The Secretaries
Texas Tech Theatre, 2023
Director: Sarah Mayhew
Stage Manager: Kaylie Jones
Set Designer: Matt Chilcoat
Costume Designer: Olivia Naomi
Properties Designer: Jared Hansen
Lighting Designer: Will Loconto
Sound Designer: Oliver Loll
Fight Choreographer: Justin Krall
Vocal Coach: Maddie Hiatt
Photography: Will Loconto
Sound designer for Texas Tech’s The Secretaries. This production involved bringing campy eighties aesthetics to the stage, for both comedic and horrific effect. The audience was encompassed on all sides by a custom speaker setup, including from below (used for muffled and low sounds) and above (used as an intercom system). I composed an original score, recorded actors, manipulated sounds from the web, licensed music and created foley effects in order to bring this cultish show to life.
This project has received the KCACTF award for Excellence in Sound Design in 2023.
This project was presented at Kennedy Center American Collage Theatre Festival in 2024. Scroll to the bottom to see the poster. This display won the KCACTF award for National Runner-Up and Region 6 Meritorious Achievement in 2024.
The Soundtrack
Safety Tunes: Chill Vibes for Accident-Free Days is an album containing background tracks from both WTA and the 2023 Texas Tech production of The Secretaries, both composed by Oliver Loll.
The Secretaries is written by the Five Lesbian Brothers
Samples used: Logic Pro x library, American Ladder Institute
Scroll down to see the poster
Sample Highlights
Opening Flattened
The show opens with a bang as the audience is enveloped in the sounds of chainsaws, old video technology, screaming and laughing.
Recorded actor voices, synth instruments and chainsaw effects.
Secretary Nightmare
The protagonist hallucinates the jeers and shrieking laughter of her colleagues.
Synth instruments and recordings of the actors.
Advertisement Jingle
The show is frequently punctuated by the actors counting the days on an “accident-free days” calender. In order to highlight the menial and repetitious act, the company’s jingle is played under each of these breaks, getting distorted after each one.
Synth patches, midi instruments, canned drum tracks, recordings of the actors.
Project Documentation
