Fun Home:

A Musical

Role

Sound Designer

Company

Wesleyan Theatre Company

Year

2021

Director

Ryan Kathman

Music Director

Merrill Mitchell

Emily sound-designed Fun Home which was Wesleyan's first musical of the 2021 spring semester. Her role included the sourcing and editing of all sound effects and atmospherics, as well as training and managing the students in the Audio 1 and 2 roles. She also communicated with the director, music director, and band.

Sound Library

TV Before "Raincoat of Love"

00:00 / 00:46

This was recorded from the cast and edited to sound as if it was coming from the Bechdel family's 1970's TV set. This effect played to establish Young Alison was watching TV, and foreshadowed the song Raincoat of Love later in the same scene.

This is a recording from the final dress rehearsal, taken from the back of the house. This was referred to as the Fight Sequence and immediately precedes the song Raincoat of Love. Small Alison's mother, Helen, tells her everything will be fine, which Alison then mocks, narrating the beginnings of an offstage fight between Bruce and Helen which the audience does not see. Alison turns Small Alison's TV show back on to drown out the fight, and when it all becomes too much, Small begins to sing the show's theme song, Raincoat of Love.

Offstage Fight Scene

00:00 / 00:42

Diner Atmospheric and Bell

00:00 / 00:31

The scene in the diner between Bruce and Small Alison precedes one of Fun Home's most iconic songs, Ring of Keys. In this atmospheric, you can hear Alison sketch the memory into existence onstage as the sounds of the diner come alive in the transition. We hear the diner bell as the lights come up, and once again to end the atmospheric and begin the song. The atmospheric underscored dialogue between Bruce and Small before the song began.

Bruce's Death

00:00 / 00:05

Described in the stage directions, this effect is "Unbearable, deafening sound of a blaring car horn" as Bruce steps in front of a truck and ends his life. It is the final moment of the song Edges of the World, and is intended to convey what has happened to Bruce through sound rather than sight. It is comprised of several layered sounds of traffic, car horns, and sustained violin notes.