The Engine Of Our Ruin
by Jason Wells
Directed by Ethan McSweeney

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​Chautauqua Theater Company
Bratton Theatre
July 17th, 2016 - July 18th, 2015

Scenic Design: Charlie Jicha
Costume Design: Domonique Hill
Lighting Design: Megan Turnquist
Sound Design: Brandon Wayne Reed
Photos taken courtesy of Zachary Cleland Photography

About The Play

In a luxury hotel suite somewhere in the Middle East, diplomat Charles Manning-Jourdain meets with delegates of an unfriendly nation in the hope that a simple trade agreement will bring their two countries closer together. But this routine mission quickly becomes an international incident thanks to an idealistic interpreter with an agenda of her own; a belligerent official who brings a rumor of war; and Charles’s own staffers, whose attempts to cover up an after-hours party might just topple a foreign government.

The Sound Design


​Opening Sequence

The opening of the show straight away kicks up the pace with a high energy dance track as the actors moved into place. As the transition ends the text moves quickly as we watch an awkward first interaction between the American and Middle-Eastern diplomats.


Act 1, Scene 2 Transition

After a humorous opening scene we transition to the american diplomats as they party in the suite trying to make sense of what just happened. Keeping the vibe and energy up, I used a track with more of an arabic feel to it.


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​Act 2, Scene 2 Transition

The stakes are now higher as the diplomats figure out the reasoning behind their failed treaty was the translator and her own agenda. They quickly put into motion a plan to recover their original mission.


​​Call To Prayer

Throughout the show the script references off in the distance you hear the lure of an adhan. For the finale in the show as the treaty is finally signed, the Middle-Eastern diplomats argue over westernization in their culture as the adhan grows from distant to an overwhelming volume and eventually fading to blackout.