When Elsa sings the lyrics, “the wind is howling like this swirling storm inside” during the Children’s Theatre Company’s (CTC) production of the Disney classic, “Frozen,” Richard Graham ’19 is part of the team making sure that wind truly howls. As the assistant sound designer for the musical, Graham is responsible for carrying the sound from the stage to the audience’s ear, crafting a world that comes to life with carefully planned audio.
“If the room that you’re in is too big to be able to easily hear natural voices, then we have to amplify [the voices],” Graham said. “[Being a sound designer involves] making the decisions about how to amplify them and how that is carried out, and then how any sound effects are played back as well – creating those, determining where they come from and working with the rest of the team to incorporate them.”
Graham stumbled into the world of sound design partially by accident. When he arrived at Macalester, he planned on being an actor. He played instruments his whole life, growing up surrounded by music and performance in many forms. When he got a work-study position mixing concerts for the music department, he realized he could blend his multiple interests into a career involving sound design.
“I realized that I enjoyed that flavor of storytelling, and it challenged me in a different way,” Graham said. “I don’t think that there was a point when I intentionally decided, ‘yeah, this what I’m going to do.’ But at some point, the phone kept on ringing and [I] went, ‘Okay, I guess here we are.’”
Driscoll Otto, the lighting designer for “Frozen,” approached Graham about getting involved with the production. Otto and Graham crossed paths in various theater circles, and while Graham had completed a few days of crew work with CTC on other productions, “Frozen” marks his first time officially doing design work for the company.
For Graham, working with CTC presents multiple exciting opportunities, from working on a large-scale production that fills theaters with hundreds of guests to catering to young audiences.
“Doing shows for children is really fun because, [for] a lot of your audience, that might be their first time seeing the play of any sort,” Graham said. “It feels really special to know that we get to have some part in what might be a really powerful experience for people seeing it.”
The process of sound design begins weeks before the actors and crew come together for full-stage rehearsals. Graham works to determine what equipment is available, how to set up the sound system, how to mic actors and instruments and how to distribute sound through various speakers. Before working with the actors, the sound design team works with the scenic and lighting designers to determine where speakers can fit amid their equipment.
“[During tech week], we bring everybody into the theater and incorporate all the technical elements,” Graham said. “That’s when we really refine the details of the sound mix and make sure everything sounds clear and intelligible. [We] incorporate the effects and any sort of moments of theater magic.”
Graham acknowledged that theater is a notoriously underpaid field, yet he found success in exploring his passion and keeping an open mind to new opportunities – something he encourages current Mac students interested in pursuing a creative field to do as well. “It is possible to make a living doing [theater],” Graham said. “A lot of the work I’m doing now, I barely knew existed when I was in college. Follow your curiosity about what kind of creative [path] you want to do because there is probably an avenue out there to make it happen.” “Frozen” storms into Minnesota April 15 – June 15. Tickets can be purchased online at childrenstheatre.org.
