Theatrical Design

Lungs

set design, sound design, lighting design, technical direction

Lungs, a one-act play by Duncan Macmillan, was staged in the Hepburn Zoo Black Box Theater. The story follows an elderly woman as she reflects on a series of partially forgotten discussions with her now-deceased husband about the environmental consequences of parenthood. I staged these memories by wrapping the play space in a scrim that could become more or less opaque to represent which memories had faded and which remained strong.

The sound design was characterized by extended white noise swells which the audience would only note when they cut. These cuts were timed to heighten the protagonist's preoccupation with absence, both of children and of her now deceased husband.

Roadkill

devising, sound design, technical direction

Roadkill is a play about sex. It was initially devised and performed at Middlebury College as Leah Sarabib and Tosca Giustini's thesis in theater and was later re-staged as part of New York's Fringe Theater Festival. I worked with the team to devise a show around the sound. The story followed several college students carpooling home. On the drive they realize that they'd all had romantic encounters with the same woman, Lindsey MacPherson, and no matter what they try to do to stop talking about her, whether it is listening to audio books, radio, music, or even commercials, they just couldn't get away from her memory. We recorded over 40 audio segments for the show and our Fringe run also received a positive mention in The New York Times. New York Times
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PC: Dixie Sheridan, NYT

On An Average Day

set design, technical direction, sound design, lighting design

On An Average Day, a one-act play by John Kolvenbach, was staged in the Hepburn Zoo Black Box Theater. The story follows two brothers as one confronts the other about his deteriorating physical and mental state. Set in their decaying childhood home, this design created an immersive experience (complete with the ever-present stench of stale beer) in which audience members were forced to enter this world by literally crossing the stage to reach their seat. This design also created a sense of containment by enclosing the play space between audience seating and opaque scrim walls, which was later dissolved by backlighting the scrim to turn it transparent.

Talley's Folly

set design, lighting design, technical direction, sound design

Talley's Folly, a one-act play by Lanford Wilson, was staged in the Hepburn Zoo Black Box Theater. The show follows Sally Talley, a young American woman, and Matt Friedman, a Lithuanian Jewish immigrant as they discuss their potential future together in 1940s Missouri. The design consisted primarily of a crescent shaped wooden dock and integrated dynamic lighting, such as a 45 minute evening-to-sunset-to-starry night lighting chase that utilized string lights behind a scrim to create stars.‍