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If you're doing props for Forever Plaid some of the more challenging props to create will be the record album covers. These props are onstage for less than three minutes but their quality can make or break the moment. With all of the other prop challenges that Forever Plaid presents it can be hard to avoid putting off doing the album jackets until the last minute because you've had to focus your efforts on getting together props that the actors have to practice using - like the plungers, the microphone stands, and so forth - and then end up in a bind when it comes time for the album covers to come out on stage.
I created the album covers shown above for the American Heartland Theatre's March 2001 production of Forever Plaid. Those familiar with the show will recognize the titles as those on the albums delivered to the Plaids (in the box that also contains the "really boss plaid tuxedo's") by the house manager midway through Act II.
After creating the covers digitally I had them printed on semi-gloss paper at 12.25"x12.25" (the size of an LP record jacket) by a Kinko's store with an oversize color printer. The prints were glued onto the fronts of old album covers that were pulled from prop storage. The results were very successful.
Please do not use these designs without my permission. If you're doing a production of Plaid and are interested in using these covers, I can provide you with versions of those that you see here, but with the faces of the AHT production's actors blurred to make the covers usable for any production. These "Generic Covers" are suitable for use if your audience won't be getting a close look at the props.
If you would like the covers to be specific to your production (which has the added benefit of allowing you to make use of them as lobby decorations) I can customize the covers for your production by plugging photos of your cast into the artwork - and will also supply you with the covers laid out as an 11"x17" poster to give as gifts to your cast, crew and company, or use for publicity purposes.
Click here to view payment options and ordering instructions. I used several freeware fonts to create these covers. The creators of these fonts are credited on the individual pages for each album; click on any cover above to go to it's page.
The 1954 Mercury photo for Forever Plaid
I also have this image of the red 1954 Mercury Convertable. This is the picture that the Plaids hold up while singing the Mercury commercial jingle at the top of the Ed Sullivan segment in Act II. In our production the text "APPLAUSE" was printed on the back of it so that it could be flipped over to cue the audience when Smudge took the spotlight to do his Ed Sullivan impersonation. I created it by retouching a picture of a Mercury Hardtop from a period issue of National Geographic. The image is sized at 36" wide and when printed and laminated onto foamcore it looks great.
I include the 1954 Mercury Convertable image when you purchase my album cover artwork.
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