In July and August, 2026, Distant Era photographed preproduction, press imagery, and portraits for City Lit Theatre Company’s production of Shane, based on the 1949 western novel by Jack Schaefer and adapted and directed by Mark Pracht.
Here’s a little information about the novel and play from the City Lit Theatre Company website:
Shane, a mysterious stranger, shows up at the Starrett homestead in the Wyoming Territory in 1889. Though he seems to be hiding a dangerous past, he’s offered a job as a farm hand and settles in with the Starretts: Joe, his wife Marian, and his son Bob, our narrator. When Joe refuses to sell his land to open range rancher Fletcher, it sets up a deadly showdown that alters the fates of everyone involved.
Shane synopsis from the City Lit Theatre Company website
Preproduction Media
For their program cover, City Lit wanted to make a key art image that would look like the cover of a western novel or a film poster. We discussed the mood and feel of the image—a little edgy, the idea of the lone adventurer who drifts into town.
I had just come back from photographing Gen Con on the Monday of that week and had not bothered to unpack my photo gear. On Wednesday, I shot a preproduction image for Babes With Blades’s upcoming King Lear and on Thursday, I carted my portable studio to City Lit for Shane.
On the first day of rehearsal, we photographed Shane actor Michael B. Woods for the key art.
We were fortunate to have graphic designer (and actor!) James Sparling on hand to review the images as we shot them. Therefore, we were able to confer about what would work for James’s design, add light, take light away, and so on.
We principally photographed Michael B. Woods with rim lights to either side, via MagMod gridded strip boxes without diffusion. To separate Michael from the background, we placed a small flash on a stand and focused it on his black hat. Our goal was to use hard lights to create hard, contrasty shadows, as if the desert sun was high in the sky behind Shane, leaving most of his features in shadow, particularly his eyes, shaded by the brim of his hat.
Right: Crop of the image used for the program and standee. Three hard lights—left, right, and above.
Check out the full program design here!
The Standee
After the shoot, images from our preproduction session began to filter through City Lit’s social media channels.
James Sparling created the key art for the program and ads with images from our session, and early buzz for the show began.
Scenic designer Jeremiah Barr and artistic director Brian Pastor had an idea to create a life-sized standee of Shane from the key art and put it up in the lobby, and Brian reached out to see whether this would be possible. I returned to the Shane image in the key art and adjusted the image for those purposes, and voila! A few days later, I started seeing pictures of people posing with the standee. I think it’s really fun.
Production Photography
We returned to City Lit to photograph Shane in late August.
In the week prior to the show, I noticed the projection screen in a behind-the-scenes image and prepared myself and my camera equipment for the shoot.
Projections!
Projections need to be photographed at certain shutter speeds that will show all the colors in the projection at the same time. If I don’t shoot them that way, I’ll get one or two colors, or I’ll get half the projection in one color horizontally and half the projection in another color.
That shutter speed is often between 1/60 and 1/120, with the projections for Shane being at the former end, which only works if photographer and subject are standing still.
When captured at the correct shutter speed, they can make for compelling and flexible backgrounds. In the photographs below, notice how the projections can set the tone of a scene, showing a different time of day.
In the following photos, designer Jim Terry’s projections enhance the dramatic effect, backlighting Marian Starett in the first image and emphasizing the action of Bob’s hands and monologue in the second.
Fortunately, it isn’t my first rodeo with projections (see The Actors Gymnasium’s Aquí o Allá and City Lit’s Scaramouche earlier this year). I program custom modes in my camera after measuring the projection’s flicker rate. Then I switch back and forth between modes, while also choosing how to frame each shot to include or exclude the projection. In fast-moving fight scenes, for example, we prioritize action above all else.
After capturing the full production, we winnowed down to what we saw as the quintessence of the show, its characters, and its themes, in our final selections. Here are a few more of those.
SHANE Character Portraits
Distant Era also created character portraits for City Lit Theatre Company’s production of Shane. These deserve their own separate post, which can be found here.
This is what they look like.
A Friendly Room
Shane officially opened August 29 and runs through October 4 at City Lit Theatre in Chicago. (Tickets are available here!)
As a personal anecdote, I was surprised and thrilled to see all the people in the room on the first day of rehearsal. Anyone who reads the Traveller regularly knows I love to name drop all the friends and collaborators I’ve worked with over the years and extend their story with another collaboration. Let Shane be no exception!
Of course there was artistic director Brian Pastor, with whom we have worked many, many times, including a headshot/portrait session. I’ve already mentioned graphic designer James Sparling, who played Sherlock Holmes in the Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Clowns we photographed in 2025.
Then there was director-playwright Mark Pracht we first met on Babes With Blades Theatre Company’s The Double in 2011. And there was Ledyard/Wilson actor Jay Donely, whose wedding we photographed a couple years back. And also stage manager Michael Lesko, who we just worked with on Eos Theatre Company’s magnificent production of The Trojan Women. Also, Chase Wheaton-Werle, who we photographed in Midsommer Flight’s amazing As You Like It earlier this summer.
Finally, there was assistant director Leigh Barrett, Babes With Blades’s former artistic director, who once used to hand-hold tiny lights for me in my very first days photographing theatre preproduction. We go way, way back, and it was a joy to see her.
To name drop other people I’ve worked with who worked on the show but weren’t in the room, there is Jeremiah Barr, costumer Beth Laske, intimacy director Courtney Abbott, and fight choreography by Rick Gilbert and Victor Bayona.
Cast
Anthony Augustine (understudy Curly/Shipstead)
Brandon Boler (Ernie Wright)
Ross Childs (Curly)
Jay Donely (Ledyard/Wilson)
Sean Harklerode (Fletcher)
Bruce Holtman (Bob Starrett)
Marshall Kious (understudy Joe Starrett/Fletcher)
Zach Kunde (understudy Grafton/Wright)
Whitney Minarik (Marian Starrett)
Chuck Munro (Grafton)
Payton Nesci (understudy Bob/Chris)
Frank Nall (Lou Shipstead)
Josh Odor (Joe Starrett)
Andrew Pappas (Chris)
Chase Wheaton-Werle (understudy Shane/Ledyard/Wilson)
Mary Eliza Willingham (understudy Marian Starrett)
Michael B. Woods (Shane)
Crew
Mark Pracht (Director/Playwright)
Courtney Abbott (Intimacy Director)
Jeremiah Barr (Scenic Designer)
Leigh Barrett (Assistant Director)
Jeff Brain (Props Design)
Josiah Croegaert (Lighting Design)
Mateo Gutierrez (Production Manager)
Becca Holloway (Casting Director)
Beth Laske-Miller (Costume Designer)
Michael Lesko (Stage Manager)
G. “Max” Maxin IV (Projection Design)
R&D Choreography (Violence Design)
Jim Terry (Projection Artwork)
Petter Wahlbäck (Sound Design)
Thanks once again to everyone who worked on this play. We wish City Lit the very best success with their production of Shane.
I’ll close this article with another cool graphic design for Shane, which my colleague of many years, Morgan Manasa, created for the show, and which conveniently contains the dates and showtimes!
