Tall Girl
Directed By Nzinga Stewart
Production Designed by Bill Boes
The High School in Tall Girl created as many challenges as it did opportunities. The sheer scale of the space and high ceilings meant we had to be bold with the graphics package. We moved away from the typical mascot driven look and instead went with a more basic look to accent the walls and shrink the space. More intricate photographic signage was placed throughout and placed high to reinforce the feeling of towering above everyone.
A playbill for the musical Roux ga Roux in Jody's room refers to a Louisiana folk tale about a werewolf. Something she relates to as something of an outcast herself. We had to give her some original literature. Bill Boes' dog appears on one cover.
We felt that Dunkleman was going to have some unusual tastes and wanted to reinforce that idea by populating his bedroom with obscure imagery. Foreign movie posters, some local color with vintage jazz flyers and quirky albums. We wanted to focus on this quirk by making an album cover into his pajama shirt. Designing these was an absolute pleasure. The final prints were placed in vintage album sleeves with real pricetags to complete the illusion.
The comics were also a blast. One of them is about a tiny hero who fights against insect-borne allergans.
The Welles Style movie poster in Japanese is titled the Jilted Man, referring to Dunkleman himself as he has been consistenly cast aside by the focus of his affections. Jodie Grandefille (Tall Girl in French) stars in The Girl with all the Birds.
One of the Jazz Posters features Chartreuse Dunkleman, presumably his Grandmother.
By the time Tall Girl came around I was pretty much an expert in campus graphics. This was one of the denser shows I have done in terms of volume and variety of graphics. I have acquired a huge library of graphics to pull from and alter for other shows. I try to do everything from scratch, but on a busy show sometimes things get recycled. You might find a few flyers from Bridges High on the Bayfield College campus in Happy Death Day 2 U.
NWC