The sound scene

Production

On Wednesday, May 5, you may have felt a disturbance in the sound waves around the Twin Cities. For the first time ever, almost all the professional sound designers in town gathered together in one place—Craig VanDerSchaegen's photography studio in the Casket Arts Building in Northeast. (Children's Theatre Company Music Director Victor Zupanc and Frank Theatre's resident designer Mike Croswell, who was busy in tech for The Transdimensional Couriers Union, tried but could not make it.)

Editor's note: Photos by Craig VanDerShaegen. Text by Alan Berks.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.




Before the session ended, we grabbed a snapshot of all the sound designers together at once—just to prove it actually happened.


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Comments

What an interesting group of

What an interesting group of folks! Nicely done, Craig, nicely done.

I am Proud of you, Andrew.

I am Proud of you, Andrew.

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