Sound Design
Dancing at Lughnasa
Willamette University, April 2024
The sound design for Dancing at Lughnasa had, at its foundation, memory. Underscoring was developed to support Michael’s memories as well as the memories of the sisters. The design often layered the beat of the Irish Bodhrán with the 1930s dance hall music and radio programs. Playwright, Friel, set the stage with some key musical cues including the British Grenadiers, Mason’s Apron, Isle of Capri, Anything Goes, and It’s Time to Say Goodnight. The beat of the bodhrán was a way to ground the popular tunes to the time and place.
Holiday Shorts
Theatre 33, December 2023
Holiday Shorts consisted of 5 distinct plays from 3 different PNW playwrights. The sound design supported each piece and then tied the pieces together using popular holiday music from the different time periods. Several of the pieces were comedies and therefore the soundscape emphasized comedic moments through accented pops of sound.
The Names
Theatre 33, August 2023
Paul Lewis’ script offered a clue into the direction of the sound design with references to two pieces: Antonin Dvořák’s “Song to the Moon” and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise”. These pieces were developed into themes that were used to transition and underscore the memories of Martina’s most significant relationships during WWII, her sister Guilia and her german lover, Schröder. While these were important elements, the foundation of the sound score established time and place that transformed present day to memory and back again. The play is written in a cinematic style and the sound & lighting design aimed to support this style in performance.
Twelfth Night
Willamette University Theatre, April 2022
The design was developed to support the shifting in location and setting the time period through atmospheric sounds. We also developed introductions to each character - some of these accent pieces supported the transitions from place to place. For example, shifting from the storm in the prologue to Orsino’s Palace or the coast to Viola’s garden. The design tries to honor the original location in Eastern Europe while bringing some contemporary elements in support of similar decisions in costumes and scenic design.
A Bright New Boise
Willamette University Theatre, March 2021
Samuel D Hunter’s A Bright New Boise takes place in the employee break room of a Hobby Lobby in Boise, Idaho. The sound design supports the drone of the soundscape the employees hear every day: HVAC, fluorescent lighting, customers, and cash registers. As they leave work and enter the parking lot, the drone continues with the sounds of neon signs, cars passing, and the sodium parking lot lights. As Will hopes for a miracle, there are moments of transition where location morphs into a magical place.
Memo(randum)
Willamette University Theatre, October 2020
In the midst of Covid-19, Vaclav Havel’s The Memo(randum) seemed to speak to this moment and time. The sound design sought to establish not only the repetitive nature of the economy but also the absurdity of authoritarian beliefs and systems. The performance was set in the mid 19th century. The musical transition attempted to establish time while also emphasizing the absurdity of it all. Lyrical transition moved into the repetitive sounds of clocks, chalk on a chalk board, and HVAC thumping. Inspiration came from artists working with the Moog Synthesizer.
Midsummer
Verona Studio, February 2020
Midsummer was written by David Grieg and Gordon McIntyre. It is a walking tour through Edinburgh as seen through the eyes of two people from different backgrounds. The story is about connections, reflections, and rain - lots of rain. The sound design supports the production through developing location and mood while also playfully expressing the wonders and joys of Edinburgh. and first dates. Sampling developed from Scottish musicians.
Men on Boats
Willamette University Theatre, September 2019
Men on Boats by Jaclyn Backhaus is an adventure through time and place. It asks the audience to reimagine our Americana history through the lens of traditionally underrepresented peoples. Backhaus asks the artistic team to cast the production with actors who do not identify as male. The concept for the sound design was to establish the historical time and place while also layering elements that highlighted the diversity of voices Backhaus was asking us to explore.
The Harder Courage
Theatre 33, August 2019
The Harder Courage is a new play by Leslie Slape. It is a historical piece based in Western Washington in the post-Civil War era. Robert Day, a local logger & day worker is forced to surrender to Sheriff Ben Homes. Both must come to terms with capital punishment, imprisonment, and their duties as soldiers, husbands, fathers, and sons. The piece transitions between the forest, jail cell, courthouse, and sheriff’s office. The sound design attempts to establish location; remain historical accurate with traditional instrumentation; and support the emotional connections and state of the men as they move from capture to trial to conviction to appeal to the sentence of death.
Burst
Theatre 33, June 2019
Burst is a new play by Rachel Bublitz. As Tactix, an environmental tech company, sits on the verge of its next round of funding, founder and CEO Sarah Boyd must persevere through a late night interview with a particularly tough reporter and the waffling of her CTO. The performance opens with Sarah practicing her next TedTalk. The design begins with the introductory sound of TedTalk and begins to deconstruct that initial sound image as Sarah begins to “spin” amidst a lawsuit, a new round of funding, and a CTO struggling with the speed of growth. The sound design underscores the moments where Sarah engages her audience (reporter, employees, work partner, TedX participants) - the smooth talking, exhilarating engager. And as the late night continues we begin to see the small cracks in Sarah’s pitch. The sound attempts to support Sarah’s energy while placing her spin into context.
Dead City
Willamette University Theatre, September 2018
Dead City, written by Sheila Callaghan, is an ode to New York City and to a middle-aged woman - Samantha Blossom. This 90-minute comic drama — a hyper-theatrical riff on the novel Ulysses — takes place exactly 100 years to the day after Joyce’s jaunt through Dublin. Our jaunt through New York City shares Samantha’s relationships, fears, ambitions, aspirations. The sound design works betwixt and between the sounds of the city and Samantha’s dreams and desires.
Amanda Transcending
Theatre 33, August 2018
Amanda Transcending, written by Connie Bennett, is the story of Joanne’s move to the coastal town of Yachats, Oregon. When Joanne realizes her new town was a destination of a Civil War Era forced march of the indigenous peoples to resettlement. This production focuses on the diaries of Corporal Royal Augustus Bensell and specifically the march of a blind and elderly Amanda De Cuys. Amanda was forced to leave her young daughter behind as she marched in dangerous conditions on treacherous terrain. Amanda’s story is told through the lens of Joanne’s desire to honor the historical people of Coastal Oregon through the establishment of Amanda’s Trail. The design bridges the historical with the contemporary as it attempts to support changes in location and cultural differences.
Martine Out of Time
Theatre 33, July 2018
Martine Out of Time, written by Nora Douglass, is a story of Martine and her place within a small northwest town. Martine, believes she is destined for something bigger. As the play progresses, we realize her inter-generational relationships with her mother and grandmother are cyclical and not so strange or small. The sound design goals include: establishing time and place, supporting Martine on her journey through supporting her thoughts and expressions, and to ground the audience in understanding the shifting characters played by the ensemble. The design also highlighted women composers of the early 20th century which provided the color and feeling of a northwest small town just off the interstate...
Forgiveness Tree
Theatre 33, June 2018
The Forgiveness Tree, written by Kathleen Tomko crosses three generations as mother and daughters attempt to forgive themselves and one another. The Forgiveness Tree was planted in memory of a WWII bomb dropped by a Japanese pilot. The sound design weaves the spirit world with the memories and journal entries of the mother, daughters, and sisters.
Burn This
Willamette University Theatre, February 2018
Burn This was set in the 1980s. Wilson guides the designer with some specificity in cueing and from there, we attempted to establish the culture of 1980s New York City gay culture though transitional clips and samples.
Santa's Bag
Theatre 33, December 2017
Santa's Bag was written by two members of the company, Elizabeth Rothan and Allison Saucy as a children's piece. It discovers a toy forgotten in Santa's Bag year after year. The new toys deposited come and go while the lone toy remains. This year, the other toys find a way to ensure every toy has a home.
Shorn
Theatre 33, July 2017
Nora Doglass' Shorn is a play that has no time or place. It incorporates cinematic images in the writing while each scene is a snapshot of the lives of the three characters. The sound design incorporates the cinematic styling with montage and layers of sounds.
36 Perfectly Acceptable Mealtime Conversations
Theatre 33, June 2017
36 Perfectly Acceptable Mealtime Conversations is a play in 36 scenes. It asks us to consider a wide variety of relationships and challenges within each relationship. It also asks us to challenge our gendered assumptions as performers change roles in order to further develop character. The sound design works with the text in developing the Karaoke atmosphere. It also develops a soundscape that establishes time and place for each each scene. Several Field recorders were made in the development of this piece.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Willamette University Theatre, September 2016
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is a journey. It is also a metatheatrical exploration. The sound design seeks to support the production in three parts: (1) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's rhythm is developed from aural images of objects while (2) the court music and the dumb show music travels time and place, like the Elizabethan theatre, to build tensions and explore the emotional and physical sites in performance. Lastly (3) the players music embraces the English Madrigal tradition with live elements overlapping recorded textures and lyrical music.
Maresfield Garden
Theatre 33, August 2016
Maresfield Gardens is a solo performance written and performed by Susan Coromel. Alone in Anna Freud’s consulting room, a woman comes to terms with her life in the shadows. Born into the Tiffany family fortune, Mary “Mabbie” Burlingham searches for the reasons that have driven her back to her Mother’s home shared with Anna Freud. Maresfield Gardens. The sound design highlights Mabbie's memories and supports the rhythm and layered texture of Mabbie's state-of-mind.
Salem Weekly Review
bobrauschenbergamerica
Willamette University Theatre, September 2016
bobrauschenbergamerica is a lovestory to and about the United States. Using the work of artist Robert Rauschenberg as our inspiration, the performance becomes a collage - a collombine - of Americana, American, America. The sound design is a tapestry of US composers, musicians, and atmospheres. Boundaries of high and popular art collide with the romantic, nostalgic, the patriotic, the urban, and the rural.
Successful Strategies or How to Make Love Stay
Theatre 33, August 2016
Successful Strategies is a contemporary farce. It asks us to weigh in on our life priorities. What does it take to stay in a relationship - to start a new one - to progress to the next logical place? What is logic in love? The play takes place in the Willamette Valley at a struggling vineyard with tensions between couples as well as the brain and the heart.
Blonde Poison
The Verona Studio & Play On! Productions, February 2016
Blonde Poison is a compelling one-woman-show based on the life of Stella Goldschlag, a young Jewish woman seeking to survive in Berlin during WWII. The design encourages the tension that stems from the decisions Goldschlag made, specifically to turn-in hiding Jews to the Gestapo, through lyrical underscoring of jazz and Schubert juxtaposed with hard accented aural elements like gavel drops, stormtroopers, and typewriters. From the initial design meetings, we felt strongly that the sound underscore cinematically and that it also support an urgency within the memories, nostalgia, history, courage, assimilation, and survival. The performances took place in a small end stage theatre and it was important for the sound to come from behind the performer in order to simultaneously embolden the action and push, pulse, and place into tension Goldschlag's memories and history.
*Best of San Francisco Fringe 2016