Stage
Urinetown
Sound Tech Head
Date: November 2011
Group: Scotch 'n' Soda, CMU
Urinetown came during a semester crowded with school work and TAing duties, but despite that I managed to teach a group of freshmen the basics of doing sound with Scotch 'n' Soda. In terms of design, there's not much to say about the musical. We had very few sound cues, and I let the new students handle finding and making those. We used 14 mics and had a very simple plot that included only one mic switch for the entire show.
Cabaret
Sound Designer, Assistant Sound Engineer
Date: April 2011
Group: Scotch 'n' Soda, CMU
Cabaret was Scotch 'n' Soda's Spring Carnival show. It's the largest production that we do every year and it's shown during Carnegie Mellon's Carnival Weekend.
Sound Design for the show was pretty straightforward. We had effects for a telephone, an air raid siren, a glass shatter, and a radio broadcast. The radio broadcast was recorded by one of the directors and I then added the effects to make it sound like an old AM radio. The one unusual effect we had was a request for a "deep bass rumble" at the end of the show. It ended up being a generated tone around 40 Hz.
Boeing Boeing
Lighting Designer
Date: February 2011
Group: Scotch 'n' Soda, CMU
This is the show that almost didn't happen. We had some issues with obtaining the rights to the play, so there was a week right before tech week where we weren't sure if the play could be performed at all. Luckily we were able to perform it, however I believe that the terms of that showing of the play prevent me from publishing any photos of it at all.
What We Bury
Lighting Designer
Date: December 2010
Group: Scotch 'n' Soda, CMU
What We Bury is a student-written play that deals with sexual orientation. The play revolves around three characters, Jake, Vince and Darcy. The story takes place out of chronological order and parts of it happen in Jake's imagination. This was a staged reading, with a talkback held after each show.
Lighting for this had to clearly distinguish between reality and Jake's imagination. I went a little further and created ever so slightly different looks for Jake's memories and the present. Past memories looked warmer, and the present looked cooler. The stage was lit in 4 areas and we had some bright pink and blue colored sidelight for the fantasy scenes.
The Rocky Horror Show
Sound Designer and Board Operator
Date: Fall 2010
Group: Scotch 'n' Soda, CMU
The Rocky Horror Show was my first show not with the Edina High School Thespians. This was Scotch 'n' Soda's Homecoming Musical for 2010. Scotch 'n' Soda is a completely student-run theater group at Carnegie Mellon University. Everything from sets to sound to publicity is done by students.
For this show I designed a few sound effects (most notably the ridiculous doorbell effect) and ran the sound board. I mixed the show with a TAC Scorpion that we think is slowly disintegrating and used 10 wireless mics. The pit was elevated 13 feet above the stage and there was no noise shield for the drums so it was an interesting challenge to mix the show given the equipment and circumstances. I had a lot of fun, and I think all who came to the show and who worked on it did as well.
A Grand Night for Singing
Stage Manager
Date: Spring 2010
Group: Edina High School Thespians
A Grand Night For Singing was my first show as stage manager.
This show is a musical revue of Rogers and Hammerstein songs. As such, is has no script, only a score. All of my blocking notes and cues were written in this score so it was a good thing that I could read music. I had a lot of fun working with the actors and calling the show. The troupe awarded me the "Outstanding Tech Crew Member" award for the show.
Moon Over Buffalo
Lighting Designer
Date: January 2010
Group: Edina High School Thespians
Moon Over Buffalo was my second show as lighting designer and was a fun change of pace.
In contrast with A Piece of My Heart, Moon Over Buffalo was considerably easier to light. Since it's a farce about a troupe of aging actors in Buffalo, NY, there are only a few light changes needed since most of the action happens in one place at one time. Becky helped me with the lights as she did with A Piece of My Heart.
Curtains
Sound Designer and Board Operator
Date: Fall 2009
Group: Edina High School Thespians
Curtains was my third musical as Sound Designer at Edina High School.
It was a very fun musical to work on. It’s a classic murder mystery full of large dance numbers and fun songs. It was also difficult to mix, given that in some songs, there are 4 different vocal parts and that had to be balanced with a brass-heavy pit. In talks with our vocal director, the vocal mix got figured out, and, being in band, I went ahead and mixed the pit based on my knowledge of musical balance. This show was the largest in terms of channels used. I used 43 out of 48 channels in our board.
Godspell
Sound Designer and Board Operator
Date: April 2009
Group: Edina High School Thespians
I was responsible for the sound design for the spring musical. Godspell won 16 Spotlight awards, among them, one for sound design.
I handled sound design and board operation for the second time for Godspell. This is Edina's spring musical, which is much smaller than the fall musical. Godspell is primarily an ensemble show. Meaning that anyone at any time could be speaking on stage. We had 22 people in the cast. It was quite a challenge to balance all 22 voices.
This show was performed at a different theater than the other shows that I've worked on. It was in Fick Auditorium and the cast was often in the audience and in front of speakers. Feedback was a concern. That was dealt with in tech rehearsals by pushing the mic levels up as far as they could go without causing feedback, and then adjusting them from that level.
A Piece of My Heart
Lighting Designer
Date: January 2009
Group: Edina High School Thespians
I worked as the lighting designer for this show. This was my first time working on lights.
A Piece of My Heart is a play about the experiences of women, primarily nurses, in the Vietnam War. It is told through a series of flashbacks. Because of the way the play was constructed, I could use more intense colors and more impressionistic lighting during the show. The general idea for the lighting was that the people speaking had all of the attention. Sounds easy, right? That part was. Area lighting along with a few specials drew attention to the proper person. The harder part was picking the colors to be used in the show. Vietnam was to have a warmer color set, more reds, oranges and yellow-greens. When the story shifted to America, post-Vietnam, the colors shifted to a deep blue.
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Sound Designer and Board Operator
Date: Fall 2008
I worked as the sound designer, including sound effects, for this show. I also designed the opening movie, which you can view right here.
Millie was my first show as a sound designer and board operator. This is Edina's largest production, involving around 80 people and it ran for two weeks.
I previously had experience with sound effects and basic board operrations from Kindergarten, but I had never miced a pit or made a mic plot. I was left pretty much on my own to create the plot, and I decided to do it in a sort of visual table style. During rehearsals, I followed the script and wrote down who needed a mic and where. I then put their names into a table and marked what scenes they were in. To make it easier for my mic crew, I also noted what side each actor entered and exited from. With that information, the plot easily fell into place, with only a few corrections needed during tech week. You can view the plots for both acts below.
All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
Assistant Sound Board Operator
Date: Spring 2008
Group: Edina High School Thespians
The first show that I worked on. I worked as the sound effects designer and assistant board operator. Unfortunately I've been unable to locate the sound effects I had for the show.
© 2006-2011 Artistic Gello
