The Winter's Tale

A king consumed by unwarranted jealousy and driven to rage unleashes shocking violence upon his loved ones, shattering the royal family and plunging the monarch into deep remorse. But winter’s thaw ushers in a spring of regeneration and forgiveness in this celebrated romance, as a wise queen and a forgotten princess, together with their devoted companions, orchestrate one of William Shakespeare’s most touching reunions.

Music was the key to this show. Directed by the legendary Kate Burton, there was a strong need for music to help carry transitions and specific scenes. My associate designer, Ari Hyman, was especially helpful in researching and pulling music that fit the director’s vision for the show. I had the opportunity to use a class-learned skill on this show, which was programming mainstage. The famous bear from this script came alive with an actor portrayal backed up by a programmed keyboard filled with bear sounds that my engineer played every night to give the bear depth. This show taught me how to pivot and adapt very quickly, as we had some weather issues that needed some quick thinking to protect our equipment and our theater. We put body mics on the actors in this show, which was the first time I had designed a show with them since high school. Learning all the intricacies of line tracking and proper rigging methods was very fun, and created room to experiment with subtle vocal effects to key the audience into more of the story than just what they were seeing.

This show was designed and mixed on a Yamaha QL-5 console with a main Meyer speaker system, and EAW sound effects speakers. It was programmed using QLab and Mainstage, and the actors wore Shure wireless microphones for reinforcement and effects.