Service Learning Project Details

This summer, we are doing a service learning project with Tantalus Theatre Group, a non-profit theatre company out of Chicago. Our contact person is Joanna P. Lind, so if you have questions, please direct them to her. Ms. Lind's email address is: Joanna@tantalustheatre.org. I should not need to remind you that your emails to Ms. Lind need to be thoughtfully composed and error free. Also, so that her email box does not get flooded, each group should only have ONE person who emails Ms. Lind. I suggest the group's best writer.

Each group will produce two documents for the Tantalus Theatre Group: a general information brochure and a flyer. Tantalus currently has these documents, but they are not up to date. Those documents will be provided so that you've got a solid place to start, but Ms. Lind has indicated that she would like you to completely redesign and update them. I am still working on getting photographs and graphics from Tantalus Theatre Group for inclusion in the brochures. For now, visit their website. It is likely that you will be pulling your graphics from the various pages on their site. Take some time to familiarize yourself with the members, their mission statement, and their past productions. You will notice that much of the phrasing below is very rough and vague, so it will be the job of your group to expand and refine the ideas below as you put together your brochure and flyers.

As you put together the brochure and flyer, consider several aspects which will be crucial to your grade.

• Each document must present accurate and relevant information to the appropriate audience.
• Each document must consider the qualities of effective design from the Thompson Handbook to create a well designed and usable document.
• Brochures and flyers must be technically correct in information, spelling, and grammar.
• Each document must be professional and polished in prose and design to represent Tanatalus Theatre Group well. See the Tantalus Theatre Group Style Guide.

Update: July 10th

Ms. Lind has posted this zip file, which contains the Tantalus logo, old brochures & flyers, and production photos for their current show, Dreadful Penny's Exquisite Horrors. These photos are not yet on the Tantalus Theatre Group website, so this is the only place you will find them. Please let me know if you have trouble accessing these files.

Update: July 9th

Ms. Lind has posted Tantalus Theatre Group's Style Guide. Along with the style guide, she has also written the following disclaimer:

Please let them know that this is a GUIDE and as long as the design fits our needs, aesthetic, and branding, that we're not as married to it as we used to be - it should really be updated - they may notice some discrepancies between its rules [and the recent brouchures], but it's still useful....

Please check this page frequently, as Ms. Lind will upload relevant graphics and previous documentation soon.

Update: July 8th

General Information from Joanna P. Lind

From Ms. Joanna P. Lind:

I have been the Marketing Director for Tantalus Theatre Group for about two years. In that time, the company has made many new goals, not only in terms of our work, but for achieving success through improved branding. You can read all about our company and our work on our web site. The site will soon be redesigned and doesn't include our most recent production for which information is posted separately at this additional link (link coming soon). Also, our MySpace page might give you some insight into our audience and some of the people and groups with which we work and are associated.

There are two things we would like from you.

• First, our production of Dreadful Penny's Exquisite Horrors is going to two Fringe Festivals in August (Minnesota and FringeNYC), and we would like a flyer design for each. Our current postcards and posters have information on them from the original run and don't work well as photocopies, so we need something to pass out while we're away to aid in getting a good turn-out for our shows. Each flier should have a distinct show-related image as well as our company logo and name and include the pertinent information about the performances. Since we have two sets of dates and locations, we need two sets of fliers with city-specific information, but the general look can be identical.
• The second thing we want is a company brochure. We send out new ones each fall with our fundraising letters and pass them out at shows and special events as well as give them to potential donors and audience members. Past brochures are posted at the additional link and represent our newer aesthetic and branding - clean, uniquely creative, mythic, welcoming, and utilizing elements of our logo. Our audience has tended to be friends and family of those involved in our company and twenty-somethings in the local theatre community, though we're looking to expand to a more general theatre-going audience, especially those who support smaller companies and alternative theatrical ideas.

Please feel free to contact me if you need specific or additional information that you can't find in what has been provided or if you have any questions about our needs. Good luck!

Thanks,

Joanna P. Lind

Marketing Director

Tantalus Theatre Group

Tantalus Theatre Group's Mission Statement: Tantalus Theatre Group creates profound, intelligent and magical theatre that seeks to incite transformative experiences in ways that are tangible, authentic and original. In performance, we invoke a spirit of adventure and risk taking, inviting our audience to explore the boundaries between theatre and life. We examine the potentials of our craft and ourselves to reach beyond our limitations and, along with our audience, redefine our relationship to the world. Tantalus Theatre Group serves the world we would live in, the world it is our duty to create.