Where did our Season Artwork come from?

Jungle fans may have noticed that the 2022-23 season artwork looks a little different than it did last year! That's because this season's art was painted by Carly Caputa, who is a painter as well as the Marketing Manager at the Jungle. Using acrylic paint and pastels, Carly created separate paintings for each show in the Jungle season, excluding the Jungle Presents shows, which arrived at the Jungle with their own marketing look.  

The inspiration came from a conversation between Carly and JuCoby Johnson, playwright and actor for 5, now running at the Jungle. They discussed the feeling that JuCoby wanted to evoke and looked through a mood board he had created for the play. They knew tone of the art should match a few keywords: Neon, Moody, and Apocalyptic. The resulting painting uses color economically for a strong impact. The dark, ominous black with streaks of red express an essential balance in the play - the end is near, but there is brightness and brilliance that demands our attention. If you look closely, the sign on the convenience store's door clues the audience in on an important element in the play.  

That painting became the basis for the rest of the season's aesthetic. Carly says, "Everything was going to be reliant on that first painting, so they would all be cohesive." Not forgetting the functional aspect needed for these paintings, Carly designed a look that could feel complete on its own, but also had plenty of negative space so that text could easily be added for marketing purposes.  

The goal for the poster of The Courtroom, the last play in the Jungle's season, is to place the viewer in the audience of a courtroom. This mirrors the experience of the production, as the play will be taken off-site to an actual courtroom. The theater audience will actually be sitting as if they are attending a courtroom trial. While we won't give away too much about this upcoming show, we will say that this concept is key: remembering that one is witness to both fictional storytelling and a real-life narrative. 

The painting for Georgiana & Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley features two cameo portraits of Regency-era women. If you haven't heard that term - cameo - it refers to a style of carving that is associated with Ancient Greece. More colloquially, it refers to portraits of a person, usually in profile, done in any medium, including painting and photograph. The Regency Era, when Jane Austen was writing, is full of Greek influence, an example being the empire waistlines seen in the production. You may remember seeing cameo-style busts embedded within the design of Costume and Scenic Designer Sarah Bahr. Having this connection between marketing and what appears on stage helps our patrons understand the play they are going to experience, especially when decisions of overall design aesthetic need to materialize before actors are cast and production design teams are assembled.  

We're so proud of the art that we produce and share with our patrons - whether it is on stage or off. If you are interested in purchasing a poster for our current production of 5, we are now selling them at the Jungle! We hope you come see the show and take a closer look at all of our work.