Some People
1994
Artist
Paula Scher
Client
The Public Theater
DIMENSIONS
46 x 30 in. (116.8 x 76.2 cm)
OBJECT NUMBER
PH.2025.494
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
United States
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Paula Scher
KEYWORDS
Entertainment, Theater

This is one of Paula Scher’s early silkscreened posters for the Public Theater; it promotes Some People starring Danny Hoch, which turned out to be a sellout one-man show. Wolfe hired Scher to design posters for the upcoming 1994-95 season. “We were trying to cleanse the visual palate,” George Wolfe told the New York Times in an interview around this time, “and also have a very contemporary, very 90’s edge. I was looking for something that had a certain attitude, that said, ‘Yeah, I’m here. Deal with this. Hop on board.’ ” Here she creates a dynamic, informal composition using typography and two silhouetted photographs of the gesturing actor in red and blue. Scher explained in a 2020 interview with the Type Directors Club that such early posters for the theater were not allowed to be pasted around the streets and were therefore seen only inside the theater or by the design community to which she submitted her work for professional awards and appraisal.

For inquiries about image licensing, please contact collections@posterhouse.org.

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