Art Direction Photoshoots
A collection of photoshoots for a 501(c)(3) nonprofit theatre based in Dallas, Texas, including photoshoot moodboards and actor styling guides. From concept to creative direction, all styling, moodboard creation, and on-set direction was handled by me. A proud 4+ year partnership with photographer Kate Voskova across 20 shoots and counting.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Photoshoot
Concept: Shakespeare's most mystical comedy gets a radical reawakening, transported from the enchanted forest to the campgrounds of Woodstock, 1969. Against a blazing yellow backdrop, A Midsummer Night's Dream collides with the uninhibited spirit of the counterculture movement, zany poses channeling the energy of band photography. The result is electric, playful enough for first-timers and surprising enough to delight anyone who already knows their Puck from their Hermia. Bringing a 400-year-old comedy into the Age of Aquarius feels, somehow, completely natural.
Styling: The wardrobe walks the line between the mystical and the mod, grounding every character in a world that feels both mystical and unmistakably 1969. The fairy realm comes alive in rich bohemian textures: layered jewelry, chokers of turquoise and hammered gold, flowing kimonos, and long beaded necklaces. The human characters bring a groovier, more grounded energy, mod silhouettes pulled straight from a festival crowd. Together, the palette is warm and sun-drenched: burnt orange, olive, rust, and brown, the kind of colors Shakespeare himself might've worn at Yasgur's farm.
Uncle Vanya Photoshoot
Concept: Chekhov's quiet despair gets transplanted to the dust and heat of 1930s rural Alabama, where longing lingers like a summer that won't break. Against moody, painterly studio lighting and weathered, minimal backdrops, the weight of Uncle Vanya settles into something rugged and raw. This is a portrait of stillness and ache. There is no resolution here, no relief, just the heavy and particular beauty of lives that didn't turn out the way they were supposed to. The result mirrors the soul of the play itself, people trapped by circumstance, beautifully lit, going nowhere.
Styling: The wardrobe tells the story before a word is spoken. Sonya dressed in soft cream cotton and pearl buttons, hair pulled back and makeup bare, all quiet endurance and unadorned grace. Yelena is her counterpoint, intricate lace, bold lips, and a restless beauty that feels both magnetic and out of place, too polished and too lovely for a world this worn down. Vanya anchors the frame in olive green and suspenders, the uniform of a man who has worked hard and gained little. Together the palette is sun-faded, somber, and bone tired, dressed for a life that never quite arrived.
Hamlet Photoshoot
Concept: This photoshoot for Hamlet channels the play's obsessions with power, madness, and betrayal into a stark visual language of black, white, and red. Long exposures capture subtle movement, leaving trails of red blur that speak to each character's unraveling inner world. The crimson bleeds through every frame like a wound that won't close, turning a clean and controlled aesthetic into something deeply psychological and hard to look away from. The result is as dramatic and unsettling as the play itself, a court dressed for power and coming apart at the seams.
Styling: The wardrobe speaks in the language of authority and restraint. Dark fitted sweaters, crisp dress shirts, tailored vests, and clean white separates build a world that reads as old money and iron control. Nothing is loud, nothing is loose. These are people who were raised to hold it together, groomed for boardrooms and black-tie dinners, carrying themselves with the kind of composure that takes years to learn. The red bleeding through the frame is the only tell. Think Succession by way of Elsinore, impeccable on the surface and rotting quietly underneath.
The Glass Menagerie Photoshoot
Concept: This shoot for The Glass Menagerie leans into the play's identity as a memory, using mirrors to give every image a fragmented, reflective quality. The palette is gentle and diffused, bathed in the kind of golden light that only exists in recollection. Characters seem to hover somewhere between the present and the past, caught in a moment that has already begun to fade. Each frame feels less like a photograph and more like something surfacing from the back of the mind, just clear enough to ache. The result is as delicate and longing as the play itself, beautiful precisely because it knows it cannot last.
Styling: The wardrobe is soft, considered, and quietly nostalgic. Actors in soft whites, tans, and pale blues dissolve into their own reflections, evoking the hazy, bittersweet distance of a world half-remembered. Cream lace jackets, cable-knit sweaters, and warm caramel layers build a world that feels lived-in and tender, like clothing pulled from a box that hasn't been opened in years. Nothing competes with the light, and nothing was meant to. Hair is gently set, jewelry simple and sentimental, every detail chosen to feel intimate rather than merely polished, personal rather than performed.
