ANTIGONE Production Photography with Promethean Theatre Ensemble

Last week on The All Worlds Traveller, we showed the key art for Promethean Theatre Ensemble’s production of Antigone, featuring Heather Dennis in the title role, which we photographed in February 2026.

Last week, we also photographed the full production of Antigone, which opened at the Den Theater in Chicago on June 3 and runs through June 27. We also made character portraits for the production.

Photographing the Production

Antigone occupies the same stage at the Den Theater where Promethean produced The Book of Will last year. On that stage, I’ve had plenty of room to move around and capture the action from various angles.

Every show has different photography requirements: some benefit from a wide-angle lens to squeeze in longer sets with large casts; on proscenium stages or outdoor productions where I’m often a step removed from the action, I favor a long zoom lens. However, I especially enjoy photographing shows like this one where I’m close to the action yet have plenty of room to move around with a fast lens that’s flexible enough to shoot both wide and close. Still, I tend to only ever have one chance to capture any given moment, which requires me to be quick and agile (full disclosure: even with all skill bonuses applied, a dark theater space has me rolling with disadvantage, and I fail my Dexterity check at least once per show and am subject to the prone condition for the remainder of the six-second round).

When I’m shooting a show, especially near the beginning, I don’t always know whether the moment I’m shooting is going to be a definitive moment of the show. I don’t know whether something more visually spectacular will happen later in the show. Since I’ve only got one chance, I have to get it right. Thus, I end up with a significant volume of shots from each show.

Culling and Editing the Production

Lately, I’ve finished regular-length shows with way too many shots, which I cull over the course of a day, usually, narrowing from thousands down to hundreds down to dozens down to a handful of top selects.

My top selects either center on the action of the play or the most compelling visuals. There’s often a single image that defines my memory of the play or the way I felt about it.

In Antigone, this blog’s featured image was the one I settled on. It depicts Creon (Jared Dennis) and Antigone (Heather Dennis) locked in conflict, with Antigone leaning in aggressively over Creon’s desk as he snarls back at her—two immovable forces in opposition (somewhat opposite the Silver Screen series image we made with the same couple). Antigone occupies more of the frame on the right side, giving her the power position. The play bears her name, after all.

The Character Portraits

For the character portraits, I wanted to do something different and a little more modern, with dramatic lighting.

Testing, Testing…

The night before our shoot, Distant Era MVP Elizabeth helped me test out some lighting setups I’d dreamed up, inspired by the set concept and the idea of overwhelming fascist architecture and the duality represented by light and shadow. While I think the idea was cool and the resulting photography might have looked cool, I wasn’t convinced it would be applicable to every character in the show. Nor would it show off Rachel M. Sypniewski’s costumes. Additionally, I’d likely have to make significant adjustments to the light for each character or else each character would need the same pose and expression. I felt that if I brought this setup to Antigone, I’d end up spending more time than we had in pursuit of portraits that did not serve the show.

So, after knocking over and denting a costly light, I shelved the concept for the time being and came up with a different idea.

The *Antigone* test character portrait concept that might have been, featuring Elizabeth.

Back to the Basics

Correcting for the diversion that took me farther afield than I thought was wise, I decided to reference the Antigone poster and use the same background and a similar quality of light.

These portraits are less shadowy than the original poster image, with the possible exception of Creon, whose portrait benefits from it. We added some rim light on the left side of each subject in the character portraits. The red background and hard light from the top right maintained a kind of consistency between the poster image and the production portraits.

FIRST ROW: Antigone (Heather Dennis), Jared Dennis (Creon), Chorus (Christina Renee Jones).
SECOND ROW: Nurse (marssie Mencotti), Haemon (Layke Fowler), Ismene (Meghann Tabor).
THIRD ROW: First Guard (Gunner Bradley), Second Guard (Brendan Hutt), Third Guard (Gavin Blayne).
FOURTH ROW: Page (Anthony J. Harris), Eurydice (Alex George).

Conversation, Communication, Collaboration

Both The Book of Will and Antigone were preceded by thoughtful conversations over coffee with Promethean. These conversations discussed the production and the meanings at the heart of the play, as well as what the photography might look like for the key art/poster images.

Following each of those conversations, I’ve come away with a solid idea of the company’s goals with the production, which helped me think about how to show it. I am extremely grateful for the collaboration and communication inherent in creating these images with Promethean Theatre Ensemble. Many thanks to the Promethean cast and creative team and to artistic director Jared Dennis, Antigone actor Heather Dennis, and director Elaine Carlson for all of the above, as well as to Distant Era MVP Elizabeth for the photo assistance.

Antigone runs at the Den Theater in Chicago through June 27, 2026. Tickets for the show are available at the link below.

Cast and Creative

Here follow the cast and creative teams for Antigone, as listed on the Promethean Theatre Ensemble website.

Cast

Chorus: Christina Renee Jones*
Antigone: Heather Dennis*
Nurse: marssie Mencotti
Ismene: Meghann Tabor*
Haemon: Layke Fowler
Creon: Jared Dennis*
First Guard: Gunner Bradley*
Second Guard: Brendan Hutt*
Third Guard/Messenger: Gavin Blayne
Page: Anthony J. Harris
Eurydice: Alex George

Understudy Chorus: Alex George
Understudy Antigone: Anna Rose Steinmeyer
Understudy Haemon: Nate Hall
Understudy Creon: Chris Lysy
Understudy Guards/Messenger: Dame Grant
Understudy Ismene/Nurse/Eurydice/Page: Jennifer Mohr

Creatives

Director: Elaine Carlson*
Assistant Director: Hayley Rice
Technical Director: Jeremiah Barr*
Fight & Intimacy Director: Maureen Yasko
Production Manager: Alexa Berkowitz*
Stage Manager: Esau Andaleon
Scenic Designer: Trevor Dotson
Costume Designer: Rachel M. Sypniewski
Lighting Designer: RobbyMoe Reeves
Sound Designer: Alex Trinh
Props Designer: Tristan Brandon*

Production Photos & Promotional Graphics
by Steven Townshend, Distant Era

* Promethean Theatre Ensemble member

theatre production photography

steven Latest posts

Steven Townshend is a fine art/portrait photographer and writer with a background in theatre, written narrative, and award-winning game design. As a young artist, Steven toured the US and Canada performing in Shakespeare companies while journaling their moments on paper and film. In his transition from stage to page, Steven continued to work as a theatre photographer, capturing dramatic scenes while incorporating elements of costume, makeup, and theatrical lighting in his work. Drawn to stories set in other times and places, Steven creates works through which fellow dreamers and time travelers might examine their own humanity or find familiar comfort in the reflections of the people and places of a distant era.