Poster, direct mail, and web graphic designs for Taproot Theatre’s 2023 Season

When a patron arrives at the theatre to see a play, they receive a printed program with information about the production - actor bios, director’s notes, historical information about the setting of the play. This multi-page layout was a huge undertaking for the marketing team.

Once the copy was all collected and created, it was my job to assemble all that information in a set number of pages. It was very important to fulfill all licensing requirements for each play as well as credit requirements for actors and technical crew unions. It was also very important to work closely with the vendor who produced these printed pieces, making sure to provide them with everything needed on time.

The goal for each program layout was to evoke the world of the play on its pages. Patrons would flip through programs before and after the show, and setting them up to enter the world of the play and continue their enjoyment after the play was finished.

The creator and producer of this theatre company asked for an illustrated logo that combined a recognizable face of Shakespeare with a woman’s face. We went through several iterations before landing on this one. The positive and negative space and the quality of the lines illustrate Fractured Shakespeare’s thesis: taking Shakespeare’s text apart and putting it back together to speak into our modern culture and issues of the day.

”Speak I Will” was a collection of Fractured Shakespeare monologues performed for the 2019 Hollywood Fringe Festival. Design/illustration by me.

Taproot Theatre 

The café/lobby of Taproot Theatre's new facility was dubbed the Stage Door Café, and needed an appropriate logo. I was asked to create a logo that reflected the stenciled lettering often used to mark a theatre's stage door. The atmosphere of the café is very clean and contemporary with colorful artwork and wood grained counters and tables. The entire front wall is made of windows. This is the design that was ultimately chosen.

Taproot Theatre - Development

Taproot Uncorked is an annual wine tasting event for the purpose of fundraising and friend-raising for the theatre. These designs are each from a separate year. As you can see, the aesthetic has evolved a bit over time. We have retained the wine ring logo and changed the font for the event into a more wood-burned look.

Taproot Theatre - Road Company 

Each school year, Taproot's Road Company tours bullying prevention plays to schools in Seattle and around the tri-state area. They lead talk-backs and discussions after the plays giving students tools to advocate for themselves and others in bullying situations.

This fundraising campaign included a direct mail print component as well as a series of emails with videos giving behind-the-scenes information about the goals of the Road Company and what they do.

Campaign included a direct mail bi-fold and a video series. All design, illustration, and video capture and editing done by me.

Season brochure design for Taproot Theatre’s 2024 Season

Taproot Theatre

The 2018 Jewell Mainstage season poster designs were some of my personal favorites. I had time to develop a unifying concept and implement it through the entire season.

My goal was to create an aesthetic that was rich in color and texture, eye-catching and inviting to the viewer. I utilized creative typography in the poster title treatments to tell their individual stories and to help them live harmoniously within a series.

Inverse Opera

The Inverse Opera asked for a poster that would feature four of the main soloists in Handel's Messiah. While this is a well known classical piece, this interpretation was to be performed in a black-box theater with dramatic lighting as the only thing to suggest a setting. We wanted to allude to the production design in the poster image in order to set the proper expectation for the audience. I served as art director and graphic designer on this project.

Taproot Theatre - Acting Studio

Every summer Taproot Theatre's Acting Studio serves hundreds of kids in the North Seattle neighborhoods. Each year, I have created a campaign that begins with the summer camp brochure and continues through the school year with the same concept.

For 2013, "Your Kid Here!" was a very successful campaign.

Postcard designs in gallery below summer brochure.

Taproot Theatre - Road Company

Relationship Status is a bullying prevention play Taproot's Road Company toured to schools for secondary grade levels. This brochure was created for mailings to school counselors and administrators, promoting the play for use in school assemblies. The goal for this piece to was to create an aesthetic in the vein of tv shows on CW or Freeform as the story genre fit within that as well.

Art direction, design and photography by me. 

Taproot Theatre

The Amish Project is a one-woman show, a fictional exploration of the characters surrounding the Amish, schoolhouse shooting in Lancaster County, PA in 2006. In designing this poster, I had the amazing luck of finding a perfect stock photo to build upon. The challenge was then how to juxtapose the serenity of the photo with the tragedy of the story. Interrupting the image with police tape seemed a good way to do that.

The story is of course about school children, and there are moments in the play in which the students are practicing penmanship; so the title treatment evokes those moments from the play.

Direct mail postcard below.

Taproot Theatre - Development

During the 2012 election year, Taproot Theatre was raising funds to build their new facility, a main feature of which would be a lobby café. The marketing director and development director put their heads together and came up with the “Lobbyist” fundraising campaign.

My challenge was to design a postcard with an aesthetic mimicking a political campaign. When a donation was made, the donor received a campaign button to help spread the word.

Taproot Theatre - Acting Studio

This series was created to promote a holiday break acting camp for children. Produced in-house. Concept and illustration by me.

Trouble in Fairytalezania & Wild Wes

Taproot Theatre - Road Company

Two elementary level, bullying prevention plays are toured each school year by Taproot's Road Company. Each year, an email as well as a print brochure is sent to schools promoting the plays for school assemblies. 

This design is a combination of photography I shot myself and stock photography.

Email layout is pictured here.

Taproot Theatre

The following are samples of the videos that I have created for Taproot Theatre for the purpose of sharing on social media and posting on their website to promote plays and other programming. 

Taproot Theatre

Le Club Noel is set in 1920s Paris. Politics are volatile and so is the situation at the Purple Door. It's Christmas and the folks running the Purple Door are determined to keep the spirit of Christmas alive.

This is a play with several live songs performed. My challenge here was to include music, Paris, family, and Christmas in the design, creating an inviting and enticing image to attract an audience looking for holiday entertainment for their families.