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Mother Courage and her Children

Mother Courage becomes a parasite of war as she, hell bent on her own survival, celebrates the Thirty Years War as the source of her prosperity. Considered one of the greatest plays of the 20th century, wartime virtues become fatal to their possessors in this stark, anti-capitalist, and music filled play.
The Pragmatists

In a setting that is at the same time a torture chamber, a chamber of the heart, and a chamber for a virtuoso recital, two former friends are doomed to live the past over again while experiencing the future in advance. A too-close-for-comformt tale from my favorite playwright Witkacy. Each of the characters is portrayed as a mask hovering around the central character.
Bowie in Warsaw

Set in the landscape of a true crime story from 1970’s Poland, Bowie In Warsaw is an absurd comedy about the repression of self expression and love in a Soviet era Poland. It was a pleasure to meet and work with playwright Dorota Masłowska, who created this atomic-era Polish landscape.
Joan and the Fire

Joan and the Fire examines the way in which history is constantly being rewritten to better serve those in power. When a group of performers staging their take on the myth of Joan of Arc are met by the myth herself, it becomes a battle of epic proportions to save history as Joan and the players each fight to tell their version of the story.
Princess Ivona

Ivona, a woman of few words, is forcibly entangled into the intrigues of a dysfunctional royal court after she becomes engaged to Prince Phillip. Her silence soon drives the courtiers to the brink of madness, bringing out their worst vices. Guest director Jenny Beacraft returns from Spain to direct this Gombrowicz piece. The poster is a tribute to Polish surrealists.
The Ugly One

Lette was never concerned with his looks until his peers, coworkers, and wife told him he’s the ugliest man in the world. If a pretty face is all he needs to succeed, and plastic surgery is the solution, will he be willing to go under the knife? The poster is a combination of all the performers faces, melded together in an attractive, if ugly, manner.
Medea Material

Resident Director Max Truax returns to Trap Door to direct another Heiner Müller piece, after his triumphant production of Hamletmachine, which “calculated chaos and mastered madness with purpose, conviction, theatrical artistry, and artistic integrity.” Medea Material explores the story of Euridepes’ Medea and its surrounding mythology, and will engage Müller’s poetry and complex intersectionality in a dancetheatre spectacle.
The Martyrdom of Peter Ohey

Poster for The Martyrdom of Peter Ohey. The photography was taken by the assistant director, and the concept was fairly set prior to the design. Loving the final output, and we were able to leverage each character as a separate social post to keep the momentum going.
Dinner with Marx

Organic illustration for a virtual musical based on Matei Visniec's writings.
Queen C

So excited for live theatre to come back! Poster for Queen C for Trap Door Theatre. As always, honored to bring their vision to a poster design: trying my hand at organic shapes and a more limited color palette.
Discourse Without Grammar

Alternate design for the excellent virtual play Discourse Without Grammar by Matei Visniec at Trap Door Theatre. Out of several versions, the red was my favorite.
And Away We Stared

The whole cast around a large eye illustration centered this poster into an organized frenzy.
Season 26–23
Lipstick Lobotomy

A 1950s inspired poster advertising the benefits of lobotomy. From the typography to the collage of slightly over-retouched images and the color scheme, the poster creates a vision of ignorant bliss.
The White Plague

In the play by Karel Capek, a plague kills people over the age of 40. Rather than focusing on the cure, a perfect blend of misguided patriotism and activism plunges humanity into another dark age.
The Killer

A perfect village is discovered, with only one small problem: each night, a single person is brutally murdered. Can we accept stability and beauty with a violent price tag? The writer Eugene Ionesco poses uncomfortable questions in this gorgeous absurdist play.
Tango

Conformity, anarchy, entropy and formalism come into conflict between generations. Slawomir Mrozek’s protagonist sets out to establish order and rules, but succeeds only in defeating his own goals by replacing anarchy with fascism.
The Old Woman Broods

In this play by Tadeusz Rozewicz, the outside world of information overlaod and environmental disaster serves as a catastrophic background to the human instinct of procreation.
Naked

A story examining truth and objectification by Luigi Pirandello. The poster shows the main character as a Picasso-inspired female figure painting in a museum. She is being observed by a group of male characters. Their gaze, rather than discovering truth, is a projection of their own thoughts and desires.
Trap Door Theatre Naked Poster
They

Government conspiracies, real and imaginary power structures, and the impossibility of true freedom and imagination are just some of the concepts in this vision from legendary writer Stanislaw Witkiewicz directed by Beata Pilch. This poster is an alternative concept, and still one of my favorites.
Trap Door Theatre They Poster
Occidental Express

Matei Visniec examines the impact of immigration on the human psyche, and the weaponization of the concept of other.
Trap Door Theatre Occidental Express Poster
Into the Empty Sky

Into the Empty Sky is based on a collection of poetry by Wisława Szymborska. It features six women trapped in a purgatorial landscape; unsure of their surroundings, haunted by the past, and trying desperately to escape.
Trap Door Theatre Into the Empty Sky Poster
Into the Empty Sky

Part of promotional imagery for the play.
Trap Door Theatre Into the Empty Sky Poster
Into the Empty Sky

Promotional Imagery for the play based on the poetry of Wisława Szymborska.
Trap Door Theatre Into the Empty Sky Poster
Season 22–19
Phèdre

Written by Jean Racine, Phèdre looks at the myths of ancient Greece, as well as turning a critical eye towards societal conventions to create a modern take on this classic story of forbidden love.
Trap Door Theatre Phedre Poster
No Matter How Hard We Try

Dorota Masłowska is arguably one of the most famous living Polish playwrights, so creating this poster and then meeting her was an amazing experience. I was proud to contribute to an excellent interpretation of her play on the Trap Door stage.
Trap Door Theatre No Matter How Hard We Try by Dorota Masłowska Poster
How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients

This play by Matei Visniec is an existentialist drama questioning the relationship between the personal and the political. Each new revolution, no matter how extreme, becomes yet another ideological trap.
Trap Door Theatre How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients by Matei Visniec Poster
The Duchess of Malfi

A play hailed as the origin of macabre and gothic literature. The poster is a straightforward interpretation of these elements. Custom lettering was created by Jessi Adrignola.
Trap Door Theatre Duchess of Malfi by John Webster Poster
The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls

A trippy throwback to a post-soviet Russia where witches and folk tales become more sinister when combined with the real world.
Trap Door Theatre The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls by Meg Miroshnik Poster
The Universal Wolf

Joan M. Schenkar examines the origins of good and bad in this fun play where little red riding hood is not all that good, and the wolf is not all to blame.
Trap Door Theatre Universal Wolf by Joan M. Schenkar Poster
The Duchess of Malfi

A spinning figure from promotional materials for the play.
Trap Door Theatre The DUchess of Malfi Poster
The Duchess of Malfi

A second demonic spinning figure from promotional images for the play.
Trap Door Theatre The DUchess of Malfi Poster
La Bête

A study on the difference between culture and entertainment. A classic painting is used to both inspire and satirize how we view worthy or high art.
Trap Door Theatre La Bête Poster
John Doe

Based on Madman and the Nun by Stanislaw I. Witkiewicz, and directed by Andrzej Dziuk, Artistic Director of the Witkacy Theatre in Poland. The beauty in madness is poisoned by the toxic remedy of normalization.
Trap Door Theatre John Doe Poster
Vatzlav

A satire by Sławomir Mrożek, directed by Beata Pilch, presents a wild and colorful world, where good becomes indistinguishable from evil.
Trap Door Theatre Vatzlav Poster
Judith

In Howard Barker’s Judith, his re-telling of the apocryphal Book of Judith, the beautiful widowed heroine offers her body as sacrifice to the enemy in order to save her country only to end up as woman in love.
Trap Door Theatre Judith Poster
The Balcony

Jean Genet’s seiminal play about keeping up normalcy. The poster focuses on the figure of the queen, a symbol created so that it can be destroyed.
Trap Door Theatre The Balcony by Jean Genet Poster
The Arsonists

The poster shows the Arsonists from Max Frisch’s play, who are in the process of setting it on fire.
Trap Door Theatre The Arsonists by Max Frisch Poster
Season 18–15
They Are Dying Out

Written by Peter Handke, the play is an epic meditation on the corporate mindset and how it infects the souls of those who engage it.
Trap Door Theatre They Are Dying Out Poster
Anger/Fly

A perfect town erupts into a riot as every husband finds a fly in their soup.
Trap Door Theatre Anger Fly Poster
The Word Progress on my Mother’s Lips doesn’t Ring True

A play about war refugees, where one continuously runs from a place with nothing left, to a place with nothing to offer.
Trap Door Theatre the word progress Poster
Hamletmachine

There’s something rotten in Denmark. This is the basis for Hamletmachine, Heiner Müller’s seminal postmodernist play that contains several Hamlets and Ophelias.
Trap Door Theatre Hamletmachine Poster
Me Too, I am Catherine Deneuve

Pierre Notte explores the relationship between self-definition and self-determination. The poster is a mid-frame capture of a film, fracturing the identity of the face.
Trap Door Theatre Me Too I am Catherine Deneuve Poster
Chaste: An Awful Comedy

In 1882 Paul Ree introduced his friend Nietzsche to a young Russian woman named Lou Salome. The three formed a plan to live together as a chaste trio dedicated to a life of the mind.
Trap Door Theatre Chaste Poster
Minna

Set in a mythical world that swings between the 18th Century and the 1950′s, Minna is Howard Barker’s ferocious view of war and sexual politics.
Trap Door Theatre Minna Poster
12 Ophelias

As Ophelia comes back from the dead, she has to create a new life for herself, where she is the leading role.
Trap Door Theatre 12 Ophelias Poster
A Couple of Poor, Polish-Speaking Romanians

This Dorota Masłowska play looks at the relationship between class stratification and national identity.
Trap Door Theatre A Couple of Poor, Polish-Speaking Romanians by Dorota Masłowska Poster
Horses at the Window

Written by Matei Visniec and directed by Radu-Alexandru Nica, the play is about women who wait for their men to return from war.
Trap Door Theatre Horses at the Window Poster
Season 14–10
No Darkness Round My Stone

The poster is based on the old tradition of taking photographs with the recently deaceased.
Trap Door Theatre No Darkness Round My Stone Poster
Eva Peron

An absurdist re-imagining of the story of Eva Peron by Copi.
Trap Door Theatre Eva Peron Poster
Emma

A fascinating look at the life of Emma Goldman, the anarchist, feminist, and free-spirited thinker who was exiled from the United States because of her outspoken views.
Trap Door Theatre Emma by Howard Zinn Poster
The Swan

A swan crashes through a window in Nebraska, setting off an adult fairy tale, or perhaps a final mental breakdown of a lonely woman.
Trap Door Theatre The Swan by Elizabeth Egloff Poster
Alice in Bed

Susan Sontag’s dramatic fantasy merges the life of Alice James, the brilliant sister of William and Henry James, with the heroine of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.
Trap Door Theatre Alice in Bed by Susan Sontag Poster
The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant

Rainer Werner Fassbinder, one of my favorite creative voices, wrote this story of a woman’s downward spiral of irrational jealousy and hysteria. Since the whole play takes place inside, we shot the image outside the theatre.
Trap Door Theatre The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant by Rainer Werner Fassbinder Poster
Request Programme

A one woman play with no dialogue by Franz Xaver Kroetz. There is only a single character, and the experience of extreme focus on her movements and feelings was extraordinary.
Trap Door Theatre Request Programme by Franz Xaver Kroetz Poster
The Fourth Sister

A sly update to Chekhov’s classic play about three sisters by Janusz Glowacki.
Trap Door Theatre The Fourth Sister by Janusz Glowacki Poster
People Annihilation or my liver is senseless

The residents of an apartment building fight a deadly battle for status in this blistering satire of class distinction and upward mobility by Werner Schwab, directed by the legendary Tracy Letts.
Trap Door Theatre People Annihilation by Werner Schwab, directed by Tracy Letts Poster
Known for staging complex and subversive plays, Trap Door Theatre has been a close collaborator for over a decade. Each play brings together actors, directors, designers, and the theatre artistic director to create imagery used for promotion and inspiration.