Portfolio
This fast-paced “whodunit” comedy is performed with only four actors—balancing suspense, non-stop comedy, and a good splash of romance. With hardly a moment of silence, this show had a big orchestral score inspired by the music of Hitchcock films and an array of sound effects to support a wide range of locations and over the top events.
Photo by Karl Hugh, Copyright Utah Shakespeare Festival 2024
The war is over and the soldiers have returned home to their idyllic Italian town. This production of Much Ado embraced warmth, whimsy, and love throughout the direction, design, and acting performances. With a full orchestral score, live music, and dances, music had a wonderful place within this production.
Photo by Karl Hugh, Copyright Utah Shakespeare Festival 2024
A demanding editor has given an eager young fact checker a big assignment: apply his skill to a groundbreaking piece by an unorthodox author on a sensitive subject. The resulting conflict between fact-checker and author casts a comic light on the intersection between truth and art. Taking inspiration from various indie groups, music for this show combined electronic sounds, keys, saxophone, bass, and drums for a contemporary feel.
Photo courtesy of Pioneer Theatre Company
The notorious Robin Hood and his band of outlaws steal from the rich, creating a fearsome reputation amongst travelers through Sherwood Forest. Unlike typical Robin Hood tales, they do not share their spoils with the poor and are unloved by the people, who must also pay unfair taxes to the evil Prince John. In this time of chaos and fear, it is down to Marion to boldly protect the poor and convince Robin that he must listen to his heart if they are to save the country. My work on this production was focused as the composer - this play had a lush orchestral score that was exciting to create.
Photo by Todd Collins
Three plays, all interconnected, centered on a handful of soldiers who had been deployed in Iraq and their lives in the aftermath of a particular encounter with an IED in the field. Part ghost play, part reality and the places in between where those worlds touch. Music for this show combined sound effects like riffles with snare drums and ethereal synths to create a score that was haunting and evocative.
Photo by dav.d Photography
One of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, The Tempest is a tale of spells, storms, and shipwrecks; a story of love, betrayal, and forgiveness. This play presented the opportunity to spend a lot of time collaborating in the rehearsal room, creating and incorporating live sound effects, music, and vocalizations with the cast that was layered with additional original music and sound effects for a truly special sonic world.
Photo by Todd Collins
Years of success, meticulous planning, and an eye for detail have in no way prepared Vivienne Avery for her mother's slide into the grip of dementia. Initially hiding behind insomnia-fueled baking and a polite smile, stories about her mother leave Vivienne's inner turmoil laid bare on stage. Blackberry Winter juxtaposes these stories, large theatrical gestures involving shadow puppetry, and a childlike Alzheimer's "creation myth" to recount one woman's witnessing of the inevitable. Music for this show was heavily thematic, orchestral, and a joy to create.
Photo by dav.d Photography
You are an expert on safety, but you no longer feel safe. You have just moved to a small college town to teach architecture, but you realize that your nightmares have followed you. And now, uncertainty lies around every corner. Egress is a provocative psychological thriller that draws us into the mind of a woman struggling to face her fears. This production explored where reality and fears collide, where nightmarish soundscapes invaded reality. A synth heavy, liminal original music score underscored throughout.
Photo by Todd Collins
These warriors are ready to take on any comer. Their minds move at warp speed, their emotions jostle for position, their bodies are fine-tuned, and their hormones are raging. It’s war out there on the girls’ soccer field. This play moved quickly and needed a music score to match that was high energy and driving, relying heavily on synths and drum machines to help propel the action forward.
Photo by dav.d Photography
Amali is twelve years old, she is wise, and she is fascinated – by A Midsummer Night’s Dream; by her changing body; by the story of the children killed in the woods. With humor, magic, blood, and fire, this play is not your typical coming-of-age story. For this play, I created a lot of forest ambient, including some noisy foxes, as well as a score that had elements of playfulness and tension, wooden elements as well to tie together with the modular wooden set heavily featured an manipulated in the play.
Photo by Todd Collins
The inhabitants of a small farm in Alabaster, Alabama are no strangers to destruction and loss. But when an outsider arrives to help them make sense of the past, they must confront their mortality and deal with the trauma head-on. This show was a huge collaboration coordination across time zones in order to create remote theatre. Sound effects and the original music, with banjo is heavily featured, were added in post production.
Photo by Reanne Acasio
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The Trojan War is over, but Odysseus and his crew have not returned. Back home, his wife Penelope, plagued by suitors, promises to remarry as soon as she has finished her father-in-law’s shroud—which she unravels every night. Meanwhile, Odysseus is stranded on islands, caught in storms, trapped by a Cyclops and a sorceress, and impeded by other monsters and gods. This sprawling sonic tale spanned a wide variety of sound effects and music, including the making of monsters!
Photo by Todd Collins
Written for and recorded with the Janus Trio (flute, viola, and harp), this reflective piece played with the ensemble's instrumentation of something bowed, something blown, and something plucked.
A selection of example assignments, teaching philosophy, and my CV from my teaching career in higher education.