Changing. As we sit here.
Quick! Draw it all, Georgie!
– Stephen Sondheim, Sunday in the Park with George
If you know my work, it's very possible you discovered it on Broadway.com. Paul Wontorek and Beth Stevens and the Broadway.com team have given and continue to give me some great real estate on their wonderful and acclaimed website. In addition to being given a consistent platform over the past six-and-a-half years, I've also been afforded the possibility of seeing almost every Broadway show that has opened in that time. In return, I've been given the chance to document and celebrate said shows which I've done in various degrees of success. I think that this perennial student of life is getting better every day. The situation rocks. I'm so grateful. I don't foresee this changing.
Now, while I occasionally get assigned to draw Off-Broadway shows or limited runs or concerts, many of the events in this saturated artsy metropolis don't get earmarked for the official Squigs treatment. But sometimes I go see these shows and I get inspired. Sometimes I create some art to celebrate that which inspires me. I am going to start posting these pieces (fully-realized, pen & ink sketches, sketchbook doodles, etc.) here on the Squigs Knows His Lines blog. No set schedule. And often limited by what the schedule will allow. But this will be fun. I can give you a glimpse at performances that – while they aren't part of my usual assignments – catch my eye and my heart. I experienced most of these over the summer and early autumn:
Small Mouth Sounds an Ars Nova production at Signature Theatre Company. Written by Bess Wohl and directed by Rachel Chavkin, told mostly in silence.
Stew and Heidi's creation "at the crossroads of the sacred and profane, survival and liberation, gospel and rock ‘n’ roll." The Total Bent at the Public Theater.
An innovative staging of The Secret Garden wherein a revolving panorama was filmed in synchronicity with the performance to provide scenery and tone. Arden Theatre Company, Philadelphia.
Phyllida Lloyd's 2016 all-female retelling of Taming of the Shrew starring Janet McTeer and Cush Jumbo. The Public Theatre's Delacorte Theatre in Central Park.
Greg Hildreth as Costard in Love's Labours Lost. Old Globe Theatre, San Diego, CA.
This illustration differs from the others in this blog post because it was actually commissioned. I saw this show and was incredibly inspired by it. Folks involved asked if I was going to draw it, but since I hadn't been assigned to do it and my work load was incredibly full at the time, I had to say no. A friend of the two stars commissioned this piece and I tackled it when I was able. Such a good show! Fortress of Solitude at The Public Theater.
With boot-stompin' Americana and Big Easy jazz by Anais Mitchell and creative direction by Rachel Chavkin, Hadestown went all Greek tragedy on the New York Theatre Workshop.
So, keep an eye out for occasional blog posts from me. Then follow the link to Squigs Knows His Lines for the glorious lint that clogs my brain and heart. And please also be sure to follow my lines at Broadway.com. I hope to continue serving it up there for a long time to come. There's SO MUCH TO DRAW! Yay theatre!