Detective Fiction, written by Patrick Coyle and produced by Theater Max was performed at the Minneapolis Theater Garage, directed by Mary Finnerty. The play centers around Jack, a recovering alcoholic, who turns to writing detective fiction stories. The line between reality and fiction becomes blurry as he faces his own identity and the myths that shape it.

I photographed cast members with lighting set-ups from film noir movies and coupled that with written text. This juxtaposition contrasted the masculine myths he hoped to embody versus the life he actually lives.

These images hung in the lobby and served as a visual prelude to the play.

The Scarlet Letter, based on the Novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, adapted for stage by Kelli Tatum and Mary Finnerty. It was produced by The Refreshment Committee, performed at the Seventh Place Theater, directed by Mary Finnerty. The play centers around Hester Prynne who has given birth out of wedlock and is forced wear a scarlet “A” for adulteress and treated as an outcast. Hester devotes her life to helping others and eventually the “A” comes to stand for angel.

I photographed cast members and used words beginning with the letter “A” to highlight the theme of how people are treated as outcasts. I printed the images almost life-size on canvas using Liquid Light and sewed on a decorative letter “A” to reflect Hester’s choice to embellish the letter she was forced to wear. The rest of the words were stenciled in army green lettering.

These images hung in the lobby and served as a visual prelude to the play.

I asked actors to portray what it means to be an actor, the pedestal standing in for the stage. But “all the world’s a stage” and their journey is our journey; the hero’s journey. We live out the longings, hopes, fears, resistance, challenges, work and play of creating a life that is authentically our own. My thanks to actors Ann Kellogg, Buffy Sedlachek, Noni Kent, Patrick Coyle and Paul Smith whose talents allowed me to create this series.

Blood Issue by Harry Crews performed at the Lil’ Pony Theater, produced by Spirit of the Horse Theater Company and The Loring Bar/Bohemian Playhouse Production Company, directed by John Donahue. Cast Members: Jay Gjernes, Brad Lee Moyer, Lauralee Perdue, Gene Larche, Joseph Moser, Jack Walsh, Randy Latimer, Jane McDonough.

A young man returns for a family reunion to uncover dark, hidden family secrets of the past that undermine his sense of identity.

I photographed members of the cast and collaged the images with a variety of objects to explore the psychcological issues at play in the family relationships. The painted red line refers to the title and the blood line running through the family.

These images hung in the lobby and served as a visual prelude to the play.

Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, produced by Spirit of the Horse Theater Company, performed at the Lil’ Pony Theatre directed by Patrick Coyle.

This play is a harrowing story of two migrant farm hands struggling to survive during the great depression. George and child-like Lenny dream of a better life only to be upended by a tragic fate. I photographed the actors hands, cutting off their faces as a symbolic representation of their status as farm hands rather than individuals. I staged the actors in various poses to represent the themes in the play. I used grainy black and white film and high contrast to portray the harshness of their lives during the great depression.

These images hung in the lobby and served as a visual prelude to the play.

The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O’Neill was produced by Penelope’s Web Theater at the Hennepin Center for the Arts, directed by Jōn Katherine Martin. The play takes place in 1912 in a run-down bar in Greenwich Village. All the characters in the play have a pipe-dream of what they want to be or who they used to be. Yet they never fulfill their dreams and instead listlessly hang out in the bar waiting for Hickey to arrive, who they hope will restart the party and enliven their lives.

I photographed several of the characters both as the character they are and as their hoped-for pipe dream and merged the two images. I sepia toned the images and then hand-colored them to create a feeling of the era and the sad ethos of the play.

These images hung in the lobby and served as a visual prelude to the play.