Established in the early 1900’s this beautiful grand dame on Main Street in Bozeman underwent renovations in 2008 and needed an identity that returned the brand to the same turn-of-the-century splendour, without feeling “dusty”.
Research showed that the Ellen was named after Ellen Story, the wife of a local business magnate. I felt that the theatre needed to have a face to go with the name. The garland in her hair references angel sconces that line the walls in the performance hall.
The "ticket logo", on the right, is used interchangeably with the one on the left.
Ellen Programs
Top left: This program design was done for The Boy Friend, so I felt it would be fun to take the Ellen figure and pair her with a debonair young man.
Top right: This back and front cover were done for a Monica Bill Barnes + Company modern dance performance.
Bottom left: This is a detail from the program cover for The Foreigner, a hilarious play. I'm referencing vintage luggage labels and using custom versions to present all the pertinent content.
Bottom right: A more traditional cover for the Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol.
Ellen Posters and Ads
Left: A non-traditional horizontally oriented
gig poster for Oklahoma! I sourced vintage typography that references woodtype and I made the exclamation point from scratch.
Right: This poster is for Neil Simon's play, Laughter from the 23rd Floor. One riotious scene in the play has one of the characters tossing two pairs of shoes out of a skyscraper window.
Middle left: An ad for A Christmas Story, a play based upon the famous movie. Ralphie, the main character, desperately wants a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas and is constantly told he'll shoot his eye out. Even by Santa! I had fun with a little bit of type play—sneaking a pair of Ralphie's glasses into the headline.
Middle: Poster for Guys and Dolls, a musical. (cropped)
Bottom left: Close-up detail of a poster for Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire features Stanley Kowalski's iconic phrase from the play.
Top left: Original home page for The Ellen Theatre (designed by someone else). John Ludin, the owner, gave me folders full of vintage ephemera found during the Ellen renovation in 2008. Candy wrappers, newspapers, old programs and photos were retrieved from behind mirrors, crawl spaces, and even between walls. My job was to create a website that gave The Ellen an appropriate historical context and elevated its importance within the community of Bozeman.
Top right: The redesigned home page features an animated jquery accordion style collapsible menu, along with fonts served up by google and custom typographic headers that are sourced from old type specimen books. View the live site at www.theellentheatre.com.
Bottom: The Ellen Policies page shows one of these custom typographic headers. On the right side are some candy wrappers found during the renovation. It's hard to imagine a time when chocolate bars were only 5 cents. The Baby Ruth brand gum wrapper is a truly novel find.
