The Prom
Music by Matthew Sklar
Book by Bob Martin
Sound Designer: Jeremiah Tuner
Director: Don Hill & Daniel Keeling
Scenic Designer: Betty (Junyuan) Xiong
Lighting Designer: Dan Volonte
Costume Designer: Holly Poe Durbin
Stage Manager: Jessie Marie Bender
University of California, Irvine Department of Drama
2023-2024 Season
Artistic Direction
The Prom follows the story of Emma, a high school student, trying to attend her school's prom after being banned for trying to bring her girlfriend. We also follow a group of Broadway celebrities who fight, for their own personal gain, to get Emma's high school prom reinstated. As a design team, we wanted to represent the contrast between the bright lights and high energy of the Broadway celebrities, and the conservative, lower class nature of the citizens of Indiana. For me, this contrast showed up in building distinct sonic enviroments for each location that is referenced in the script.
Photo credit: Paul Kennedy
For my system design, the biggest goal was building a system that allowed for sound to immerse the audience. A system that allowed the audience to move with the characters to each location sonically.
Drafting Package
Sound Workbook
The show takes place in multiple different locations both indoor and outdoor; with small crowds and large crowds. I built a surround system that allowed us to build reverbs that would replicate the reflection patterns of each space the scenes took place in. The system also allowed us to build layered sound effects that surrounded the audience.
Rowdy Parents
Early in the show, the parents confront the Broadway actors outside of the high school after they interrupt a PTA meeting. The idea was as each Broadway actor left the gymnasium, the crowd would get rowdier and rowdier. It was important for me to replicate the sonic architecture
of a high school to immerse the audience. This led to the choices I made for both the door and how the noise of the crowd interacts with the environment.
Photo credit: Paul Kennedy
Monster Truck Rally: Crowd
Photo credit: Paul Kennedy
The Broadway actors have the idea to promote Emma being reinstated into the high school prom at a local monster truck rally. I built an sonic environment that reflected both the size of the crowd and the intensity. The broadway actors are out of their element, and the crowd was intimidating. I built a crowd that came in layers. With the surround system that we had, each speaker was playing a different crowd track that I had built to give a sense of movement and energy in the crowd noise. Although the spaital aspect of this design is lost in the 2 channel rendering for my portfolio, the energy and tone of the piece still persists!
Monster Truck Rally: Boos
After they finish their presentation at the monster truck rally, we realize that the rally audience was not on board. Here, it was about building a crowd that turned on the actors; A crowd that was aggressive and intense. I built a layered crowd ambience where there are a few tracks of boos as the base layer, and and a few tracks of laughter that are automated to come in and out to give a sense of movement to the environment. it also highlights, sonically, how much of a failure this idea was for the broadway actors.
Photo credit: Paul Kennedy