Show art for Cleveland Play House across multiple seasons of stage productions

Cleveland Play House - Show Art

Challenge

In 2011, Cleveland Play House (CPH) moved from its 8500 Euclid Ave location to the Allen Theatre in downtown Playhouse Square. With that move, CPH began competing more directly with two major organizations: Great Lakes Theater and Playhouse Square’s Broadway series. CPH was also often confused with other theatre companies in the area, creating a need for a distinct visual identity.

Playhouse Square used stock imagery from touring productions, resulting in recognizable but inconsistent visuals across their lineup. Great Lakes Theater, on the other hand, featured a resident company of actors, allowing them to photograph performers from each production.

Cleveland Play House typically announced its season before productions were cast, making both stock and production-based photography less effective. The challenge was to create a cohesive, recognizable system that could represent each play without relying on cast imagery.

Approach

Working with the Creative Director, I helped develop a new visual direction for the season. I brainstormed, sketched, and illustrated artwork for each production, creating a cohesive system that clearly identified each piece as part of Cleveland Play House.

We moved away from stock and photographic imagery in favor of illustration. This approach avoided setting inaccurate expectations about casting, and differentiated CPH from competitors who relied heavily on photography.

Inspired by Saul Bass and minimalist design, the system used black-and-white illustrations with bold accent colors to stand out among traditional theatre posters. Each image was designed to distill multiple themes from a play into a single, simple, and striking visual.

For the centennial season, the system expanded to include more color and custom lettering for titles, while maintaining overall consistency.

The resulting visual identity positioned Cleveland Play House as a theatre producing smart, contemporary, and relevant work.