Coyote REP Theater Company
Ben Schiffer 2010.5
I feel my performance, as sound designer for COYOTE REP was exceptionally good. From my first week in New York City I was proactive as a member of the theatre company. Because the company is a small, not for profit theatre company, and the members of the company hold other jobs I had to send out a couple of emails before hearing back from the director. Before hearing back from her, I began doing basic research for my design based on the few details I knew about the show from conversations to set up the internship. By taking the steps to have some research completed prior to our first meeting, and making the email connections to push for the meetings and finalization of a script I could use to design, I feel I played a key role as the sound designer for this production.
Living in New York and working in theatre there is an amazing learning experience. One would think that New York is fast paced and flashy and fun and amazing. While it is all those things, living there alone leaves a lot of time for personal reflection. I learned that I can do just fine in a big city, but having a network of friends would have made the experience much better. I spent the majority of my free time exploring the city on my own. I would walk new neighborhoods, take the subway to where I needed to go, and go out at night in hopes of meeting new people and making friends. I think I learned a lot more about the city by being there on my own. I got to go to the places and museums that I wanted, and the times I did go out with others who knew the city, I got to learn the places my few friends there liked too.
When it comes to working in theatre in New York, it couldn’t be more different than Middlebury. At Middlebury there is almost an endless resource of music and sound to be found at the libraries that are available to the students. Designing in New York posed a more difficult task to find the music I was looking for. The other crucial learning point of working for Coyote REP was not for profit theatre companies move slowly. Though there was plenty of work to do on the project, making initial contact with the director was a bit difficult. Once the ball was rolling on the project it was easier to get in touch, but things still moved at a fairly slow pace. At the end of my time in the city I candidly asked the director if the project would have made this much progress in three weeks had I not come to the city. She told me that it would have moved much slower, and that it was great having me come down because it pushed the company to further the project.
All in all, my experience designing sound in New York was great. I was working with a company that was new to me, with new people, and a new type of theatre project. The project was a recorded sound play, which can be compared in a way to radio drama (which I have never designed for). I used my own personal sound and online resources to find my sounds and music. I also took advantage of the vast amount of theatre in New York. I saw shows and went to museums, including the Jewish Museum’s exhibit on Yiddish theatre. At times I feel as though it would have been nice to have a more concrete schedule, and work space. Because the theatre company did not have their own rehearsal space, I resorted to working at home. However, even with no theatre space, and not getting to be around for the recording process, I learned a lot from this project, and enjoyed myself. It was also an honor to be asked to stay on as sound designer through the culmination of the project, which will most likely be around the end of April.
Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship.