Behind the Look: Creating IMC’s 37th Season
Elves in a police lineup. A road trip gone delightfully off course. Two choruses coming together on one stage. Creating the look of the Indianapolis Men’s Chorus’ 37th season meant building visual worlds as distinctive as the performances themselves.
Long before the first note of the season is sung, there’s another kind of creative process happening behind the scenes at IMC.
Every concert begins with a question:
What should this show feel like before audiences ever hear it?
For IMC’s 37th season, we wanted each concert to have its own visual personality. Rather than simply photographing singers and adding a concert title, we approached each campaign as a chance to tell a little bit of the story.
That meant costumes. Props. Christmas lights. A lot of planning. And a group of singers willing to go along with some fairly ridiculous ideas.
Here’s what happened when we brought it all in front of the camera.
The Holiday Show: Apparently, There’s Been an Incident
The holidays at IMC have never been particularly quiet.
For The Holiday Show, our elves found themselves somewhere they probably didn’t expect to spend Christmas:
A police lineup.
There’s Sniffles. Twinkle. Grumbles. Sparky. Tipsy.
One appears to have gotten tangled in the Christmas lights. Another has had an unfortunate encounter with an electrical cord. One is crying. And one looks like they would very much like to speak to their attorney.
We have questions.
The concept gave us a chance to take something instantly recognizable—the classic holiday elf—and give it an unmistakably IMC twist. Costumes, props, expressions and a very game group of singers did the rest.
The finished image captures exactly what audiences have come to expect from an IMC holiday: plenty of beautiful music, plenty of heart and just enough chaos to keep things interesting.
Wet Hot American Road Trip: Everybody in the Van
For spring, we’re hitting the road.
Wet Hot American Road Trip takes its inspiration from the great American road trip: open highways, questionable decisions, unexpected detours and discovering something about yourself somewhere along the way.
So naturally, we needed a van.
For the shoot, we packed our travelers together and created our own version of a cross-country adventure—complete with maps, luggage, roadside energy and the kind of personalities you might regret agreeing to spend several thousand miles with.
The result is colorful, a little ridiculous and full of personality.
Which happens to be a pretty good preview of where this trip is headed.
IMC + Purdue: Two Choruses. One Stage.
For February, the concept became much simpler.
When the Indianapolis Men’s Chorus and Purdue Varsity Glee Club come together, the collaboration itself is the story.
Two ensembles. Two traditions. Two distinctive identities. One stage.
Instead of constructing an elaborate scene around them, the campaign puts representatives of the two choruses side by side, dressed for the occasion and set against a bold field of Purdue gold.
The result is deliberately straightforward:
IMC + Purdue.
Sometimes that’s all you need.
Pride on the Lawn: Sunday in the Park
For Pride on the Lawn, we traded the photo studio for something that looks a little more like a painting.
The inspiration began with Georges Seurat’s iconic A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte and the world of Sunday in the Park with George: a summer afternoon, figures scattered across a park, parasols, picnics and an almost impossibly idyllic landscape.
Then we put IMC in the picture.
The finished scene didn’t exist when the camera clicked. Each singer was photographed separately in period-inspired costume, posed and lit with the final composition already in mind. From there, the image was built in post-production, bringing the individual portraits together, constructing the landscape around them, and carefully shaping the light, color, texture and detail across the entire composition.
The final step was transforming the photographic elements with a painterly treatment inspired by the artwork that started it all. It’s part photography, part compositing and part illustration, a photograph deliberately pushed beyond photography through the design process.
And that’s where much of the fun happened.
Look closely and you’ll find all the little choices that bring the scene to life: the poses, the costumes, the picnic, the parasols, the figures interacting across a landscape they never actually occupied together, and, of course, the dog.
The result feels familiar, but not quite.
Historic, but definitely not serious.
And for a free outdoor concert called Pride on the Lawn, we couldn’t imagine a more appropriate place to spend a summer afternoon.
Big Gay Prom: Rouge! - A Little Leg, Please
For Big Gay Prom: Rouge!, subtlety was never really an option.
Inspired by the decadent world of the Moulin Rouge and Parisian cabaret, the concept started with red satin, black lace, fishnets and one very important question:
How much leg is too much leg?
Apparently, we never found the answer.
Rather than building an elaborate scene, the photography focuses on the details, the costumes, textures, poses and unapologetic theatricality of a night designed to be bigger, bolder and just a little scandalous.
The shoot also plays with one of our favorite things about Big Gay Prom: the chance to dress up, become someone else for an evening and celebrate without taking ourselves too seriously.
The result is glamorous, cheeky and unmistakably Rouge!
One Season. Many Different Worlds.
Put the finished images next to one another and they couldn’t be more different: Christmas elves under investigation, travelers packed into a van, two choruses meeting face-to-face, and a summer afternoon that looks like IMC somehow wandered into a 19th-century painting.
That’s intentional.
Each event in IMC’s 37th season has its own personality, and the visual campaign gives audiences their first glimpse into those worlds months before the singers ever step onto the stage.
Sometimes the idea is theatrical. Sometimes it’s ridiculous. Sometimes it begins with a familiar work of art and becomes something entirely new through photography and design. And sometimes the strongest thing you can do is simply put people together and let them tell the story.
But look a little closer and there’s something connecting all of them.
Joy. Humor. Personality. A willingness to be unexpected. And people coming together to create something they couldn’t create alone.
That feels a lot like IMC.
And this was only the photo shoot.
Wait until you see what happens on stage.
Creative Team
Art Direction, Photography & Design
Zac Neulieb
Creative Concepting
Stephen McCoy
Marketing & Production Assistance
Matthew Creek
IMC Singer Models
Matthew Ambrosen · Manni Baez · Steve Beebe · Brian Cassano · Matthew Creek · Milo Ellis · Cait Harrington · Harlan Phillips · Danny Kingston · Kwesi Kakraba-Ampeh · Nick Lyons · Edric Mitchell · Joseph Perkins, Jr. · Jacob Tribby
Experience IMC’s 37th Season
Season subscriptions are now on sale, giving subscribers first access to seats before individual mainstage tickets become available in September.
Mainstage Subscription - $85
The Holiday Show + Wet Hot American Road Trip
Full Season Subscription - $115
The Holiday Show + Wet Hot American Road Trip + Indianapolis Men’s Chorus + Purdue Varsity Glee Club