For the past couple of months, I have been sound designing a new play called Debutante. It’s written by Ryann Weir, directed/created by
Annie Tippe, and produced by Robb Nanus.
All three of them are
dear friends
of mine. The play follows three young women preparing for their first and, importantly, only debutante ball (debutantes traditionally only debut once). It’s not clear what time period the play takes place in, but it seems to swing between the 1930s and 1980s. There are aspects of the costume design, the set design, and the sound design that reflect this temporal ambiguity. From a sound perspective, I have taken some inspiration from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Why? The film also hovers between two time periods–the 1920s and the present day (the film was released in 1980). This musical ambiguity lends a mythic quality to the story: the music makes you live the story as if it has been told thousands of times. The music makes it universal. I feel the same about Debutante. The story of these young women and the struggles they encounter feel in many ways timeless. In a little homage to the film, I appropriated some of its sound design in the play’s sound design. Tickets are now
available for the show. Get them before they sell out! I guarantee you will not regret it. ART Debutante – as so many of free us still are
