Creativity Magazine

Mix Olive, Bitter Herbs, And Sausage, Sizzle And Serve On Local Stage

By Mrstrongest @mrstrongarm

A local theater company is staging Olive and the Bitter Herbs. I was asked to do caricatures of the cast for the poster. The poster design itself is by Ronna Rajaniemi, owner of Petaltail Studios.

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Promotional advertising marketing poster for Branch River community theater production of Charles Busch play Olive and the Bitter Herbs

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Naturally you’re saying to yourself: yes, but what’s this sausage business?

It’s part of the plot: Olive, the main character, is an aging actress. Years ago, she made a television commercial for sausage. Her big line: “Gimme the sausage!” It was the high point of her career. No wonder she’s bitter and depressed these days.

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The television set graphic seems to be the official logo for the play. It appears on the front of the scripts furnished by Samuel French, Inc., which licenses the play.

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logo for Charles Busch play Olive and the Bitter Herbs television set with rabbit ears antenna and fork and sausage silhouette

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I thought I was being asked to do a color version of the television in the same style as the characters– so my original drawing looked like this:

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caricature artwork for theater poster Olive and the Bitter Herbs including mirror and television set with fork and sausage

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The client ultimately decided to use the official logo, so I deleted the television so the
logo could be pasted in. This also required blocking in the rest of the middle characters’ clothing, which produced this rather odd-looking result:

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caricature artwork for theater poster Olive and the Bitter Herbs minus television set with fork and sausage

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I actually know 5 of the 6 actors in the play, and have seen them in numerous shows– which made this assignment a lot of fun.

How accurate are the caricatures? Here are corresponding photos of the six actors.

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photo to caricature compare for Olive and Bitter Herbs theater poster, Scott Gardner, Bert Torsey, Wendy Almeida, Susan Erickson-West, Peter Eisenstadter, Henry Parkhurst

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The show opens this Friday– time to fire up the grill and throw on the sausage! Here’s
the poster again:

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Promotional advertising marketing poster for Branch River community theater production of Charles Busch play Olive and the Bitter Herbs

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Are you a fan of community theater?

Ever done any acting yourself?

Are there any goofy TV commercials you still remember from years ago??

Hope you’ll leave a comment.

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