Summerfest Daily Report - Saturday, August 11

By Glenn Sumi

You can't judge a play by the cover... of the program book. Or can you? This year's SummerWorks boasts some of the most imaginatively created programs in recent memory. Which is a nice change, since usually programs are the last things on the minds of busy theatremakers. Whether this trend signals a growing appreciation of the importance of graphic art to enhance the play-going experience - a noble and selfish goal since, after all, once you've got the program, you've already bought the ticket - or simply indicates that the author has a friend who works at a print shop and/or an advertising firm, doesn't matter. These programs are here to enjoy and savour long after the lights have dimmed.

Here's a critical look at the best of the SummerWorks programs. Get 'em while you still can.

Play: SIDESHOW OF THE DAMNED, by Eric Woolfe
Graphic Design: Dawn Weaver and Stacey Case
Cool program elements: The typeface of the title is in a cool cap stencil, which nicely evokes the carnival-style horror story setting that the show pays homage to. The drawing of an axe-wielding skeleton holding the head of another corpse gives us a good indication of what we're in for: something scary but funny. Flames lick up the bottom and side of the front of the program, nicely balancing everything and giving us another clue that this show will be damned good. It is. Inside, there's lots of information, pleasingly and economically laid-out. The actors are identified only as Scary Actor One, Scary Actor Two, etc., resulting in a lack of clutter. The typeface is a tad small, but that's made up for by the running joke of telling us how scary or frightened the artists are, and why. The best scary details? We're told of actor Darren Keay that "earwigs give him the willies and he has an unnatural aversion to the deep-end of swimming pools, as he always imagines a long, black, slimy tentacle squirming out of one of the jet valves and strangling him underwater."

Play: UNPOSSIBLE ELEVATOR by Michael Rawley
Graphic Design: Uncredited
Cool program elements: Instead of the standard folded-in-half 8 x 11 program, whoever designed this has has cut the size in half (more manageable) and used good stock paper so the cover photograph of actors Geoffrey Whynot and Ellen-Ray Hennessy reproduces well. Even better, the two central characters' phobias - one can't go out in the rain, the other can't go up elevators - are indicated by arrows in the photo: a nice touch. Inside the program, the show's characters, Her and Him, are described in four words (!), while the setting and time are established in one economical line each. On the back of the program, the "Thank youse" (very cute) are funny and touching, including the one that says "Oh yeah, and as always, thanks to Wendy for the kidney" - a reference to actor Wendy Kreckeler's donation of a kidney to author Rawley. Neat bit of information: Didn't know that Rawley and Hennessy went to drama school together.

Play: THE BOY SCOUTS' MANUAL by Louis Negin
Graphic Design:
Steve Yeates, with an illustration by Maurice Vellekoop Cool program elements: Vellekoop's homoerotic front-of-program illustration of a scantily clad buff boyscout makes this, as Carolyn Azar pointed out to me before the show, "a collector's item." Indeed. Vellekoop's work is in demand all over the world. This drawing is as shamelessly gratuitous but funny as the appearance of the buff and lean former Toronto Dance Theatre dancer Graham McKelvie, who appears in undies waving two rainbow flags at the top and bottom of the show. Inside the program, the information is economically laid out, although it's a bit much to go on about McKelvie's "reputation for his expansive lyricism and exotic masculinity" (Less is more, Graham, see Louis' entry...)
Unfortunate typo: Lighting designer Rebecca Picherack's name is spelled wrong. For probably the 100th time.

Play: BILLY AND THE MONSTERS by Jon McCurley
Graphic Design: Uncredited
Cool program elements: Cover illustration is suitably creepy, and the program is folded with the four corners pointed inward so you have to open it outward, essentially looking into a monster's mouth. Neat. Too bad the show isn't as detailed.