Joan Didion’s personal journey through the stages of mourning is awash in sound cues, many of the liquid variety. There are also a number of places where it is very visual in its descriptions, and I wanted to support some of these places with sound. Scott Moreau at BroadwayWorld fortunately picked up what I was putting down! This is the cue he mentioned, kept low to underscore what she as saying and not intrude.
I mentioned water, and it’s true that there is a lot of water in this show. The Pacific, the Hudson, the East River, her “vortex”, her “embryonic journey”, and what is represented in this next cue, a day walking around Paris topped off by a dip in a rooftop pool.
I also supported transitions, of course, and moments, like this one, as she recied the report of her daughter’s midline shift.
Janis Stevens in The Year of Magical Thinking
A play by Joan Didion
Directed by Dawn McAndrews
Set Designer: Jim Alexander
Lighting Designer: Lynne Chase
Stage Manager: Melissa A. Nathan