Sweet Water Taste by Gloria Bond Clunie is a very funny play about race and how the actions of our ancestors affect life today. The show runs through January 22, 2022 and I saw online that there is a two for one deal on tickets. Tickets run between $35 and $56.
All hell—and a little bit of heaven break loose when Elijah Beckford, a prominent Southern Black undertaker, approaches his white cousin and demands to be buried in “the family cemetery.” First seen at Orlando Shakes as a PlayFest reading, this irreverent comedy takes a hilarious look at the modern racial divide as two families find the meaning in their shared history.
My first pass at the poster focused on a large live oak tree in front of a plantation. Below the ground roots spread out mingling with ancient signatures. Two oval portraits of a couple hinted at the past. A well and two very small modern day men hinted at the present day comedic drama that would unfold. This is a lot to unpack in a single image and I wanted as well to perhaps focus on the plantation living room where most of the scenes unfold.
My second pass moved in closer to the entrance of the plantation and I focused on the two men wrestling with an old tombstone with their family name of Beckford. The one thing I liked the most about this sketch was the title treatment and I keep it moving forward. The action of fighting over a tombstome however felt forced and it was decided that the entrance looked too much like the entrance to the White House. I also wanted to get closer in to the men and their expressions. This sketch focused on their gestures but they just needed to look each other in the eyes. The drama didn’t require an over active pose.
The next sketch focused on a very forced hand shake in the plantation living room. I knew I had hit the mark when Jim Helsinger laughed out loud. I had put the headstone behind the men and it was decided to move it forward into the foreground. The felt short compared to the tall ceiling so I was asked to move them up a bit. In this sketch the painting was rather arbitrary to make the room feel opulent but it made sense to change that and incorporate one of the family portraits I had used in the very first sketch. At this point the changes would be minor as I teeked and refined the image.
In the next pass I considered bringing back the live oak tree since it made sense to have the headstone outside. The cracked headstone in this case seemed a bit too large, so I would have to find a way to make it less pronounced. The title treatment and author type sizes were now working right. I also adjusted the handshake to it read better from a distance. Since I enjoy family history I knew I had to slip more of the past into the final image.
Back in the living room, the men are taller and I added one of the family portraits. It was decided that the female portrait would be better and I decided to add a more interesting shape and texture to the headstone. The final image is the largest one at the top of this article.
I can say that by working digitally I am able to repurpose and reuse various element sand shuffle them easily each time changes are made. Working traditionally these would be six different paintings but it is easy to change things on the fly, focusing on one aspect of the poster at a time. It as fun to play and experiment with the limitless possibilities.
Effective as of November 23, 2021, Orlando Shakes in partnership with UCF will no longer require a negative COVID-19 test to attend performances or special events. Instead, guests 5 years of age and older must now only wear a face mask when inside the building.