Baby Screams Miracle

My partnership with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company has yielded a collection of posters as interesting and wide-ranging as their productions. The New York Times does a monthly piece that explores the story and the art behind theatre posters, aptly titled Behind the Poster. And what do you know, February featured a poster I did for Woolly’s first play of the 2017 season, Baby Screams Miracle. I’m proud to work with a theatre that always pushes artistic boundaries, and this write up is a pleasant surprise.

Take a look and if you want a little behind the Behind the Poster, my photographers take:

For Woolly Mammoth’s 2017 season – their 37th – I reunited with powerhouse creative director, Jamin Hoyle for a second helping of posters for the DC fixture. Working closely with Gwydion Suilebhan, the theatre’s director of brand and marketing as well, we aimed to capture the feeling of both a physical storm and one raging within. Baby Screams Miracle, begs for a dark and atmospheric look. The hand painted backdrop is a dark blue-green with brush strokes that mimic the movement of a storm. Our model is pregnant and made to look wet and wind blown. Her shimmery, smoky eyes give us a gateway into her internal storm as the viewer is challenged to read her ecstatic expression as laughter or tears. For the subject to appear to be solely lit by candle stub and proudly all captured in camera, I staged our lighting to simulate what would be cast by a candle stub in the rain, mainly her face illuminated with the murky suggestion of the whipping wind and rain behind her.​