Craig's Designs

The first set of designs you'll see are mockups of 1940s style movie lobby cards. I was recently in the cast of City of Angels, in which a pompous tenor named Jimmy Powers is hired to play tough private eye Stone in a movie (also titled City of Angels). These are the lobby cards released to theatres to promote the film, with Powers as an actor exhibiting wildly inappropriate expressions to standard film noir scenes. They're not a representation of anything genuinely seen in the show - they're just a goofy gift I made for the production staff.

1940s Lobby Card Samples.

These were designed to be seen at standard lobby card size - 11x14 - and they have little touches that can't really be seen at this size -- the background consists of the letters "BF", for Buddy Fidler, the play's conniving producer/director. I named the studio Woodley-Trueblood-Farkas (WTF - for obvious internet abbreviation purposes) and the Latin motto, instead of meaning "Art for Art's Sake" reads "Pay Me Now". When lobby cards were in color, they used black & white photos which were hand-tinted (usually not very well.) Recreating that would have taken too long, so I settled for taking the natural color and boosting it until it was unnatural.

City of Angels Lobby Card 1

TITLE CARD - Featuring Brett Holcomb, Marc Ludena, Lars Timpa, Lori Skubich, Lisa Savegnago, Julie Rodgers-Baker, Dawn Brown, Jack T. Smith and Tom Walker.

City of Angels Lobby Card 2

"I am the police, you son of a bitch!" - Featuring Brett Holcomb as Powers/Stone, Dawn Brown as Bobbi and Lars Timpa as Irwin S. Irving.

City of Angels Lobby Card 3

"Do you really know how to handle yourself?" - Featuring Brett Holcomb as Powers/Stone and Lisa Savegnago as Mallory.

City of Angels Lobby Card 4

Movie scene not represented in the play - Featuring Brett Holcomb as Powers/Stone, Marc Ludena as Munoz and Lori Skubich as Oolie.

City of Angels Lobby Card 5

"With every breath I take" - Featuring Dawn Brown as Bobbi and Brett Holcomb as Powers/Stone.

City of Angels Lobby Card 6

Sonny & Big Six beat the snot out of Stone. - Featuring Jack T. Smith as Big Six, Brett Holcomb as Powers/Stone and Tom Walker as Sonny.

City of Angels Lobby Card 7

Movie scene not represented in the play - Featuring Julie Rodgers-Baker as Alaura, Brett Holcomb as Powers/Stone and Lori Skubich as Oolie.

City of Angels Lobby Card 8

"Somewhere over the Rockies" - Featuring Jack T. Smith as Big Six, Brett Holcomb as Powers/Stone and Tom Walker as Sonny.

City of Angels Lobby Card 9

Click on the photo for the story behind this picture. Sigh.

Oolie and the Phone Booth (Extra Scene; lobby cards came in sets of eight) - Featuring Lori Skubich as Oolie and Craig Gustafson as the Asthmatic Raincoated Gentleman in the Phone Booth.

Bavarian Gothic

American Gothic Meets Frankenstein & Bride.

Blue Peter

Blue Boy Meets Mad Love.

Whistler's Imhotep

Whistler's Mother Meets The Mummy.

Mona Elsa

Mona Lisa Meets the Bride of Frankenstein.

Chaneys of the Clothmaker's Guild

Syndics of the Clothmaker's Guild (aka Dutch Masters) Meets The Monster, The Phantom of the Opera, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, London After Midnight, He Who Gets Slapped and (back row) Lon Chaney
.

Larry Talbot Contemplating the Bust of the Gill Man

Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer Meets The Wolf Man and The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

The Pillowman

I've just directed The Pillowman. Here's my poster design. Everything is pillows. His hollow eye sockets are pillows. His skinny skeleton teeth are pillows. You can see the bones through his little pillow fingers. I love this one.

A Funny Thing Happenend on the Way to the Forum

Click on the picture above to see the full, movie-poster style window card I created for the Summer Place production of A Funny Thing Happenend on the Way to the Forum. If it shrinks to fit your window, click on the "Bigger, Damn It!" button in the lower right hand corner of the picture. It's not the official poster; it's the one I made for director/staff gifts. I finally got to play Pseudolus, one of my dream roles. It looks a little wonky at this size. When it's full size, you can see the Photoshop filter I found that makes the design look like an ancient Roman mosaic, crackling the faces of Stephanie Herman, Jessica Gresk and myself.

Click on the picture above to get T-shirts, mugs, thongs (woo hoo!) and such of this design.

Boston Marriage

Poster design for David Mamet's Boston Marriage.

I Remember Mama

My sister, Linda Timpa, had the title role in I Remember Mama at Wheaton Drama. She was magnificent, of course. The concept here is that Mama, being the main focus of the playwright's memory, is in color while the others are in sepiatone. Also, my cat Harpo (standing in for the actor playing Uncle Elizabeth) was not present at the shoot, having a prior commitment. I photoshopped him in later.

Waiting for Godot

If you're a Godot fan, click on the picture above to get to an Interesting Page.

Noises Off was the toughest show I ever had to direct.
A Funny Thing Happenend on the Way to the Forum was the toughest show I ever had to act in.
Waiting for Godot is my greatest source of pride. I am immensely proud to have directed this production for GreenMan Theatre Troupe on the occasion of Samuel Beckett's 100th birthday. I may direct something that matches it, but I'll never direct anything better. (You notice how I rarely talk about my bombs here?)

Strange Bardfellows

This is the logo for Strange Bardfellows, a newly incorporated not-for-profit theatre. All Shakespeare, All the Time. Now if only we can find an affordable performance space, we'll be all set...

Model Behavior

Being a fan of redheads (I married one), I was delighted to find in my research that the Bride of Frankenstein was a redhead. The original poster artwork depicts her flaming tresses.

Boithday

This was for the birthday of my wife, Margie, on February 24, 2001. This was also the 75th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's release from jail, as well as the eve of Zeppo Marx's 100th birthday. Much to celebrate!

Christmas Card - 2003

Margie and I decided on a "Sgt. Pepper's" theme this year. She chose half the people and I chose the other half. For those who would appreciate an index:

1. Margie Gustafson
2. Craig Gustafson
3. Buster Kitten
4. Harpo
5. Sgt. Bilko
6. Lady Macbeth
7. Oliver
8. Penn Jillette – (Margie)
9. Teller – (Margie)
10. Buster Keaton – (Craig)
11. Stewart Gilligan Griffin – (Craig)
12. Tom Lehrer – (Craig)
13. Jane Goodall – (Margie)
14. Susan B. Anthony – (Margie)
15. Rowan Atkinson – (Craig)
16. Emily Dickinson – (Margie)
17. Mahatma Gandhi – (Margie)
18. Jack Benny – (Craig)
19. James Cagney – (Craig)
20. Meryl Streep – (Margie)
21. Dorothy Parker – (Margie)
22. W.C. Fields – (Craig)
23. Rex Stout – (Craig)
24. Jane Austen – (Margie)
25. Emma Thompson – (Craig)
26. Christopher Guest – (Craig)
27. Elizabeth Cady Stanton – (Margie)
28. Stan Laurel – (Craig)
29. Oliver Hardy – (Craig)
30. George Burns – (Craig)
31. Gracie Allen – (Margie)
32. Phil Silvers – (Craig)
33. Charles Addams – (Craig)
34. Michael Moore – (Margie)
35. Emma Goldman – (Margie)
36. Douglas Adams – (Margie)
37. Harriet Tubman – (Margie)
38. Lisa Simpson – (Margie)
39. Bozo (Bob Bell) – (Craig)
40. Mae West – (Margie)

Christmas 2004

This was Margie's concept, based on the fact that I had just heard I'll be directing Waiting for Godot in the 2005-06 season. Note that the Christmas angel atop the tree is Haunted Santa -- a "Haunted Doll" I bought on eBay for $3.25 and sold for $30.00.

Nunsense

This is not the official poster for my production of Nunsense at First Street Playhouse in January, 2005; I figured only theater people would get the A Chorus Line parody.

Noises Off

The logo for Noises Off, the hardest show I have ever done or ever will do. Which is good -- everything from now on will be easier than this one.

Charley's Aunt

The classic cross-dressing farce, which I recently directed for the Village Theatre of Palatine.

Rumors

A design for Neil Simon's farce, which I directed at First Street Playhouse in February/March, 2005.

Wonder of the World

I directed the midwestern premiere of David Lindsay-Abaire's "Wonder of the World" in May, 2003. It's a terrific, loopy show.

Betty & Lizzie Boop

This is a picture of Liz Yokas I took during the run of Street Scene at COD in 1981.

Storyteller

A birthday present for my friend Diane Ladley, a professional ghost-storyteller.
All of the ghosts are portrayed by the glamorous Margie Gustafson.

Luv

Who's Afraid of
Virginia Woolf?

This marked the first time somebody paid me to be a graphic artist. Woo hoo! I got all Artsy Fartsy on this one, with the broken heart drowning in bourbon (or bergin, if you read the label carefully), and assorted games whose names connect with the show: "Don't Spill the Beans," "Stratego", "Battleship", "Booby Trap", "Clue" and "Sorry!"

Dressing - Sort Of

"Don't Dress For Dinner" is an English version of a French farce about a man's ritzy mistress having to pose as his cook while the real cook has to pose as the man's friend's mistress.

Lughnasa

For Wheaton Drama's production of "Dancing at Lughnasa."

Kari

Kari Carioscio played Erma opposite me (as Moonface Martin) in Music On Stage's "Anything Goes." Aside from being a dynamite performer, Kari loves All Things Sesame Street. So I did this faux-sheet music design, replacing the lusting sailors from her number, "Buddie, Beware" with sailor-hatted Muppets.

Influences

Some of the comedic geniuses I revere.

1. Phil Silvers
2. Stan Laurel
3. Oliver Hardy
4. Carl Reiner
5. Mel Brooks
6. Bob Hope
7. Bing Crosby
8. Tom Lehrer
9. Elaine May
10. Mike Nichols
11. Fred Allen
12. Bert Lahr
13. Bert Williams
14. Bert Wheeler
15. Robert Woolsey
16. Carol Burnett
17. Spike Jones
18. Danny Kaye
19. Jack Gilford
20. Zero Mostel
21. Bob Elliott
22. Ray Goulding
23. Lenny Bruce
24. Chico Marx
25. Zeppo Marx
26. Groucho Marx
27. Harpo Marx
28. Woody Allen
29. Dean Martin
30. Jerry Lewis
31. W.C. Fields
32. Art Carney
33. Ernie Kovacs
34. Tom Smothers
35. Dick Smothers
36. Jack Benny
37. Mary Tyler Moore
38. Dick Van Dyke
39. Stan Freberg
40. Bud Abbott
41. Lou Costello
42. Audrey Meadows
43. Jackie Gleason
44. Emma Thompson
45. Don Knotts
46. Alfred E. Neuman
47. Moe Howard
48. George Burns
49. Gracie Allen
50. Allan Sherman
51. Bobby Clark
52. Paul McCullough
53. Buster Keaton
54. Mae West
55. Imogene Coca
56. Sid Caesar
57. Charlie Chaplin
58. Julie Newmar
59. Curly Howard
60. Victor Buono
61. Christopher Guest
62. Anita Garvin
63. Marjorie White
64. James Finlayson
65. Larry Fine
66. Bill Cosby
67. Peter Cook
68. Dudley Moore
69. Rowan Atkinson
70. Miranda Richardson
71. Tony Robinson
72. Michael Palin
73. Graham Chapman
74. John Cleese
75. Lucille Ball
76. Sandy the Tramp (Don Sandburg)
77. Bozo (Bob Bell)
78. Oliver O. Oliver (Ray Rayner)
79. Ringmaster Ned (Ned Locke)
80. Bob Newhart
81. Eric Idle
82. Connie Booth
83. Carol Cleveland
84. Terry Gilliam
85. Terry Jones

Wedding Poster

Since Margie and I were married onstage at Wheaton Drama, I designed a show logo for the event. The caricatures of Margie and I are by the immortal Matt Gilbert.
This is designed to be a standard Broadway 14x22 window card.

Assassins

A design which hopefully gives a feel for the wonderfully dark subversiveness of the show, which makes you think about what presidential assassins mean in the context of American history.
Also, it contains Sondheim's best music.

It's Frank's World;
We Just Live In It

The House of Blue Leaves

The design presents the three main characters, Artie, his sad, mad wife Bananas and his new girlfriend Bunny. The bunch of leaves, having flown away from the tree, is actually a large flock of bluebirds, tying in with a major speech in the show.

Christmas Card

Welcome to the Gustafson Family Christmas Card.
That's Margie, me, Oliver (our English bulldog) and Buster Kitten.

Inherit the Wind

Another logo, hopefully suggesting some of the conflicts of the show.

Artistic License

One of my favorite publicity photos, from a truly horrible bomb of a show... which I wrote. A black & white photo by Mike Lanners, to which I added color and subtracted a person (who requested to be omitted.) Not easy to do when it's five naked people in a flag.

ChrisShirt

Yep, you've got it -- a birthday present. For my friend Chris, a major league Dungeons and Dragons fan and suburb-renowned dungeon master. I morphed his face onto an actual D&D book cover, along with that of his fiancée, Phyllis. The green gas is coming from the Farting Dwarf, a character I suggested to Chris. The Farting Dwarf has gas that can knock out a rhino at 50 paces. The trick is not to be near him when he has a go at the enemy.

Sex in the Title 1

A slightly less covered-up version of the logo I designed for a farce I directed last year. It was the biggest hit the theatre had that season.

Cigar Queen of the Planet Farkas

No, I'm not on drugs. Neither is Ann Marie, as Queen Moira of the Planet Farkas.
More on Ann Marie in a couple of pictures.

Clark and McCullough

I love Clark and McCullough, a comedy team from the 30's whose fame rivaled that of the Marx Brothers. They are now all but forgotten. What I did here was clean up an old, cracked piece of sheet music, and colorize the black & white photo of the dynamic duo.

Actress

This is the fabulous, fearless actress/director/model Ann Marie Weinert. For a larger copy of this one, click here or click on the photo.

I Never Sang For My Father

This is a poster design for which I severely aged John Marquette with the help of Photoshop. It hopefully gives a view of the show -- a man completely in the shadow of his elderly father; and not happy about it.

Porch

The show where my sister Linda first met my brother-in-law, Lars, whom I had already known for twenty years. NOTE: This was for a one-shot reading at the monthly meeting of a local theater. It was a performance for a private group of friends and no money was made off of anyone's copyrighted material. I just made the poster as a present for Linda & Lars.

Born Yesterday

The logo for a community theater production.

The Odd Couple

The logo for a community theater production. Experimenting with "David Merrick Red".

Go take a look at

Craig's résumé

or you can join Craig's Theater List to post your show/audition notices

or you can go to my Facebook Profile

or even to my theater forum to talk about theater.