Forever Plaid - Album Covers

 Props designer

Forever Plaid tells the story of a band of four young men, who on their way to their first gig, tragically die in a car accident. They then come back to life to live out their entire careers over one final performance. The show requires 11 album covers for various jokes and moments throughout the show.

Photoshoot vs. ai

Because these albums have to spread the length of a supposed career, they are supposed to be vastly different in tone, style and genre. Due to the short turnaround from actor arrival to tech, there was no time to do a proper photoshoot for these albums as costumes were not complete. After a discussion with the rest of the creative team, it was decided that I’d use Midjourney AI to create the images, and enhance them in photoshop. Because we were performing in a 1100 seat proscenium auditorium, the 30 foot rule applied here, and no one from the audience would have been able to tell the difference if they were AI or actual photos.

production

After adjusting the images and adding the titles to each of the covers, I printed them on high gloss photo paper.

I thrifted old 45s and LPs from nearby thrift stores and then mod-podged the printed covers to the sleeves.

in the show

Each of these album covers are their own bespoke joke within the show, and as such needed to read quickly from the audience so it was essential that the design was clean and that audience members would be able to identify the joke quickly. Judging by the laughs every night, I feel pretty confident that I met my goal.

Album Gallery

• Directed by Lenny Leibowitz

• Music Direction by Dr. Dennis Davenport

• Scenic Design by Rob Johnson

• Lighting Design by Kyle Krygielski

• Costume Design by Rebecca White

• Sound by Kitty Mader

• Props Design by Nick Hahn