The sound scene

Mike Hallenbeck only became a sound designer because he was a young musician with a home studio; people kept asking him to record cues for them.

Scott Edwards, the Guthrie Theater's resident sound designer, mentored most of the other designers in town. He is also partly responsible for the sound software used at theaters around the country.

The mysterious Mr. Andrew Mayer was the most reticent to have his picture taken until he learned of the company he was keeping. He didn't want to miss the party.

Montana Johnson, one of only two female sound designers in the room, theorized that women are less likely than men to say they know how to use equipment that they don't.

Peter Vitale, Ten Thousand Things resident music director and composer (as well as an Equity actor), performs his sound design live, with instruments, during performances.

Though his design for Theatre de la Jeune Lune's Figaro at the Berkeley Rep was nominated for a Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award in 2008, Zachary Humes seemed humbled to be included in this company.

Katharine Horowitz's favorite sound effect is, what she calls, "a whale on mushrooms."

Reid Rejsa, the Guthrie Theater's sound associate, provided a neat summary of the differences between a sound designer and a composer at the Guthrie. All I took from it: He's very smart. You should talk to him yourself.

Sean Healey did his first sound design at the Jungle Theater where he has developed a good working relationship with Bain because, he says, "I just know what he's going for"—a phrase that a lot of designers used when describing their favorite projects and theaters.