The Denizens Theater Company
About the Denizens
The Denizens Theater Company was founded in 2017 by Stephanie Moise and Lara Ruth Smith. Their mission is to “craft compelling productions that showcase the diverse and ever-changing world we live in.”
The Denizens’ Spring production of Marisol premiered in April 2019 in Brooklyn, New York. The two-act play is written by Oscar-nominated playwright José Rivera. The story centers around a young woman named Marisol, taking us on a wild ride as we observe her navigate the looming apocalypse.
Below highlights my work as Designer and Production Board Member.
Social Media
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Get Yourself Some Power
"You have to get yourself some power” is what Marisol’s guardian angel tells her in one of the initial scenes of the play. She comes to Marisol for the first time to inform her that she can no longer protect her due to the war underway against a dying God.
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What a Time to be Alive
“What a time to be alive, huh? On one hand, we’re nothing. We’re dirt. On the other hand, we’re the reason the universe was made." In the second act of the play, all sense of direction is literally lost as a side effect of the Armageddon underway.
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Tiki Like It's the End of the World
To build anticipation, we held a preview party for Marisol in March 2019, which featured a live-acted early scene of the play. Given that the party was held at The Flamingo, a tiki bar, we wanted to play with the juxtaposition between partying and doom (REM’s “It’s the End of the World…” comes to mind) by ‘tikiing up’ the key art.
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Hells Fargo
One of the characters who emerges towards the end of the play is simply called ‘The Woman in Furs’. Her central concern is surrounding having bad credit and how “it really matters now”. I wanted to focus on the irony of her perturbation concerning bad credit even in the face of the apocalypse what her anxiety suggests about the arbitrary role credit plays in contemporary American society.
Other Marketing Design
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Snapshot Key Art
A hunger strike, teachers with guns, the intricacy of infidelity. Snapshot was a play featuring brief vignettes from the lives of intriguing characters dealing with these issues and more. The play premiered December 17, 2019 and it took place one night only.
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DTC Partnerships Promotional Poster
The purpose of this poster was to highlight DTC partnerships with Moto Spirits Distillery, who hosted the play, and Brooklyn Cider House, who sponsored the play. We decided that it was important that this be done in the same aesthetic of Marisol but primarily focused on those two business relationships vs. the actual play.
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Costume Design
I designed this for June, Marisol’s co-worker and friend’s, leather jacket. In a later scene of the play after suffering a traumatizing assault, she literally forgets who she is and begins subsequently terrorizing innocent bystanders in Van Cortlandt park. The butterfly wings symbolize her metamorphosis into malevolence.
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Angel's Ashes - Marisol Cocktail Drink Menu
Angel’s Ashes was our speciality cocktail featured at the preview party held at tiki bar The Flamingo a month prior to the play’s premiere. The cocktail was created by Denizens co-founder Lara Ruth Smith, who is a mixologist by night. When designing this menu card, it was important that the signature angel be the focal point while also keeping in mind the “tiki” theme of the party.
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Marisol Program
For the program, I wanted to go for a clean aesthetic that was aligned with the branding of the production without overshadowing the content. Subsequently, I decided to feature the angel key art on the front and use the signature gradient as the backdrop.
Full Project Descriptions
Get Yourself Some Power
"You have to get yourself some power” is what Marisol’s guardian angel tells her in one of the initial scenes of the play. She comes to Marisol for the first time to inform her that she can no longer protect her due to the war underway against a dying God.
Angels and the sense of protection they represent are central symbols of the play as well as New York City itself. I used the lightning to demonstrate the onset of danger and consternation.
Alternate Versions
What a Time to Be Alive
“What a time to be alive, huh? On one hand, we’re nothing. We’re dirt. On the other hand, we’re the reason the universe was made." In the second act of the play, all sense of direction is literally lost as a side effect of the Armageddon underway.
I wanted to illuminate that feeling of disarray by flipping the city upside down. Additionally, in Act 1, it is referenced that angels have “traded in their wings for Uzis”. In turn, I wanted to show the strapped gun to highlight the angels’ transition from pious protectors to emboldened warriors.
Tiki Like It’s the End of the World
To build anticipation, we held a preview party for Marisol in March 2019, which featured a live-acted early scene of the play. Given that the party was held at The Flamingo, a tiki bar, we wanted to play with the juxtaposition between partying and doom (REM’s “It’s the End of the World…” comes to mind) by ‘tikiing up’ the key art.
‘Hells’ Fargo
One of the characters who emerges towards the end of the play is simply called ‘The Woman in Furs’. Her central concern is surrounding having bad credit and how “it really matters now”. I wanted to focus on the irony of her perturbation concerning bad credit even in the face of the apocalypse what her anxiety suggests about the arbitrary role credit plays in contemporary American society.
Instagram Story
Snapshot Key Art
A hunger strike, teachers with guns, the intricacy of infidelity. Snapshot was a play featuring brief vignettes from the lives of intriguing characters dealing with these issues and more. The play premiered December 17, 2019 and it took place one night only. When I developed the key art, I decided to use an image of a gun as a play on the word “snapshot”. The loaded nature of a revolver (no pun intended) also spoke to the heaviness of each snippet and the color approach, black & white with red overtones represented each story’s passion.
DTC Partnerships Promotional Poster
The purpose of this poster was to highlight DTC partnerships with Moto Spirits Distillery, who hosted the play, and Brooklyn Cider House, who sponsored the play. We decided that it was important that this be done in the same aesthetic of Marisol but primarily focused on those two business relationships vs. the actual play.
Costume Design
I designed this for June, Marisol’s co-worker and friend’s, leather jacket. In a later scene of the play after suffering a traumatizing assault, she literally forgets who she is and begins subsequently terrorizing innocent bystanders in Van Cortlandt park. The butterfly wings symbolize her metamorphosis into malevolence. “The Dark Ages are here” is also a direct quote from June: “There’s a prevailing sickness out there, I’m telling you, the Dark Ages are here, Visigoths are climbing the city walls and I’ve never felt more like raw food in my life.”
Angel’s Ashes – Marisol Cocktail Drink Menu
Angel’s Ashes was our speciality cocktail featured at the preview party held at tiki bar The Flamingo a month prior to the play’s premiere. The cocktail was created by Denizens co-founder Lara Ruth Smith, who is a mixologist by night. When designing this menu card, it was important that the signature angel be the focal point while also keeping in mind the “tiki” theme of the party.
Shot Taken at the Preview Party
Marisol Program
For the program, I wanted to go for a clean aesthetic that was aligned with the branding of the production without overshadowing the content. Subsequently, I decided to feature the angel key art on the front and use the signature gradient as the backdrop.
