Upcoming project: sound design for Flat Earth Theatre's RADIUM GIRLS

Having recently wrapped work on Eyes Shut. Door Open. (and having found the experience artistically challenging and quite a lot of fun), I'm pleased to announce that I've joined the creative team for Flat Earth Theatre's production of D.W. Gregory's Radium Girls. 

Here's the synopsis from the Flat Earth website:

Corporate greed turns devastating in RADIUM GIRLS, inspired by the true story of the factory workers of the U.S. Radium Corporation. Once considered a miracle cure and scientific marvel, by the 1920s the radium used in painting luminous watch dials has triggered potentially fatal health problems for Grace Fryer and other dial painters. As their health deteriorates, the laborers demand compensation from the company insistent on sweeping their ordeal under the rug, and Grace must battle the ruthless corporation even while radiation poisoning destroys her body and life.

I'm very much looking forward to working on this, and I'll be sure to post updates down the road a bit. The show opens on September 4, at the Charlestown Working Theater, and it runs through September 19. 

Come soon, you feral cats featured on McSweeney's Internet Tendency!

As a longtime fan of McSweeney's, I was immensely excited to have Come soon, you feral cats featured on the homepage blog recently. Check it out!

Work In Progress: Sound Design for EYES SHUT. DOOR OPEN.

Eyes Shut. Door Open. is a fantastic new play by Cassie Seinuk that'll make its world premiere in early August at the Inner Sanctum Studios (Roxbury). It's being produced by Wax Wings, and it features some truly remarkable talent. Here's the official blurb:

Eyes Shut. Door Open. is a modern Cain and Abel story set in the SoHo art scene of New York City Turner Street's bold paintings of eyes are the hottest thing to hit the SoHo art scene - they've even captured the attention of the elusive Johanna, who may have more than just art on her mind. But when his one-eyed, pill-popping, younger brother appears, Turner must face the disturbing truth of his success, and the haunting family secrets shut behind doors, as one man's trauma is another man's muse, and facing it could mean losing everything.

Written by Cassie M. Seinuk, Eyes Shut. Door Open features Melissa DeJesus as Johanna, Michael Underhill as Palmer and Victor Shopov as Turner. With Christopher Randolph as our director, we're heading into the dark, surreal hauntings of Turner Street. Brought to life in the Inner Sanctum studios in Roxbury, Wax Wings is delving deep into this dark play with by housing it right in an actual art gallery! 

I've been having a great time designing the soundscapes and music for this thing. I don't want to give away the plot, so I'll just say that the abstract, disembodied nature of certain sections of the play allowed me to freely pursue an experimental, playful, grotesque sort of an aesthetic that I might not otherwise have let myself explore. 

I decided early on that I was going to base a great deal of the material on unorthodox percussion instruments. Here are some of my key players:

Behold, the THUNDER TUBE!!

Bullroarer

Kalimba

Helix Bowl (how cool is that thing?!)

"The Night" - a new instrument from Meinl that sounds sort of like crickets

Exactly what they look like.

I tried to map things out clearly on paper before moving into the DAW. There are lots of cues and digitally altered lines of dialog throughout the score, so everything had to line up and come across as organically uncluttered as possible.

I made liberal use of SPEAR, as I often do (that program open on the iMac below). It's an unbelievably well made, useful program. Analyzing and manipulating the spectral data of these unique instruments was a blast, and I'm hoping that that sense of playful experimentation will come through to the audience (even though the resultant soundworld is, admittedly, freaking terrifying).

To give you a little preview, here's a brief excerpt featuring some of those instruments (and killer voiceover work by Michael Underhill). The text is copyright Cassie Seinuk.

Hope to see you there in August! You can purchase tickets here, and I'd highly recommend doing so. It won't be one to miss.

Video from Come soon, you feral cats

Have a listen to loadbang's wonderful rendition of Come soon, you feral cats! 

Mvt. II of COME SOON, YOU FERAL CATS (2015) by Patrick Greene (b. 1985) - a two-movement cycle on the poetry of W.S. Di Piero, composed for and premiered by loadbang ensemble. - Recorded during the premiere performance: April 28, 2015 at the Davis Square Theater in Somerville, MA, during AFTER THE THAW - the fourth concert of the Fifth Floor Collective's fifth season.

SBCF Emerging Artist Award

Happy to share the news that I've been selected as a recipient of the Saint Botolph  Club Foundation's Emerging Artist Award in Music for 2015!

The award - which consists of a generous grant, some publicity, and inclusion in a showcase later this year - goes to a handful of artists in music, literature, and visual arts each year.

I'm deeply honored to be included in those ranks, and to put this money to use in the composition of my next large project: Machine Language for Beginners.

Much, much more on that to come. :)