In late 2008, Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Georgia, commissioned a play about Vincent van Gogh. Their one request was that it should include at least part of one of Vincent’s sermons from when he was briefly a clergyman. I’d already had an idea for a story of van Gogh, using the letters and story of his friend and protege Emile Bernard to show us a side of van Gogh we haven’t often seen. That’s how Seeing Red was born. That’s all a story for another post.

Right now, we’re just looking at the promotional art.

This was the primary artwork when we performed the show in Madison, Indiana, in Sept 2009. It had evolved from the original design we used in Georgia in Feb 2009.

Because we’re seeing Vincent from the angle of another artist, we see a black and white outline of one of Vincent’s self-portraits. It is for us, and for Bernard, to fill in the colors, the details. The text is in a clear, clean font for contrast and visibility from a distance. The title itself comes from a phrase in one of Vincent’s letters describing his condition as “seeing red,” which is the only color we see in the artwork.

The frame, while appropriate to the subject, is actually carried over from previous shows as part of our house style. Local audiences see this and even if they can’t make anything else out, they know that it’s a Riverrun Theatre poster because of the style.

Here’s a look at Jim Stark as Emile Bernard in our Madison, Indiana production. It also went on to a run at the South Carolina Repertory Company, also starring Jim.

If you would like to purchase a Kindle edition of the script, here you go.