They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1)

I am currently working on a production named They Shoot Horses, Don't They? At St Mary's University.  Directed by Patsy Burn, the production is due to go on early march. My role is to act as a mentor to the students involved in the production; I am there to aid with general ideas, problems that may occur during the design and construction and to oversee what the second year student are doing. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Is a play set in 1930s Los Angeles - during the great depression. The public submit themselves into dance marathons, forcing them to compete against each other in pairs to win $1000. During the competition, which lasts hundreds of hours, the competitors are only allowed to rest for ten minutes every two hours or they are dropped from the contest.

 At the current stage in the process, I have discussed the set ideas with designer Tina Bicat. From there, I have begun to gather research ideas and designs for the production. 

An idea that came up early on was to cover the bare walls of St Mary's theatre with posters of the era.  These would have to be new designs of our own creation. Alongside some members of the crew, we have plans to have at least ten different designs of posters to cover the walls. The posters which I have in mind have members of the cast in poses based on film and dance posters from the 1930s, so as to give an edge of familiarity and authenticity to them. My method will entail the actual drawing of the subjects SketchBook Pro, then importing and finishing the posters on Photoshop. These posters will also work hand in hand with the posters that will be used to promote the show; reworked versions of the promotional ones will be included in the show itself.

With a photo shoot scheduled soon, work on the posters will continue with a greater depth of research to back it up.