Her Honor Jane Byrne
Written and Directed by J. Nicole Brooks
Written and Directed by J. Nicole Brooks
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Lookingglass Theatre Company Water Tower Water Works November 14th - December 19th, 2021 Scenic Design: Yu Shibagaki Costume Design: Mieka Van der Ploeg Lighting Design: Christine A. Binder Projection Design: Rasean Davonte Johnson Sound Design: Christopher LaPorte Composer: Michael Huey Audio Supervisor: Brandon Reed |
Photos taken courtesy of Liz Lauren
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Chicago is “The City That Works”—but does it work for everybody? It’s 1981, the city’s simmering pot of neglected problems boils over, and Chicago’s first woman mayor is moving into Cabrini-Green. Is this just a P.R. stunt, or will it bring the City together? For the next three weeks, residents, activists, media, the “Machine,” and the Mayor herself will collide as the City’s raw truths are exposed. Who will come out on top?
This was my first production as the Sound Supervisor for Lookingglass Theatre Company, and it was also the first production that the company presented after reopening from the events of the COVID-19 pandemic. The original production opened just five days before the pandemic, and was forced to close it's run extremely early. In order to make sure that this production got it's proper conclusion, we opened the season with a "remount" version of the show featuring most of the original cast as well as the original design team. I stepped into this production with a sound system that was half in place and half that was not functioning. I came into the space with only two weeks to get the show up and running knowing nothing at all about the space or the inventory we had. The previous Sound Supervisor was also not experienced enough to leave proper documentation so I had to have conversations with the sound designer as well as load up the console file in order to see and make sense of how the sound system was structured.
I started off by taking the rental invoice from the last version of the show and re-ordered the exact rental package in order to make sure that the show met the original needs. I also made sure that the original tuning of the sound system was in tact in the digital processing units that Lookingglass owned in house by having the sound designer come in and check the system tuning post load-in. The sound system consisted of two clusters of speakers (QSC K12s) in order to cover the thrust seating configuration. There was also a Meyer USW-1P and two Meyer M1D subwoofers under the audience risers to get the low end we needed. We also had two QSC K12s hidden behind the wall of TVs in order to source sound effects, and soundscapes from the TVs for impact. For practicals we also had a wireless IEM that was hidden inside of a prop radio, as well as a QSC K12 behind the audience risers to source some riot sounds as well as an EAW JF60 by another TV for one moment in the show. It was a great way for me to learn what we had in stock and what were able to do as a company.
This was my first production as the Sound Supervisor for Lookingglass Theatre Company, and it was also the first production that the company presented after reopening from the events of the COVID-19 pandemic. The original production opened just five days before the pandemic, and was forced to close it's run extremely early. In order to make sure that this production got it's proper conclusion, we opened the season with a "remount" version of the show featuring most of the original cast as well as the original design team. I stepped into this production with a sound system that was half in place and half that was not functioning. I came into the space with only two weeks to get the show up and running knowing nothing at all about the space or the inventory we had. The previous Sound Supervisor was also not experienced enough to leave proper documentation so I had to have conversations with the sound designer as well as load up the console file in order to see and make sense of how the sound system was structured.
I started off by taking the rental invoice from the last version of the show and re-ordered the exact rental package in order to make sure that the show met the original needs. I also made sure that the original tuning of the sound system was in tact in the digital processing units that Lookingglass owned in house by having the sound designer come in and check the system tuning post load-in. The sound system consisted of two clusters of speakers (QSC K12s) in order to cover the thrust seating configuration. There was also a Meyer USW-1P and two Meyer M1D subwoofers under the audience risers to get the low end we needed. We also had two QSC K12s hidden behind the wall of TVs in order to source sound effects, and soundscapes from the TVs for impact. For practicals we also had a wireless IEM that was hidden inside of a prop radio, as well as a QSC K12 behind the audience risers to source some riot sounds as well as an EAW JF60 by another TV for one moment in the show. It was a great way for me to learn what we had in stock and what were able to do as a company.