Selling SEX WITH STRANGERS: Regional Theatre Artwork For Laura Eason's Provocative Play

While Laura Eason's comedy, SEX WITH STRANGERS, about a struggling fortysomething novelist snowbound with a rising twentysomething sex blogger would definitely be described by many as smart and hip, its title, with its potential to inspire some provocative advertising, certainly contributes to the play's popularity among regional theatres.

After premiering with Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2011 and playing Off-Broadway's Second Stage in 2014, Eason's two-hander about literary celebrity has been produced around the country, but not all potential playgoers are welcoming the ways local theatres are promoting their productions.

"We had one woman, an attorney, threaten us with a restraining order if we ever mailed anything to her again," Freddie McInerney, director of marketing and communications for Hartford's TheaterWorks tells the New York Times.

What caused the commotion was the postcard for their production, showing a shirtless man embraced by an obscured woman with her hand on his stomach.

The photograph, as seen above, is the work of photographer Emma Mead.

The New York Times article cites more examples of artwork used to promote SEX WITH STRANGERS.

Click here for more examples in the full article.