Tears or laughter? For this play’s poster, it’s your call

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Behind the Poster
By Erik Piepenburg

A poster for “Baby Screams Miracle,” a play at the Woolly Mammoth Theater in Washington. Credit Woolly Mammoth Theater

Meilan Mizell had a baby about two weeks before she was asked to be the model for artwork promoting “Baby Screams Miracle,” Clare Barron’s dark drama about a family praying its way through a cataclysmic storm, now at the Woolly Mammoth Theater in Washington. In the image, shot by the photographer Cade Martin in collaboration with Jamin Hoyle, a freelance art director, Ms. Mizell portrays a water-drenched and windblown woman screaming (or is she laughing?) as she gazes at a lit candle in her hands. On the day of the shoot, Gwydion Suilebhan, the theater’s director of brand and marketing, asked Ms. Mizell to imagine losing her baby, echoing a theme of loss and fragility in the play itself. A messy photo shoot turned into an emotionally raw experience.[link]