Playbill.com Selects Ninth-Grader’s Musical Artwork for National Recognition

When the theater department first announced this year’s productions, the promotional images featured AI-generated graphics. “I have beef with AI,” Dara B.B. ’29 told PolyNews with a laugh. “There were other artists interested too, and we were all like, ‘Hey, Mr. Robinson, is there a way we could design playbills for the plays and the musical?’”

Upper School Theater Teacher and Director Sam Robinson agreed, and Dara volunteered to design the program cover for the spring musical, The Drowsy Chaperone. Months later, that design was selected by Playbill.com as one of 10 featured covers from school, community, and regional theater productions across the country.

“I’ll talk about a student being a triple threat—they act, sing, and dance,” Mr. Robinson said. “Well, Dara is a quadruple threat because not only do they sing, dance, and act, but they’re a designer too.”

Dara started sketching ideas in a notebook before moving the work into Procreate, where most of the final design took shape. The process unfolded alongside auditions and rehearsals for the production itself, giving Dara a chance to observe how different actors approached the roles.

“I had a design before the cast list came out,” Dara said. “I wanted to make it in a way where, depending on who got the role, I could easily turn it into that person.”

After Anastasia A. ’26 was cast as Janet, Dara adjusted the artwork to reflect her interpretation of the character. The final design drew inspiration from Art Nouveau and Art Deco artists including J.C. Leyendecker and Alphonse Mucha, and flapper style.

Dara often worked on the design during rehearsal downtime, sitting in the theater with an iPad while scenes and dance numbers were being staged nearby.

“There were times when they were doing numbers I wasn’t in, and I would just be drawing while watching people work onstage,” Dara said. “It felt very in the theater world.”

Mr. Robinson said the collaborative process mirrored professional design work. Dara presented draft concepts, received feedback, and revised the artwork over several rounds before the final version was approved. In addition to the playbill cover, Dara also designed the show’s t-shirt.

“They were very thoughtful about taking feedback, but more importantly, just being creatively visionary,” Mr. Robinson said. The recognition also highlighted Dara’s broader role in the production. “Their work in the show was phenomenal. They learned to tap, and were a freshman working alongside a senior. Their total package of work on the show was extraordinary.”

For Dara, the experience also pointed to future opportunities for collaboration between departments at Poly.

“There’s a lot of ways the different arts communities at Poly intersect,” Dara said. “I wish there were more opportunities where the theater department and visual arts department could directly work together on design and poster elements.”

They are already thinking about what comes next.

“I’m going to see who wants to do it next year,” Dara said. “But I hope to do it again.”