All production photos by Simon Wheeler.
Embedded Files
Design completed for Ithaca College's 2025 production of Our Town in Ithaca, NY.
DESIGN TEAM
DESIGN TEAM
Director: Cynthia Henderson
Asst. Director: Jack Sharkey
Stage Manager: Riley J. Israel
Scenic Designer: Tanner Foley
Lighting Designer: Brady Fiscus
Sound Designer: Theo Roe
Costume Designer: Madden McLeod
Asst. Costume Designer: Hana Fiona
ABOUT THE SHOW
ABOUT THE SHOW
This production of Our Town doesn't try to be something that it isn't. It's a show about community, family, love, hope, and finding beauty in the ordinary. These core values have been abstracted from its original time period of 1901-1913 into a timeless, grounded aesthetic that feels closely relatable to people of all ages and backgrounds. Everyone has their own "town," their own community of people, and that town rarely looks like Grovers Corners, New Hampshire did in the early 1900s. This production reflects that, and it encourages the audience to slow down, pay attention, and care about the people around them.
MY PROCESS
MY PROCESS
With every show I design, I start with reading it twice. I read it once purely for enjoyment, and a second time to start developing ideas about how sound can help tell the story. Then, after meeting with the director and the design team, I begin fleshing out my ideas and goals. It was clear early on that this production aimed to showcase the soul and intention of Thornton Wilder's words. It would be grounded, intimate, immersive, and nostalgic. We wanted the audience to be in Our Town, not watching it. We also wanted it to be free from the constraint of time period so that each patron could see an aspect of their own community and experience within the play.
On the technical side, QLab 5.5 object audio was released just in time for me to learn it and implement it into this show. the 5.5 update allows you to draw a custom path between speakers, which will auto fade a sound as it plays, among other cool features. This was critical because one of my core design concepts was having the train help delineate the jumps in time within the show. When making a jump forward, the train would move clockwise around the audience and end with a bell toll, which came from my point-source church speaker. The train would move (and sound) backwards when going back in time, and ended with the same bell toll.
DESIGN GOALS
DESIGN GOALS
Make the majority of the play feel like a fond memory.
Immerse the audience in the world of the play by using a surround system.
Inspire Deja vu in the audience by subtly repeating sounds in similar scenes, e.g., Joe and Si Crowell delivering their newspapers.
Use train as foreshadowing - it sounds closer to the audience the closer we get to Emily’s death.
Add an effect to any background sounds when the Stage Manager is talking directly to the audience so that they seem to be peeking through the wall of reality.
Use only the inner surrounds when Emily visits life after dying so that the scene feels more presentational and less immersive, as she can only watch herself living her old life and not actually live it.
TECHNICAL DATA
TECHNICAL DATA
CHOIR RECORDING
CHOIR RECORDING
For this production, I had the opportunity to record several hymns with the Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers, which is a gospel choir on Ithaca College campus.
One of these recordings can be found in the "selected cues" section below.
George (Kaden Hawkins) and Emily (Corrinthea Washington) saying their vows.
SELECTED CUES
SELECTED CUES
*Headphones recommended
The Stage Manager (Alexander Ross) takes the audience through a time jump.
420v5 Train Timestretch 41.wavTrain Time Stretch: The sound that plays when the show jumps in time. This sound travelled in a circle around the audience using the surround speakers.
Emily (Corrinthea Washington) takes a final look at the living world.
285v2 Blest Be (Rehearsal, SATB, Medium).wavBlessed Be The Tie That Binds: The Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers performing the central hymn to the show.
The Dead (Riley Suzuki, Eislinn Gracen, et al.) sit quietly in the graveyard.
570v1 Limbo Ambience.wavLimbo Ambience: The sound of the graveyard as heard by the ghosts. Built out of the train sounds used as a metaphor for death earlier in the show.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse