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The Mineola Twins

Written by Paula Vogel
Directed by William Fisher
Design Concept

In our early conversations, William wanted to be intentional about the artists we were choosing to frame the timeline of the work. Since the story is told from the perspective of the Mineola sisters, we chose to exclusively use female artists from each time period. This music accompaniment served a very concrete purpose, audibly taking us from one decade to another; but it also served as a peek into the internal mental trajectory of our two main characters.  

Another huge facet of this work is the alluded backstory of the twins, plagued with mental illness, instability, and institutionalization -- which, at the time, included electro-shock therapy. While Vogel explicitly gave indication of moments when this haunts the lead character, represented by the echos of the electric buzzing, I wove that same effect into additional sound elements throughout the play. In the same way that PTSD and other mental illnesses are omni-present in the lives of those they effect, this faint buzz seems to haunt our character throughout the play. 

To make the buzzing effect more dynamic, I added 4 locational speakers, in addition to the hall's two main arrays and the subwoofer, putting us in 6.1 surround sound. I also had an additional practical speaker buried behind the set upstage for select cues. This gave me a lot of freedom and flexibility in how I was able to convey the mental decline of our main character and it made the practical cues (such as the nuclear bomb) much more effective. 

Cue Spotlight

More coming soon!

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