BWW Blog: Cheyenne Dalton - The Foreigner, and the Beauty of Sound Design

For most shows by closing, I'm sitting at the soundboard, tired of hearing the dialogue: I'm memorizing the beats in the actors voices, tracing out lines on my palms, you name it. Running a show for two weeks will end up with me either hanging on The Edge of my seat out of love and adoration, or out of dying, death, and despair. The Foreigner by Larry Shue, however, is my favorite show. I never get tired of watching it, of running it, of listening to the dialogue while I'm sitting by the board. When done well, the show is hilarious, sweet, tear-jerking at times (maybe I'm emotional), and just plain enjoyable. I am typically fonder of straight plays for sound design (although I do love mixing a live orchestra with actors) because of the incredible liberties I can take. Of course, most straight plays are realistic, so there's not a ton of magical orb sounds or dragon's roars, but I do have a recording of Sowing In The Morning played on the Harmonica for The Foreigner, as well as car horns, 40 minutes of rain, and an explosion. And maybe it's me, but I love these effects.

I love building rain tracks, complete with rolls and rolls of thunder; I love building explosions, laced with glass breaking and people shouting. I especially love searching and searching for house music. I think that house music is often forgotten about in modern times - house music (and intermission music, scene change music, curtain call, etc.) is traditional in nature. It's so nice to walk into a theatre, after being greeted by the incredible dramaturgy in the lobby, and be presented with carefully selected (or composed!) house music. I always think that house music helps the theatregoer melt into their seat and become a part of the show. House music can represent the time period, social issues, or even the way the director and Sound Designer want the show to be presented - and I think that's a vital part of theatre. For example, in Auburn University's production of The Foreigner, the director and I have worked extensively to create a playlist of house music that will accurately represent the aesthetic of the show. The scene change music reflects the scenes surrounding it, and the curtain call music effectively wraps the show up with a little bow.

Sound is more than rapid variations in the average density or pressure of air molecules above and below the current atmospheric pressure or a disturbance to the surrounding air molecules, causing them bounce off each other with a force proportional to the disturbance. Sound design leaves much to the imagination - I'm transporting people into a different time period (the 1600's, the 1980's, 2050), after all - and the imagination is the greatest piece of art.

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