

"A touching comedy from the Obie Award-winning author of Circle Mirror Transformation. It’s Body Awareness Week at Shirley College, and the non-traditional Vermont family members Phyllis, Joyce and their possibly autistic son Jared are rocked by a visiting photographer and his ‘male gaze.’ As sexuality, identity, role modeling and political-correctness get stirred up, the results are both touching and hilarious."

Rough Sketch

Final Line Drawing

(graphite on paper, cleaned up in Photoshop)

Final Illustration

(graphite and colored in Photoshop)