Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.
Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. was performed at Dobama Theatre in Cleveland in 2019. The play is a wildly experimental feminist manifesto told in vignettes. Director Sarah Elizabeth Wansley wanted to accentuate the feminine rage that is prevalent throughout the piece. We decided to do so by creating a punk cover band with our actors. We chose songs that commented directly on the experience of being a woman and worked with our actors to learn the pieces. I created lead sheets for the actors as well as backing tracks to fill out the band's sound. Miranda Leann performed as the lead vocalist and guitarist, with Rachel Lee Kolis on bass, Nina Domingue on drums, and Lisa Langford on drums. Among the biggest challenges of this show was blending the live instruments and pre-recorded backing tracks. One of the songs was done with full backing track, with Leann performing as a pop star and the three bandmates performing as backup singers and dancers.
Langford, Leann, and Domingue play "Machine"
Leann, Langford, Kolis, and Domingue perform "F*ck You"
The show also had psychological sound design opportunities. The final scene is an all-out smorgasbord of individual, overlapping vignettes as the actors slowly unravel. I wanted to amplify the overstimulation as much as I could. I programmed subtle tones that were barely audible, but created more tension. I recorded some of the actors At one point, I programmed a textural sound to follow one actor in her blocking. The result was a complicated, cacophony that aided in the madness. When one of the actors finally stopped to wonder at what was happening, the sound stopped as well. The silence created a much more poignant moment as the audience was invited to examine their own misogyny or experiences as women.
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Director: Sarah Elizabeth Wansley
Production Designer: Tesia Dugan Benson
Lighting Designer: Jakyung Cho Seo
Sound Designer: Megan Culley
Stage Manager: Megan Mingus
