Detail View: Graduate Thesis Collection: Echoes of the metropolis: a sound design for Sophie Treadwell's "Machinal"

Title: 
Echoes of the metropolis: a sound design for Sophie Treadwell's "Machinal"
Creator: 
Darko, Rowan Z.
Subject: 
Thesis (M.F.A.) -- Sound Design
Subject: 
Savannah College of Art and Design -- Department of Sound Design
Rights: 
Copyright is retained by the authors or artists of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Abstract: 
Sound is a powerful medium for expression. Its unique abilities to support transitions, establish setting, signify action, and even to subliminally manipulate the audience’s emotions make it an invaluable aspect of any theatrical production. Taking inspiration from the noisy world of the burgeoning metropolis around them, artists of late 19th and early 20th century, such as the Futurists of Italy and the Expressionists in Germany, turned to noise as a method of artistic expression. Sophie Treadwell’s Machinal is an American Expressionist play straight out of the noisy streets of the roaring twenties. Expressionist theatre makes an excellent playground for the sound designer because they strive to place the audience within the minds of the protagonist, as opposed to viewing the story realistically from an external perspective. Arguably no other design element can get physically into the mind of the audience like that of sound design because of this physical and psychological effect sound that has on an audience. Understanding its potential, Treadwell wrote sound in to be a significant part of Machinal’s mise en scène. Following my design for the Savannah College of Art and Design’s production of Machinal from conception to implementation, this paper speaks to the considerations which should be taken when approaching a theatrical sound design.
Abstract: 
Keywords: theatre, performance, design, 1920’s, industrial revolution, theatrical collaboration, expressionism, expressionist theatre
Publisher: 
Savannah, Georgia : Savannah College of Art and Design
Date: 
2014-11
Format: 
PDF: 58 p. : ill. (some col.)