I've done theatrical reviews before, but none have really been focused around the aspects of sound. Being an audio production major who wants to work in the theatre, I thought I should review a show and focus on the sound elements. However, this isn't much of a review. It's more of a look into the sound behind MTSU's production of A Streetcar Named Desire.
Many people don't realize how the smallest details can effect the way sound is presented. Sound designers begin making the sound plot months in advance, and continue to work with it up until the show opens. MTSU's sound designer, CC Conn, actually works out of Texas at Stephen F. Austin State University. She was hired by director, Kyle Kennedy, and took on designing the sound plot for the show. She spent several months reading and re-reading the script, finding the correct sounds, and programing the sound plot. During the last week of March and the first week of April, CC was here in Murfreesboro helping to tweak the plot and make sure it fit the show perfectly. Tucker Theatre's sound engineer Elijah Whitney worked with CC once she arrived at MTSU. Together, the two made sure the sounds "fit the limitations of our theatre, and ma[de] some bigger because we had more to work with than anticipated," according to Elijah.
A Streetcar Named Desire consisted of 140 sound cues, but many were synchronized, resulting in about 100 calls being made. The sounds used ranged from a train passing over the audience to a phone ringing in the apartment. Speaker placement also played a huge role in how the audience heard the cues. In addition to the speakers that were already in place, CC designed speakers to be placed in various positions on stage and in the house in order to help with the direction the sound was coming from. I asked Elijah about the speaker placement for the show, and this is what he said: "We placed a speaker behind the radio, a speaker in the "bathroom" part of the set (stage left), one stage right, high up on a platform (to simulate sounds coming from an upstairs apartment) and two up in the theatre's balcony to make it sound like you were surrounded." Having these scattered speakers also be isolated allowed for the sound to be more accurately located in the set. By this, I mean that hearing a shower sound coming from where the radio is placed would be a little odd. The speakers on a high platform stage right allowed for sounds to be heard coming from the apartment upstairs. The speakers in the balcony surrounded the audience with sound. This was used to make it sound like a train was passing over the audience.
Overall, I believe the sound design for the show fit very well. The speaker placement definitely had an effect on the audience that I felt when I saw the show on Sunday. I thought the actual sound plot was very fitting, as well. The transition music was very fitting for the time period and location of the show, the opening and closing of the door was timed right, and the surrounding city and train sounds engulfed the audience.
