Welcome to Matteson!: Final Poster

Posted on by Thor

For the final version of the Welcome to Matteson! poster, I changed some costumes and changed a hairstyle. It was decided that a plaid shirt would hint at a a lower middle-class status. More importantly I added a suburban home covered in snow in the background. Matteson is a suburb about an hour dive south of Chicago. So this was a better hint at what that quiet neighborhood might look like. The circular arch I had placed in the previous version of the poster was moved up and became a glass dome of a snow globe which was cracking. The cracks indicate that there is some drama or underlying tension in the scene.

Welcome to Matteson! is a dark comedy play by Inda Craig-Galván that explores classism, race, and reverse gentrification when a wealthy Black couple in suburban Illinois hosts a dinner for new neighbors forcibly relocated from Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing project. The tension-filled, witty play explores racial, socio-economic conflicts.

I sketched the production at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater and had a great time. The couple moving into the neighborhood was witty and playful which had me rooting for them right from the start. The husband of the household had roots to the city streets of Chicago so the two men got along great. The hostess however felt that her property value had dropped once people from the projects were moved into her neighborhood. She played the part of the hostess but was really resentful of her guests. The drama unfolded playfully and then it seemed that the couples were trapped together in this awkward social situation when the hostess could no longer hide her bias.

Welcome to Matteson! ran at the Orlando Shakes through March 29, 2025.

Welcome to Matteson: First Pass

Posted on by Thor

Welcome to Matteson by Inda Craig-Gavlán, featured two couples having dinner. One couple needed to look high healed and the other needed to look lower middle class. This was a challenge which would rely on clothing to set them apart. In this first pass at painting the poster I relied on warm colors for the wealthy couple and yellows for the less wealthy couple. Having everyone toasting seemed to be the most natural gesture to get them all to interact.

Matteston is a suburb of Chicago Illinois. The less wealthy couple had just moved to Matteson from the Cabrini-Green public housing projects in Chicago. Cabrini-Green had a reputation for being overrun with gangs and crime. Cabrini Green was being torn down and residents were relocated. This couple was relocated to Matteson. They were excited to move to this quiet suburb, but they missed the sense of community they had found in Cabrini.

The buildings I put in the sketch were from a typical Chicago neighborhood. I had just screened my film COVID Dystopia in Chicago and fell in love with the old brownstone neighborhoods. The trouble was that Cabrini-Green looks nothing like this. The housing complex is more like the rows of housing developments that went up in the big cities after World War II. They are not very picturesque. The idea of replacing the brownstones with a suburban home made the most sense, yet most suburban homes are rather bland. Maybe I could just paint a dining room, but again I wanted something that was not so ordinary.

Snow fills the night sky. I then put in a circular yellow arch behind the buildings. This was meant to reference a snow globe and it helped silhouette the upper spires against the night sky. It was just a way to add a spark of more color. The buildings would have to go and that circular arch would morph into a much larger feature in the next pass at the poster.

Welcome to Matteson ran at the Orlando Shakes through March 29, 2025.

Welcome to Matteson

Posted on by Thor

Welcome to Matteson is being performed at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater through March 29, 2025. Written by Inda Craig-Galván, the show is a welcome dinner for a couple who just moved to the suburb of  Matteson from the Cabrini projects in Chicago. The Cabrini projects are notorious for crime Regina and Cory Baker (Kerri Hollingsworth and Walter Riddle) make clear that there are also many positive aspects to the community from which they came.

Throwing the welcome party are Patricia and Gerald Griffith (Danja Le’Chelle’ and Christopher James Murry.) Gerald and Cory hit it off talking abut water heaters and plumbing and it turns out they came from very similar backgrounds.

Patricia is it turns out was a resentful host since she didn’t really want to see people from the projects settling in her neighborhood. Regina was taking communications courses and she and Patricia definitely didn’t get along. If anything can go wrong with a welcome dinner party, it does, although there are moments of absolute playful joy. The couples are trapped in their perceived places in the social class structure. I had read the script when I was working on the poster for the show, by the performances from this stellar cast truly brought the show to life. I love getting to see the seed which germinates into a stellar production.

The play was playful and fun while also having moments that are absolutely shocking. The audience would actually gasp. I would highly advise you get your tickets and see it for yourself.