CONTEXT:
This site was created to provide three samples of scholarly, artistic production for the purpose of evaluation for promotion from Associate Professor to Full Professor at Grinnell College. It is important to note that I supplied a number of potential external reviewers for this small portion of my portfolio, with a diversity of expertise. This was an intentional choice on my part, partially due to the fact that performance designers are collaborative artists and consistently evaluate visual artistry beyond their own specialty, but I also created this diverse list because I have selected a diverse range of my design projects to present to you. These range from production design for video to scenic design, to projection, and to lighting design.
In many ways, the diversity of these projects is representative of my work at a small, liberal arts college in which I am the lone faculty member in the areas of design and technical theatre. I often choose design projects and venues that provide different challenges for me as an artist knowing that I will bring new collaborations and expertise back to my students. Additionally, I also choose projects in which I can involve my students in a variety of capacities, providing professional and experiential opportunities for my students to "learn on the job."
While Grinnell College will redact identifying information from your evaluation of this design work, you have been selected from a diverse list of artists whose work I respect and whose judgement of my own work I will value. I look forward to reading your honest evaluation of my work upon the completion of my review. I take the thoughts and criticisms of my peers seriously, and I know my work will be strengthened through your evaluative lens. Thank you, in advance, for your time, energy, and expertise throughout this review process. I appreciate your contributions a great deal.
NAVIGATING THIS REVIEW SITE:
Welcome to Justin Thomas' promotion review site. This site contains three professional design projects for review by profesionals external to Grinnell College.
You can access each project below in this accordian file, which will provide a brief contextual statement about each project and a link to a page with project materials. You can also close an accordian panel by clicking on its title box as well (e.g. clicking on "Site Navigation and Contex" will close the panel you are reading.
Each sub-page will have a link to return to this primary review homepage.
Please note that this review site is password protected. The links in the navigation bar at the top of this home page will take you to Justin Thomas' portfolio website and are not part of the submitted review materials. These links are maintained solely for additional context, should reviewers require this information. However, reviewers will not be able to return to the review site without resubmitting password credentials.
Please note that this site is meant to be viewed on a computer (not a mobile device) and as such, the website has been programmed for that purpose.
Curriculum Vitae: (Click Here for a PDF Version)
Curriculum Vitae: (Click Here for a Microsoft Word Version)
A Cosmic Fairytale A Day Keeps the Doctor Away
Theatre Gigante - Milwaukee, WI.
Production Design and Visual Artistry
CONTEXT: This was, quite possibily, one of the best but also the strangest collaborations I have taken on, but I imagine that many designers faced similar situations during COVID times. For this project, I collaborated with Theatre Gigante in Milwaukee to create an online production in March, 2021. The company utilized 31 performers to read separate stories by Slovenian author Rok Vilcnic. Vilcnic brings a contemporary flair to these fairy tales, and they are delightfully existential. The goal was to have 31 readings (one per day in the month of March) with unique visual artisty in support of the fairy tale.
The process began much like a traditional theatrical show, with research and visual ideas building from the texts. One such example is the story "Circus Cosmo", which required the feeling of a late 19th or early 20th century circus tent. However, some of the stories were truly built from the imagination through a process of sketching, compositing digital images in Adobe Photoshop, and/or an iterative brainstorming discussion between director Isabelle Kralj and me. One example of this latter process is "How the Giant Ate the Darkness and Then the Light," in which the we wrestled with what the Giant should actually be. After playing with sketches, we arrived at the idea of playing with scale, which led me to the idea of playing with an single-celled amoeba, which worked in counter-point to the written idea of a giant.
I provide this short context because I have not worked on a project quite like this before. Both the physical distance of our collaborative team and the volume of design production required that we attack each story/design from a variety of angles. Ultimately, some stories came quickly, while others took a great deal of research, sketching, animating, and time. While I have done some video production work for stage projections in the past, the scale of this work is similar to that of design and editing a feature length film, and the short production window required us to make choices quickly. The goal was 31 different visual designs that also had to tie together in some way as part of a whole production. We began the process in earnest in January 2021, and we were able to release all of the stories on March 1, allowing audience members to watch the stories at their own pace (one a day, or 4 or 5 at a time).
The videos are meant to be watched in whatever order you choose, however there is a "logo landing video" which provides the full credits for the production at the top of the page. Each video contains the same, brief intro animation to tie the pieces together, which you may want to scan through if watching a series of them in a row.
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
Farmers' Alley Theatre, Kalamzoo, MI.
Scenic and Projection Designer
Ordinary Days - Directed by Matthew Gardiner
Round House Theatre - Bethesda, Maryland
Lighting Designer