Miller Auditorium: The Thanksgiving Play

Spring 2022 | Client Work

BRIEF

Miller Auditorium hired Western Michigan University’s Design Center to create promotional media for all of their 2022–2023 plays and musicals. I chose to work on The Thanksgiving Play written by Larissa FastHorse. A meta-comedy all about “a troupe of terminally ‘woke’ teaching artists” trying to put together a play about Thanksgiving.

IDEA

Trying to show the satirical nature of this play was difficult, but after a few meetings with my client and our campus’s diversity board I found a solution that felt representative of the play. The finger puppets are in stereotypical Thanksgiving attire and googly eyes to show the misunderstandings and silliness of the main characters.

FIELDS

Print Design
Web Design
Marketing
Transmedia Design
Communication

Process

Initial Ideas:

Development:

Note: We agreed to not pursue any stereotypical depictions of Native American culture, even if it is depicted in a satirical way within the play. None of the characters are Native American, so we swapped out the original Native American finger outfits for Pilgrim ones. This way we were able to keep the idea, avoid offensive depictions, and portray the satirical and comedic aspects of the play.