The Tempest
Sound Design
KELSEY THEATRE
DIRECTOR: Dona Freeman SCENIC: Benjamen Olsen LIGHTING: Brian Bjorklund COSTUME: Amiee Jillson SOUND: Jake Roberts and Laura Beck COMPOSITION: Ryan Evans PHOTOGRAPHY: Heidi Bohnenkamp
This show was a part of the National Schools of Theater ten year accreditation review, a section of which may be found on the Director, Dona Freeman’s website Here. We worked closely with composer Ryan Evans over our entire design process, and our recordings of his finalized music may be found on his website Here.
(go to this time at the video of the full production video above)
(0:00:00) Opening Storm: This is the final storm as developed above
(1:05:07) Banquet and Harpy: In this scene the Ariels create an image of a banquet, that they then make vanish and scare the king and his retainers with a harpy. The mirage is accompanied by the “magic” music of the Ariels with live vocals and offstage guitar and bass reinforced through the speaker system. The quick vanishing is accompanied by sound cues of a huge clap of thunder and a cacophony of harsh bird cries, establishing the atmosphere of fear before the lights reveal the harpy the Ariels construct.
(0:43:37) Storm and Song: This scene demonstrates the continued use of the storm that was established at the beginning of the show. As a design team we decided the storm is still present throughout most of the show, demonstrating the bleakness of the isle, and providing a foil to Prospero’s eventual turn to forgiveness. This comic scene has thunder and rain harsh at first, then lessening as the song and physical comedy distract from the isolation of the shipwrecked crew members.
(1:27:12) Masque: Here Prospero has Ariel create a wedding celebration for the happy couple, complete with goddesses singing and dancing. We created somewhat ethereal wind chime effects to be played in the introduction to this moment, both to set the scene and cover the noise of many scenic battens being flown in to create the magical backdrop. We also hid an omni-directional mic in one of these scenic lines so that we could mix the live singing volume to match that of the offstage musicians, as several performers were otherwise unable to get the volume necessary.