Crisscrossing the Galaxy at Faster Than the Speed of Light for a Hug
Director: EJ Soto
Stage Manager: Angela Lopes
Sound Designer: James Eckroth
This play is a one act sci-fi piece for children about a girl and her robot dog attempting to reclaim physical contact in an overly digital world.
Given the futuristic nature of the show, it was my job to sell that the world of the play is more advanced and digital than our own. Many of the sounds used were layered and sequenced. In particular, the sounds of the oft used rocket ship in the show lifting off and landing were used to communicate motion and scene changes and had to be given the proper weight. I also created a purely natural soundscape to fit a certain planet that contrasted the rest of the show, balancing out the baseline with somewhat random placements of birds and wind to sell how natural the setting is.
The Incredible Book Eating Boy
Director: Alex Keegan
Stage Manager: Angela Lopes
Sound Designer: James Eckroth
The Incredible Book Eating Boy is a one act musical about a boy, Henry, who has trouble keeping up with his classmates in third grade and tries eating books to absorb their information, only to experience negative consequences. Ultimately he learns how to enjoy reading in his own way at a pace that works for him.
At the Hangar Theatre we opted to use digital tracks instead of a live band. This meant that it was my duty to organize music cues along with sound cues. I communicated with the director and performers on what works for them as we divided certain tracks to allow for a better flow with the performance.
Two sound effects I created include book vomiting and a book storm. The vomit comes from Henry feeling ill, so I created a cascade of various book and paper sounds to punctuate to action. Additionally there is a scene where we hear a "storm" of books inside of him. This was created using the sounds of a real storm with accented winds as well as various intermittent page flapping.
Soundscape Design
This soundscape was an assignment during my time at the University of Texas at Arlington. The goal of this project was to create a multi minute soundscape based on a provided image. With this image, I saw an ephemeral and liminal space, so I decided to make this picture a moment in a story.
I created a narrative sequence that could lead to the painting, and considered what it meant to the point of view I imagined and how the beginning and ending environments relate to it. The soundscape begins in a coffee shop, progresses to a city which leads into this more natural space, before returning to the city and proceeding to an apartment. The tone of each segment of the soundscape is built on using music or the lack thereof.
My personal objective was to give each section of the soundscape a backbone, and add in various sounds that played at set times to make a living environment and make listeners believe that the world was moving.
Theatre for Change
Directors: Jesse Humphreys, Wyatt Niemietz
Efren Paredes, Deaveyon Murphy
Sound Designer: James Eckroth
The majority of my work for this series of short plays was working with organizing requested sounds and adjusting the volume and timing to suit the wants of the directors. Many requested sounds were simple to find, but one in particular I had to create.
This short but distinct sound played while a character attempts to navigate a dirty room. When an onstage bag of chips was stepped on, the sound of escaping bugs was played. It was created by layering hissing cockroaches and various "bug sounds".
