Oh, Lord, do I loathe taking publicity photos for plays. And by loathe, I mean despise.
As an actor, it’s probably my least-favorite part of the entire theatrical process.
The best production photos I have been in were taken by a photographer in the house during an actual run of the show. The shots tend to be way more interesting and real. But often, we must take photos for the press long before we make it to the stage. It’s a familiar scene: The general manager gets a call from a newspaper who wants to do a story on the show, but would REALLY like a photo to go along with it. I can’t blame them – people love photos: they’re the first thing to catch the eye. I’ve also heard that a picture can tell a thousand words, so it really must cut down on ink expenses, too.
I’m in rehearsals for a play and was in this exact situation yesterday. We quickly devised a ruse for our four characters to all be somewhere in the frame and the director snapped away. I think I would have preferred being a test target for taser practice.
Thanks to the magic of digital photography we were able to have a look at the photos. I didn’t look like I was in abject pain and I didn’t look too fat. I can’t really ask much more than that.
So, anyway, this brings me to the subject of this post – a site I recently learned about called “…in a production of…” in which a sadistic anonymous person posts the worst theatrical production/promo photos he can find.
It’s my new guilty pleasure.
Enjoy! There’s a link on the main page to submit shots of your own. I’ve got to rummage through my archives. I have a few dozen shots that will fit right in.
Comments for this post are closed.
