Students draw on imagination to create posters for Coterie’s season | Opinion
Gabby Reynolds is a senior studying illustration at the Kansas City Art Institute. Like most of us, she recalls a childhood filled with a vivid imagination — she said she enjoyed playing with toys when she was younger and loved the story of The Gingerbread Man as a child.
It’s not every day that we can revisit our childhood so I could definitely relate to Reynold’s nostalgic reflection here. When I was a young child, I was a fan of playing make believe and used action figures as military men fighting imaginary wars as a way to escape reality.
I met Reynolds and other talented artists during an unveiling ceremony for the Coterie Theatre’s upcoming production season that begins in the fall. Reynolds’ artwork — she designed the cover art for kid-centric productions “The Gingerbread Kid” and “Kidtropolis” — and others’ were selected as part of a longstanding partnership between the two organizations.
When I asked Reynolds how she came up with the concepts for both of the posters she designed, she said she drew from her own childhood experiences. “The Gingerbread Kid,” a modern take on the classic gingerbread man story, is described as a pop music fairy tale written by 58-year-old Abe Reybold of Kansas City and featuring music by Jodi Marr, a Grammy Award-winning songwriter from Nashville. The colorful illustration features the main character running and gleefully smiling while other characters follow behind on what looks to be a gingerbread-colored road.
“Kidtropolis,” a production for children ages 2 to 5, is described as a city run by kids. The artwork that features three smiling children pops off the page because of the bright crayon-like colors prominently displayed.
“I had so much fun getting to explore the environment these kids get to round around in kind of putting my own little sugary twist on it,” Reynolds said of the “Gingerbread Kid” poster. The other poster was “another great opportunity for me just to get to explore my inner kid,” she said. “I had so much fun playing around with the idea of what the world would look like if kids got to rule it.”
Reynolds was one of a handful of KCAI students whose work was front and center during the ceremony held April 19 at the institute. All eight posters that were on display were draw-dropping — enough so that I felt moved to write about it, which I will touch on later in this column.
Coterie and KCAI partnership
The Coterie is a children’s theater production company based at Crown Center. KCAI is a private four-year art and design college located near the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Country Club Plaza. For the past 12 years, the local nonprofit theater has partnered with KCAI’s student advertising agency MICRO to design promotional posters and marketing brochures for shows produced by the Coterie.
According to the Coterie’s website, the collaboration gives KCAI students real-world learning opportunities and a chance to hone skills while working with a professional theater. As a result, the Coterie benefits by having high quality posters and brochures to promote its shows.
The idea for this strategic alignment was conceived by Randy Williams, KCAI’s former associate vice president of corporate and community partnerships, who recently retired. Prior to working for KCAI, Williams sat on the Coterie’s board of directors. Williams said when he saw the amazing work students at KCAI were doing, he had what could be described as an aha moment.
“I thought, why not marry these two together?’” Williams said. “The students surprise me every year with great work and I’m glad to see the partnership still continuing.”
There’s no question that the students involved in the strategic alignment between the Coterie and KCAI have talent.
To say I was impressed by all the student artists involved would not be a stretch by any means. On this day, I was amazed by the colorful and playful nature of each of the posters that were unveiled. In addition, a brief performance of another musical called “The Pigeon Gets a Big Time Holiday Extravaganza” was an unexpected treat as well. And Khalia Davis Philp, the theater’s producing artistic director, was a joy to watch as she announced each upcoming production.
Sidenote: As a matter of full disclosure, I was invited to attend this event as a guest of a close friend who sits on the Coterie’s board. I had no intention of writing about the event, but after listening to the performers and hearing the backstory on how the student artists’ works were selected, I felt compelled to turn on my mobile phone camera and start interviewing folks in attendance. Because of the impromptu nature of my actions that day, I was 20 minutes late picking up my daughter from club basketball practice in Platte City.
As with any nonprofit organization, the Coterie aligns with corporate partners to provide the Kansas City community with family-friendly programming. Not only that, but the theater also gives performers, artists and writers here in the metropolitan area an opportunity to be seen and heard.
I’ll support the Coterie’s new season by attending one of its upcoming productions with my youngest child. I’d encourage our readers with children to do the same.
