Kerri Lane Mariano turned “Dodgeball” into “Dodge all” for this COVID-19-inspired movie poster remake. Mariano’s son, Shawn Sealock, is on the left, and her husband, Chris Mariano, is on the right. (Kerri Lane Mariano)

For a couple under quarantine, Daryl and Lydia Cobranchi have found a creative way to get out of the house.

The couple from Parkersburg, West Virginia, “travel” to a different country every weekend through meals, games, movies and travel documentaries that pertain to their destination. So far, they’ve been to Italy, India, Egypt, Morocco, Greece and Ethiopia.

Daryl talks about each trip with the fond memory of a seasoned tourist, using phrases like, “When we were in India …”. He notes that they were able to visit Morocco and Egypt in the same weekend, and says his favorite food came from their trip to Greece.

“We’re trying to be big travelers,” the 57-year-old said.

That’s not unusual for the Cobranchis. Before COVID-19, the couple would travel domestically one weekend per month. Internationally, they had been to Jordan and Canada together. When stay-at-home orders went into place and their domestic trips were canceled, Daryl said he and his wife were fantasizing about where they would want to travel when quarantine ended.

And so, their weekend trips began. Exploring different locations, they said, will help them decide where their future real-life destination might be.

Lydia, 55, plans for the trip during the work week, buying the ingredients she needs to curate a menu. Daryl describes his wife as an “excellent” and “adventurous” chef. The couple also researches movies, travel information and games, so they can plan other activities during the weekend.

When they went to Italy, the couple played bocci and made homemade pasta. They watched “Casablanca” while visiting Morocco and in Ethiopia, they played mancala.

Daryl said their trips keep them positive and give them something to look forward to.

“‘What day is today?’ I’ve had to ask myself that a few times and didn’t always get the right answer,” he said. “So it gives us something to look forward to for Saturday and Sunday.”

COVID-19 opened up a new world of exploration for the Cobranchis. The couple has found an outlet for helping the weeks at home feel less suffocating. Ogden Newspapers spoke to two other people who, like the Cobranchis, have found creative ways to stay positive while under quarantine.

Teen finds creating papier mache animal masks ‘therapeutic’

Elisa Trujillo loves art, but she had never experimented with papier mache until she was stuck at home due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Now, the 19-year-old from Lawrence, Kan., is making giant papier mache animal masks.

“I think art has always been something that I go to in a time of either turmoil or boredom,” Trujillo said. “It takes a lot of focus. You cannot stress about other things. It really is therapeutic to just sit down and do art for hours.”

Trujillo, who graduated from Bishop Seabury Academy in 2019, said her newest art project has been a way she’s stayed positive during the pandemic. So far, she’s completed a caribou mask and is in the middle of working on a zebra mask.

After that, she’ll make one of a shrimp and another of an owl. She first forms the shapes using cardboard and rags, and then uses copies of the local Lawrence Journal-World for her paper.

“It’s great to just wake up and now this is all I have to focus on in one day,” she said. “So I can spend hours just engrossed in my art.”

Trujillo paints her masks to look realistic, but then adds abstract shapes to her pieces. She hung papier mache shapes off the caribou’s antlers, and plans to create a crown of abstract shapes for her zebra mask.

Trujillo, who plans to attend St. Olaf College in the fall, said she’ll likely continue with her papier mache projects until she leaves. When asked if she would take any with her, she noted that they would be too big, and “a shock for my roommate when I arrive.”

For now, they sit in her bedroom. The caribou mask is propped up against her window.

Photographer remakes famous movie posters, adds COVID-19 element

From behind a closed door, Kerri Lane Mariano clutches a package of toilet paper. At left, her husband, Chris Mariano, tries to barge through the door. His crazed face juts through the bulging door, and in his hand he holds an empty toilet paper roll.

“The Hoarding,” the movie poster reads. “Spring 2020, playing now at any store near you.”

For the past month, Mariano has remade one famous movie poster a day, oftentimes featuring other members of her family as models, and always putting a COVID-19 spin on the classic films.

“You know, quarantine makes you a little squirrelly,” she said.

But pandemic or no pandemic, Mariano is usually up to something creative. She said her family is used to her “crazy, harebrained ideas and scheming.”

Mariano, a photographer based in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, has been taking photos of families from their porches or outside their homes during quarantine. She came up with the idea of the COVID-19-themed posters as a marketing idea for her photography website, where she posts the images.

Despite Mariano’s professional photography business, her daily poster creations are by no means meant to look professional. She creates every image only using editing tools on her phone.

“If you’re going to go cheesy, go [all the way],” she said.

“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” became “Everyone’s Day Off,” with the tagline, “Every man’s struggle, all this time and nothing to do.” “Dodgeball” became “Dodge all,” with a picture of the dodgeball replaced with an image of the coronavirus. And “Guardians of the Galaxy” became “Guardians of the Charmin.”

Mariano said her family got on board with her project after her first poster. Now, her husband, two sons and one of her son’s girlfriends help model. Mariano said her husband is more straight-laced than she, and that it’s been especially funny having him participate.

Mariano’s favorite poster is a remake of “Dumb and Dumber,” where her husband and her son, Shawn Sealock, tug at each others’ hair and eyes.

“Toilet paper hoarders being dumb and dumber,” the poster states. Mariano said it’s her new favorite photo of her husband and son.

She hopes her project will spread humor and cheer. It’s something she’s doing to stay entertained, she said, and “just to make us laugh.”