This week, I’m proud to show the poster design Distant Era made for Promethean Theatre Ensemble’s upcoming production of The Book of Will, by Lauren Gunderson, directed by Beth Wolf.
Here’s a brief synopsis of the story setup, as summarized on the Promethean Theatre Ensemble website:
Without William Shakespeare, we wouldn’t have literary masterpieces like Romeo and Juliet. But without Henry Condell and John Heminges, we would have lost half of Shakespeare’s plays forever! After the death of their friend and mentor, the two actors are determined to compile the First Folio and preserve the words that shaped their lives. They’ll just have to borrow, beg, and band together to get it done. Amidst the noise and color of Elizabethan London, The Book of Will finds an unforgettable true story of love, loss, and laughter, and sheds new light on a man you may think you know.
Synopsis from the Promethean Theatre Ensemble website
Name Dropping
A few weeks ago, we showed off the poster image Distant Era captured for City Lit Theatre Company’s production of Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train, which we made with former Promethean Theatre Ensemble artistic director (now City Lit artistic director) Brian Pastor.
Around that time, we also photographed the key art and poster image for Promethean Theatre Ensemble’s upcoming production of The Book of Will, directed by former Promethean artistic director Beth Wolf (currently artistic director of Midsommer Flight, with whom we photographed A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and featuring Ben Veatch (who we recently met photographing Blank Theatre Company’s A Bright Room Called Day) and current Promethean artistic director Jared Dennis (who we first met photographing The Black Knight, directed by Brian Pastor). I’d last worked with Jared and Promethean photographing Shakespeare’s Richard III in 2022, and I’d first heard of The Book of Will when my friend Dana Black (who I know from the Free Associates Frodo-A-Go-Go, 2003) performed in Northlight Theatre Company’s production, photographed by the late great Rich Hein, aka Liz Lauren, who I dearly miss.
Which is all to illustrate how small and interconnected the Chicago theatre community is, without mentioning the dozen other connections between the cast and creative teams of those productions.
A New Beginning
So many close friends work in and around Promethean, and I’m happiest working with people I like and admire. So when Jared Dennis stepped into the role of artistic director at Promethean, I reached out to see whether I could be of assistance with The Book of Will.
At our meeting, we decided to photograph a poster image and photograph the show’s production when the time came. I had a few ideas for what we might do with the show, and I’d brought one along as an example. First, I asked Jared about his inspirations for the show. He described an image of the character surrounded by text in the old first folio typeface. As chance would have it, that was exactly what I had brought to show him.
During Idle Muse Theatre Company’s production of The Tempest in late 2024, I had made a character portrait of Elizabeth as Prospero, and just for fun I’d decorated it with text using a first-folio-inspired font. It seemed like kismet, hearing Jared describe the very thing I’d brought to pitch to him.
The Session
In late July, actors Ben Veatch and Jared Dennis and director Beth Wolf and I got together to make the poster image for The Book of Will, inspired by that idea of the characters surrounded by the first folio text. The actors arrived with costumes provided by Rachel Sypniewski.
It was a great time.
I photographed the images on a textured parchment background, in keeping with our theme. We tried a variety of different lighting setups, but as usual, I was happiest with the most specific light, with plenty of shadows; that kind of light best represented the historical period.
As for composition, the idea was to show the excitement and enthusiasm of Henry Condell and John Heminges as they created this book of their late friend Will Shakespeare’s great works.
I also photographed some individual character shots, which we didn’t use, but here’s what they looked like.
Designing the Poster
For the poster’s background text, I used the Bodelian First Folio, specifically The Tempest, as it’s thought to be Shakespeare’s final play, as well as an inspiration for our poster image. I used a paper texture for the title band, which I distressed with brushes in Photoshop, and I wrote the title with the same folio font I used in Prospero’s image.
Initially, I thought I’d use a clean, modern font similar to Promethean’s own Gothic-style text. As I added more information to the bottom of the poster, I looked back at the opening pages of the first folio and decided to stick with the folio typeface in keeping with the style of the folio itself, so the poster in some way resembled the object upon which the play was based. To break up the text, I used some old alchemy stars in the same blue as Promethean’s logo, to unify the design.
The End
And that’s more or less the story of the poster.
I owe special thanks to “The Spice,” my former colleagues from the publications department at the University of Chicago’s Institute for the study of Ancient Cultures (formerly the OI)—Charissa Johnson and Rebecca Cain—for looking over the design and offering suggestions. Between 2019 and 2022, we designed, edited, and published books, magazines, posters, and and other printed materials concerning the archaeology and languages of the ancient Near East.
I’m grateful to Jared Dennis, Ben Veatch, Beth Wolf, Elaine Carlson, and Rachel Rachel Sypniewski for making this come together. I can’t wait to see the show. You can get tickets here.
As for the details, why here they are:
Follow Me