When playwright and Marriott Theatre Artistic Director Aaron Thielen started early production on his newest play, Hero: The Musical, he reached out to me. The show is about a young comic book artist who has retreated from his potential after a family tragedy. It is set mainly in his family’s comic book store. My background in comics and theatre perfectly positioned me to help out with the production.
Initially, Aaron was interested in producing a short prequel comic book about the events that precede the play. Together we worked up character concepts based on the recently cast actors and developed the story. From there, I scripted, drew, and produced what became a 20-page comic book that was sold at the show. However, our artistic collaboration didn’t stop there.
Thrilled with our work together so far, the Marriott Theatre brought me on to record the rehearsal and production process with behind-the-scenes sketches and blog posts. I created the poster and contributed to the advertising for the show as well. Since the idea of our comic book was that it was the work of the lead character, I also produced onstage props for the show in his style, created the logo for the comic book shop, and coached the lead actor Erich Bergen on how to sketch a portrait onstage in the middle of a song.
In order to share details about the show, the behind-the-scenes process, and the rave reviews it received, I was also commissioned to create a website for the show. The concept of the site was to evoke an artist’s sketchbook. Even after the production closed, the website become a major tool for the creative team to pitch the production to other theatres around the world.
The creative team had formed such a strong bond by the end of the production that I was inspired to create a commerative poster for everyone involved, which was given out to everyone on closing weekend.
