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Round 39--Theater Poster--Group A (2.07) 
It didn't take long to decide on a play, I knew it would be something Shakespearian. "Romeo and Juliet" was my first play I read in 9th grade. I wanted to do a typographic treatment and chose ITC Legacy Serif as the main font. By extending the letterforms of the 'M' and 'I', this gives the sense that they are reaching out to one another. The blue heart separates the forms and symbolizes the oh so familiar tragedy of the 'two star-crossed lovers' --the cross almost bisects the heart as if it were breaking in two. Flyer Font Malfunction was chosen to set William Shakespeare's name. Travis N. Tom | Augusta, Georgia Designer and Illustrator-Currently a full time art director for a small agency. Visit his web site to view his award-winning icons. e-mail: tntom70@aol.com | www.tntomdesign.com Back to Round 39 --------------- April Showers | Houston, Texas Designer Back to Round 39 --------------- 
I knew I wanted to stay with black and white and play around with positive and negative space. I thought a silhouette of a ballerina would be a nice shape to play with and this is where it ended up. What you can't see here is that I use paper and texture in my design. All are printed on silver paper but each with a slightly different texture. Some have subtle swirls, others are striped, some bumpy. I wanted the paper to play into the spaces within the design, but not be too overwhelming. Katie Forte | Birmingham, Michigan Designer, Artist - Kate Forte Design, currently freelancing e-mail: fortekate@yahoo.com Back to Round 39 --------------- 
Diana Towsley | Globe, Arizona Designer Back to Round 39 --------------- 
Shannon Ross | North Las Vegas, Nevada Designer Back to Round 39 --------------- 
Sarah McCraley | Ellwood City, Pennsylvania Designer Back to Round 39 --------------- 
Jennifer Sommerset | Birmingham, Alabama Designer Back to Round 39 --------------- 
Kelly-Anne Leyman | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Designer Back to Round 39 --------------- 
Robert McLaughlin | Oceanside, California Designer Back to Round 39 --------------- 
I wasn't going to do this one, but I love the theater poster. In fact, one of my favorite groups of artists (Schools, if you will) are the Polish Poster Artists of the 1940s through to today. Franciszek Starowieyski, Waldemar Swierzy, and other long, unpronounceable names. Another favorite artist, of which could be argued that I have "borrowed" too heavily from, is Al Hirschfeld. There's a guy who knew how to make a line. And lastly Christopher Durang's play, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You is wonderfully witty in all the right places. Steve Haske | Santa Ana, California Designer and Illustrator www.stevehaske.com Back to Round 39 --------------- 
One of my dearest friends, Mary Leto, had recently commented that I like things related to blood. As I was thinking about the theater poster, I started to research some 17th century engravings and came across this one. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Then I thought wouldn't it be strange if there were an actual murdering midwife and when I did a google search I found a fictional story of just that: a novella called the Murderess, written by Alexandros Papadiamantis in 1903. Years later it was also done as a play and a movie. I thought I would set my fictional version of the play in the early 20th century and called it "Stillborn". I researched theaters in Astoria, New York, a well known Greek community, and found that the Arcade Theater was opened at that time. I used Garamond and Century School Book, fonts that were available in 1914. Also I wanted to have a real actress play the role, so I chose Maude Adams, a popular Broadway actress who played Peter Pan in the 1910s. What turned out to be the weirdest coincidence was that Mary Leto had once been a novice in a religious order; Maude Adams donated her estate on Long Island to the Sisters of St. Regis for use as a novitiate and retreat house, it is also where she is buried. The location: Lake Ronkonkoma; a few blocks away from Mary Leto's house. Patricia Sahertian | Phoenix, Arizona Freelance motion artist and documentary filmmaker. Visit her web sites at chezmatch.com and fightageism.com e-mail: patricia@chezmatch.com Back to Round 39 --------------- 
I wanted to to a poster on a play that I knew well enough to interpret visually, so I chose Romeo+Juliet - also because it fit in with Februray/Valentines day. I wanted to take elements of the story and make an iconic symbol that tells of the love and tragedy at once. So I chose the dagger plunging into the rose as a symbol of love/sex/death, and the droplets falling from the rose could also symbolize the potion/poison that both lovers ingest. A fictional young and hip rep theater "Admit One" is performing this play (I set up the poster so that this group could use a similar format for all plays with their logo and web address in the lower corner). Patti Glenn | San Jose, California Designer Back to Round 39 
Group A | Group B |
