Innovating the Design Process: A Theatre Design Journey

Professor David E. Smith is a sound designer, composer, inventor, educator and author. He spent eight years with the Royal National Theatre in London, England where he engineered and designed the sound for many shows. More recently David has composed and/or designed the sound at Triad Stage in Greensboro NC, Arena Stage in Washington DC (Helen Hayes award nomination), North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly Massachusetts, Trinity Repertory Theatre in Providence RI, The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta GA, Twin City Stage in Winston-Salem NC, Paper Lantern Theatre Company in Winston-Salem NC and Cape Fear Regional Theatre in Fayetteville NC. David is the founding director of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts BFA and MFA theatre sound design programs, where he built a unique pedagogy for training young professionals and has published papers on the intersection of audience engagement and design.

• 1. Introduction: Innovation and Creativity 2. Prototyping as Design Process 3. Words as pre-prototype 4. Script as Machine 5. Symbols, Narrative and Vocabulary 6. Granularization 7. Purpose, Meaning, Reason and Research 8. Word-based Prototype Template 9. Simplicity, Syncing Up and Annealing 10. On-Ramp, Quest and Warmup 11. Meet and Greet 12. Designer Run 13. Next Morning 14. Fade Ins and Outs 15. Designer as Chef 16. Content, Distribution, Environment 17. Quiet Time 18. Tech 19. Observing Theatrical vs Dramatic 20. Ending Safely

"As an instructor of design, after reading this book, I found myself inspired to find new approaches and challenges for my students. In true collaborative form, Smith encourages one to imagine how their design will fit into the whole design and performance environment and how the rest of the designs will impact the design as well."Erin Auble, Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2024