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LaGuardia High School Little Flower Theater

April 2014

Directed by Jon Davidson


For the first Spring Drama Festival of the 2013-2014 school year, LaGuardia High
School commissioned the theatrical production of A Flea In Her Ear, a French romantic
comedy written by Georges Feydeau. The play was directed by Jonathan Davidson in
collaboration with renowned actress Ally Sheedy. The Tech Department built two full
sets for this three-act play, and engaged in two live set changes during the show. I
personally worked very closely with Jon Davidson and Ally Sheedy as the Sound
Designer and Head Audio Engineer for the production, under the supervision of the
Production Manager, Brian Sciarra. This position enabled me to lead a crew of two
underclassmen embodying the position of A2 (assistant audio technicians). I trained
them in the art of live audio mixing, and ensured that the three of us throve as a team.

My first task was to read the script and translate lines and stage directions into
sound cues. I then created a list of the sound cues necessary. Many versions of my
sound cue list were produced. Perhaps dozens of revisions took place, as Jon Davidson
and Ally Sheedy would decide to add, remove, or tweak certain cues. Simultaneously, I
located audio files for the sound cues online, modifying the audio in Logic Pro in
circumstances where an original or customized sound was required. For instance,
whenever the bed on stage would spin, I was to play a montage of sexy soundtracks in
sync to the rotation of the bed. I would achieve this by tweaking music in the DAW.
Once all my sound files were tweaked and accounted for, I imported them into QLab
and organized them according to my cue list. I then connected a keyboard MIDI
controller to the QLab, and assigned each sound cue to a different note on the piano
keyboard. This was an opportunity for me to combine my knowledge of music theory
with my technical studies. Rather than hitting the spacebar on the computer, I was able
to trigger each cue musically by playing a specific note on the piano keyboard for its
respective cue. This feat of creativity that I had conceived of had proven to be more
efficient than the previous method of hitting the spacebar, and henceforth the
production manager will adapt to utilizing a MIDI controller for the triggering of sound
cues.

After the show ended successfully, I took the liberty to reorganize and
troubleshoot the entire sound system of LaGuardias Little Flower Theater. The
soundboard had not been repatched in a decade, and I simplified all of the preexisting
cabling chaos significantly. Overall, I furthered my knowledge in the field of audio.


Please contact Brian Sciarra for more information at laguardiaproduction@gmail.com