Creative Research

  • Sound Designer and Composer for Salt Lake Acting Company's "Egress" written by Sarah Saltwick and Melissa Crespo. Research for this production required a deep dive into electronic tonal music styles as a point of departure for creating the moody, tonal music score. This show in particular was extremely psychological, and the sound as well as the content and story of the play touched on themes of domestic abuse, sexual assault, stalking, and recovery. Performance, completed 02/02/2022.
    https://www.saltlakeactingcompany.org/component/k2...
  • Sound designer for Utah Shakespeare Festival's production of the new musical "Gold Mountain", written by Jason Ma and directed by Alan Muraoka. The entire creative team was comprised of women and BIPOC artists. I created sound effects used for underscoring during scenes to set the location as well as add or ease tension throughout the musical. Designed the sound system and coordinated with a crew during the installation. Sound design for a musical also requires me as sound designer to be at the helm for decision making and fine tuning in regards to the mixing, balancing, and processing of cast microphones and orchestra. Performance, completed 11/2021.
    https://www.bard.org/gold-mountain
  • Filled a multitude of roles on the University of Utah Dept. of Theatre's production of Storm Still that included composer, music director, sound designer, mentor, and sound supervisor. Create original music for a small band of three musicians (accordion, acoustic guitar, and violin) that played live for each performance, and also worked with the musicians to create live foley sound effects for the show as well using everything from odd instrument techniques, paint buckets and percussion mallets, to a charcoal barbecue grill with drum brushes, to name a few. Performance, completed 09/2021.
    https://theatre.utah.edu/this-season/storm-still
  • I composed original music, sound designed, and did the post production sound mixing for Salt Lake Acting Company's Production of "Alabaster" by Audrey Cefaly. Filmed via Zoom, with performers, designers, and director spread across the country (including Hawaii), the filmed Zoom scenes were edited in post production and sound effects and music were added in at that time in order to elevate and make the most out of a fully virtual production that was streamed for the public as well. Performance, completed 05/2021.
    https://www.saltlakeactingcompany.org/2020-2021/it...
  • From Plan-B Theatre Company: "Four Utah playwrights began writing 10-minute audio plays for ages 12+ on April 16, 2020. Then, on April 24, four creative teams were randomly created. Each team had access to the expertise of the creative team that's been creating radio drama together for over a decade (Matthew Ivan Bennett, Cheryl Ann Cluff, David Evanoff, Jay Perry) and rehearsed virtually, recording all of the components in isolation by April 29, and then edited and finalized their pieces with sound engineer David Evanoff on April 30 and May 1 before being broadcast on KUAA 99.9 and our free app May 5-8, 2020." The radio play I worked on for the project was Elaine Jarvik's "MY EYES ARE CLOSED SO PLEASE DON'T TEXT ME". I created/built the sounds effects, underscore, and wrote music for the 10 minute play in four days. Media Arts, completed 05/05/2020.
    https://planbtheatre.org/radioslam/
  • Sound Design and Music Composition for "The Odyssey" with the University of Utah Department of Theatre. Composed transition music, underscoring, and songs performed by actors. Created and edited sound effects, and designed the sound system. Research included looking into many genres and styles of music ranging from classical to contemporary, orchestral to industrial music. Sound effects also included creating vast amounts of sounds of the sea, multiple tempests at sea, and supernatural creatures to name a few. Performance, completed 11/2019.
    https://www.theatre.utah.edu/this-season/the-odyss...
  • Sound Design and Music Composition for "Form of a Girl Unknown" with Salt Lake Acting Company. Composed transition music, and underscoring. Created and edited sound effects, and designed the sound system. Research included exploring contemporary music styles, with specific focus on female-identifying artists of color. Performance, completed 10/2019.
    https://www.saltlakeactingcompany.org/this-season/...
  • Sound Design and Music Composition for "Lifespan of a Fact" with Pioneer Theatre Company. Composed transition music and underscoring. Created and edited sound effects. Programmed an on-stage phone call using the application Stage Caller. Research included exploring contemporary Indie music popular with millennials the same age as one of the main characters. The opening house speech was dictated by Siri, which took quite a bit of experimentation to get just right as Siri, annunciation, and punctuation have an interesting relationship (or lack thereof at times). Performance, completed 10/2019.
    https://www.pioneertheatre.org/season/2019-2020-se...
  • Sound Design and Music Composition for "Silent Dancer" with Salt Lake Acting Company. Composed transition music, underscoring, and piano pieces played live on stage. Created and edited sound effects, and designed the sound system. Research included exploring Jazz music of the 1920s and the sounds of everyday life in the time period. Performance, completed 04/2019.
    https://saltlakeactingcompany.org/this-season/item...
  • Sound Design and Music Composition for “The Wolves” with Salt Lake Acting Company. Composed all transition music, created and edited sound effects, and designed the sound system. Research included exploring modern music for inspiration in wiring music that fueled the high energy of the play and characters on a soccer field, as well as finding female artists to flesh out pre show music in support of this all strong, all female cast. Performance, completed 10/2018.
    https://saltlakeactingcompany.org/this-season/item...
  • Sound Designer and Audio Engineer for "Candide" with University of Utah Lyric Opera. Created and edited sound effects as well as designed the sound system; in addition to mixing the microphones and band for all performances. Performance, completed 04/2018.
    http://www.kuer.org/community-calendar/event/30004...
  • Sound Design and Music Composition for “Hir” with Salt Lake Acting Company. Composed all transition music, created and edited sound effects, and designed the sound system. Research encompassed finding circus music from various time periods and locations in order to create the sound of a "dark circus" to underscore and support the dark comedy on stage. Performance, completed 02/2018.
    https://saltlakeactingcompany.org/this-season/item...
  • Composer/Sound Designer/Music Director for “Love’s Labour’s Lost” with the University of Utah Department of Theatre. Composed music for all songs, dances, underscoring, and transition music. Worked with cast to teach them the songs as well. Created and edited sound effects as well as designed the sound system. Research consisted of exploring modern orchestral music as well as music from Spain, as well as the design (and construction) of a wireless gramophone that could play music throughout, cued by a computer program. Curatorial/Production, completed 10/29/2017.
    http://theatre.utah.edu/productions/loves-labours-...
  • Composer/Sound Designer/Music Director for “Ion” with Westminster College’s Classical Greek Theatre Festival. Composed all songs and underscoring, created and edited sound effects. Research consisted of exploring traditional Greek folk music as well as 1950’s cinematic music styles, as well as the location and wildlife of Greece for the appropriate sound effects. Curatorial/Production, completed 09/25/2017.
    https://www.westminstercollege.edu/campus-life/eve...
  • Sound Design and Music Composition for “Hand to God” with Salt Lake Acting Company. Composed a portion of the music for the show, edited music and sound effects, and designed the sound system. Research consisted of exploring current rock music, heavy metal covers of traditional religious music, as well as hymns especially popular in the Baptist religion. Curatorial/Production, completed 05/14/2017.
    http://www.saltlakeactingcompany.org/2017/item/115...
  • Composer/Sound Designer/Music Director for “The Two Noble Kinsmen” with the University of Utah Department of Theatre (part of Oregon Shakespeare’s Play On! Initiative). Composed music for all songs, dances, underscoring, and transition music. Worked with cast to teach them the songs as well (ensembles and solos). Created and edited sound effects as well as designed the sound system. Research consisted of researching traditional Greek instrumentation as well as modern electronic music of Greece in order to create a hybrid genre of “Greek Folk Electronica.” Curatorial/Production, completed 04/23/2017.
    http://www.saltlakeactingcompany.org/2017/item/115...
  • Sound Design and Music Composition for “Harbur Gate” with Salt Lake Acting Company. Composed all underscoring and movement/dance interlude music, created and edited sound effects, and designed the sound system. Research included study of the soundscape/environment of a desert expanse in Iraq, as well as current military machinery (such as the HumVee) for the show’s densely ambient underscore. Curatorial/Production, completed 03/12/2017.
    http://www.saltlakeactingcompany.org/2017/item/115...
  • Sound Design and Music Composition for Bull Shark Attack with Salt Lake Acting Company. Created abstract and ambient soundscapes for production as well as sound effects. Music created for production was largely scored using various synthesizers. Sound effect work included crafting a highly detailed seascape complete with two fatal shark attacks. Curatorial/Production, completed 09/2016.
    http://www.saltlakeactingcompany.org/this-season/i...
  • Sound Design for Streetlight Woodpecker with Salt Lake Acting Company. Created detailed soundscape of Philadelphia neighborhood. Much research and listening was needed to craft a realistic environment. Music was researched as well for use in scene transitions. Curatorial/Production, completed 02/2016.
    http://www.saltlakeactingcompany.org/this-season/i...
  • Sound Design for Hello Dolly at Kingsbury Hall, University of Utah Department of Theatre. Designed sound effects and balanced levels, equalization, and processing effects for orchestra and vocal performers. Curatorial/Production, completed 01/2016.
    http://theatre.utah.edu/productions/hello-dolly/
  • Original Music and Sound Design for Good Kids with the University of Utah Department of Theatre. Music composed for this play consisted of near constant underscoring throughout the performances and transitional music pieces in between scenes. Instruments used were exclusively electronic, with an emphasis on intense synthesizers and bass. Research included exploring both mainstream and independent music from the six months prior to the show’s opening performance, as the setting of the play had a great need to be immediate and topical. Sound effects created included many realistic ambient locations. Collaborators: Julie Rada. Curatorial/Production, completed 10/2015.
  • Original Music and Sound Design for Blackberry Winter with Salt Lake Acting Company. Music composed underscored the entirety of three segments of a creation myth about the origin of Alzheimer’s Disease. Instruments in composition included flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, bass, oboe, English horn, and piccolo. Each animal in the creation myth was represented by a particular instrument (i.e. melancholy clarinet for a well meaning yet tragically destructive gray mole, a graceful flute for the white egret). Sound effects created included many layers of forest sounds to create a verdant forest. Research consisted of exploring animal sounds and their physicality and then translating them into instruments with similar aural sensibilities. Collaborators: Keven Myhre, Sandra Shotwell, James Craig, K.L. Alberts. Curatorial/Production, completed 09/2015.
  • Original Music, Sound Design, and Music Direction for Twelfth Night with Salt Lake Shakespeare. Music composed underscored several scenes, as well as scene transitions, and also included four live songs and one live piano piece. Instruments in composition included piano, guitar, tambourine, harmonica, and blown jug. Research included heavy study of jazz piano from the late 1910s into the 1920s and also included careful study of rhythmic forms and chord progressions of the period. Sound effects created underscored several beach, ocean, and seaport ambient locations as well as a massive storm at sea that rips a ship in half immediately following the first scene. Collaborators: Alexandra Harbold, Jesse Portillo, Thomas George. Curatorial/Production, completed 07/2015.
  • Original Music and Sound Design for School for Lies with the University of Utah Department of Theatre. Music composed for scene underscore and scene transitions in a hybrid style of music I termed as Baroque Electronica, combining both elements of current electronic music and the musical structure of the Baroque period. Instruments in composition included harpsichord, violin, viola, electric guitar, synthesizers, and bass. Research included exploring both popular electronic and Baroque music in order to compose a hybrid of the two vastly different styles. Sound effects created included many comical sound effects such as offstage crashes and collisions with furniture, china, and unseen household felines. Collaborators: Chris DuVal. Curatorial/Production, completed 02/2015.
  • Original Music and Sound Design for Two Stories at Salt Lake Acting Company. Music composed for scene underscore and scene transitions. The story of the play focuses on the blend and conflict of two families from different cultures, grassroots America and Pakistan. Instruments included acoustic guitar and traditional percussion from Pakistan. Research explored various current American singer songwriter artists in addition to traditional instruments of Pakistan. Sound Effects created included many realistic suburban ambient locations and the recording of several cast voice overs. Collaborators: Keven Myhre, Jesse Portillo, K.L. Alberts, Elaine Jarvik. Curatorial/Production, completed 01/2015.
  • Sound Design and Original Music for "The Owl Girl". This play is set in modern day West Bank/Jerusalem and focused on two families on opposite sides of the conflict. Research consisted of extensive research into differences between western music and music of the Middle East in regards to rhythm and micro tones. Research also included searching for local musicians with expertise in the music of that region. Collaborators: Alexandra Harbold, Monica Raymond, Jesse Portillo. Curatorial/Production, completed 10/2014.
  • Sound Design and Original Music for "A Midsummer Night's Dream". This production held the unique challenge of performing all sound effects and music live with an onstage percussionist. Research included experimentation with extended technique to find what in the percussionists arsenal (marimba, snare drum, crotales, cymbals, violin bows, bell trees, and triangles) could sound like birds or even insects. Extended techniques were also explored to create musical pieces, underscore, and textures. Collaborators: Hugh Hanson, Seth Miller, Dave Evanoff. Curatorial/Production, completed 07/2014.
  • Sound Design for "The Last Five Years". This musical was set in modern day New York City. Research included exploring various New York soundscapes, including traffic, crowds, and wildlife (Central Park). I recorded a large portion of the show's city soundscapes during a trip of mine to New York a few months before the production opened. Collaborators: Denny Berry. Curatorial/Production, completed 06/2014.
  • Sound Design for "Once on This Island". Play takes place on a tropical island in the French Antilles. Research included exploring environment, climate, wildlife, time period, technology, historical conquest of region, and culture. Collaborators: Alexandra Harbold, Jason Bowcutt, Jeff Sturgis, Keven Myhre, Seth Miller. Curatorial/Production, completed 03/2014.
  • Original music score and sound design for "Romeo and Juliet". Music written for use as underscore and for scenic transitions within the play. Instrumentation included violin, viola, cello, bass, guitar, and several synthesized elements. The play was set in a warehouse dance club setting, my research consisted of exploring the genre of dance music and the sonic nuances of the environment in order to write music and craft sound effects to fully support the production's concept. Collaborators: Sarah Shippobotham. Curatorial/Production, completed 02/2014.
  • Sound Design for "She Loves Me". Production was set in the 1940s. My research consisted of exploring the aural environment of that time period, asking questions of how technology, population, and society affected the way the world sounded. Collaborators: Denny Berry, Kyle Becker. Curatorial/Production, completed 01/2014.

Presentations

  • Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) - Presented on a panel about teaching technical theatre virtually during the global pandemic. My presentation focused on difficulties, technical limitations, and solutions in teaching sound design and music composition virtually as well creative new ideas for distanced student learning. Presentation, Presented, 08/01/2020.
    https://prezi.com/view/qFOWkK4nX0g6YdfIuEp0/
  • Music Technology Pedagogy Summit at Westminster College - This summit focused on issues specific to teaching, program design, curriculum design, and other topics related to music technology pedagogy. My portion covered teaching music composition and sound technology with focus on its application specific to students in live theatre and performance. Presentation, Presented, 03/07/2020.
    https://vusymposium.org/upcoming/summit/
  • Panel member USITT - Diversity in Sound. Discussed the lack of diversity within the field of sound design and engineering as well as solutions for the future. Presentation, Presented, 03/18/2016.
  • Panel member of USITT Creative Teaching on the Web - Sound. Presented an in class activity for field recording training, developed in THEA 3500 Sound Design I for the University of Utah Department of Theatre. Presentation, Presented, 03/21/2015.
    http://areteaudio.com/USITT_Teaching/

Copyrights

  • Original Music and Sound Design for Salt Lake Acting Company's "Egress" . 02/02/2022. Created original music score and sound design for Salt Lake Acting Company's "Egress" written by Sarah Saltwick and Melissa Crespo. Music written was tonal and electronic, relying heavily on synthesized instruments to create a subliminal and psychological score to support the production.
  • Original Music and Sound Design for "MY EYES ARE CLOSED SO PLEASE DON'T TEXT ME". Jennifer Jackson, 05/05/2020. Created a dense soundscape of original music and sound effects/underscore for Plan-B Theatre company's Radio Slam.
  • Original music for "The Odyssey". Jennifer Jackson, 11/2019. Composed music for use as underscore and for scenic transitions within the play. Instrumentation included strings, piano, percussion, woodwinds, and electronic synthesizers.
  • Original music for "Lifespan of a Fact". Jennifer Jackson, 10/2019. Composed music for use as underscore and for scenic transitions within the play. Instrumentation included guitar, bass, drums, saxophone, and electronic synthesizers.
  • Original music for "Form of a Girl Unknown". Jennifer Jackson, 10/2019. Composed music for use as underscore and for scenic transitions within the play. Instrumentation included marimba, strings, piano, and electronic synthesizers.
  • Original music for "Silent Dancer". Jennifer Jackson, 04/2019. Music written for use as underscore and for scenic transitions within the play, as well as music played live on piano by an actor. Instrumentation included piano, trumpet, trombone, drums, saxophone, and clarinet.
  • Original music for "The Wolves". Jennifer Jackson, 10/2018. Music written for use as underscore and for scenic transitions within the play. Instrumentation included various electronic software instruments.
  • Original music and sound design for "Hir". Jennifer Jackson, 02/2018. Music written for use as underscore and for scenic transitions within the play. Instrumentation included bass guitar and various percussion such as glockenspiel.
  • Sound Design and Music Composition for the play "Love's Labour's Lost" by William Shakespeare. Jennifer Jackson, 10/20/2017. Composed music for all songs, dances, underscoring, and transition music. Created and edited sound effects.
  • Sound Design and Music Composition for "Ion" by Euripides. Jennifer Jackson, 09/08/2017. Composed all songs and underscoring, created and edited sound effects.
  • Sound Design and Music Composition for “Hand to God” by Robert Askins. Jennifer Jackson, 04/14/2017. Composed a portion of the music for the show, created sound effects.
  • Original music score and sound design for the play "The Two Noble Kinsmen" by John Fletcher and William Shakespeare (new adaptation by Timothy Slover). Jennifer Jackson, 04/07/2017. Composed music for all songs, dances, underscoring, and transition music. Created and edited sound effects.
  • Original music score and sound design for the new play "Harbor Gate" by Kathleen Cahill. Jennifer Jackson, 02/10/2017. Composed all underscoring and movement/dance interlude music, created and edited sound effects.
  • Original Music for "Good Kids". Jennifer Jackson, 10/2015. Original music for "Good Kids" with the University of Utah Department of Theatre. Music composed for this play consisted of near constant underscoring throughout the performances and transitional music pieces in between scenes. Instruments used were exclusively electronic, with an emphasis on intense synthesizers and bass.
  • Original Music for "Blackberry Winter". Jennifer Jackson, 09/2015. Original music for "Blackberry Winter" with Salt Lake Acting Company. Music composed underscored the entirety of three segments of a creation myth about the origin of Alzheimer’s Disease. Instruments in composition included flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, bass, oboe, English horn, and piccolo. Each animal in the creation myth was represented by a particular instrument (i.e. melancholy clarinet for a well meaning yet tragically destructive gray mole, a graceful flute for the white egret).
  • Original Music for "Twelfth Night". Jennifer Jackson, 07/2015. Original music for "Twelfth Night" with Salt Lake Shakespeare. Music composed underscored several scenes, as well as scene transitions, and also included four live songs and one live piano piece. Instruments in composition included piano, guitar, tambourine, harmonica, and blown jug.
  • Original Music for "School for Lies". Jennifer Jackson, 02/2015. Original music for "School for Lies" with the University of Utah Department of Theatre. Music composed for scene underscore and scene transitions in a hybrid style of music I termed as Baroque Electronica, combining both elements of current electronic music and the musical structure of the Baroque period. Instruments in composition included harpsichord, violin, viola, electric guitar, synthesizers, and bass.
  • Original Music for "Two Stories". Jennifer Jackson, 01/2015. Original music for Two Stories at Salt Lake Acting Company. Music composed for scene underscore and scene transitions. The story of the play focuses on the blend and conflict of two families from different cultures, grassroots America and Pakistan. Instruments included acoustic guitar and traditional percussion from Pakistan.
  • Original music for "The Owl Girl". Jennifer Jackson, 10/2014. Original music score and sound design for "Owl Girl". Music written for use as underscore and for scenic transitions within the play. Instrumentation included various Middle Eastern percussive, wind, and stringed instruments such as oud, as well as more modern synthesizers to marry traditional music with the music of today. A portion of the music recorded with local group Eastern Artists.
  • Original music for "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Jennifer Jackson, 07/2014. Original music score and sound design for "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Music written for use as underscore and for scenic transitions within the play. Performance included live onstage percussion including marimba, crotales, cymbals, wood blocks, triangles, bell trees, snare drum. Music explored extended technique including using a violin bow on cymbals and crotales, and playing the resonator bars of the marimba with various mallets for a variety of sounds.
  • Original music for "Romeo and Juliet". Jennifer Jackson, 02/2014. Original music score and sound design for "Romeo and Juliet". Music written for use as underscore and for scenic transitions within the play. Instrumentation included violin, viola, cello, bass, guitar, and several synthesized elements.

Geographical Regions of Interest

  • United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
    This region boasts so many wonderful artistic opportunities, I am interested in pursuing the myriad of opportunities found here.