Sound Design Proposal EHS Fall Play A Raisin in the Sun Compiled by Matthew Jack Soundtrack: The setting

g of the play is 1950's Chicago, suggesting Blues and Jazz with a heavy Soul and Ragtime influence. The mood would swing on either the upbeat and exciting (Mahalia Jackson Move On Up a Little Higher) or downtempo, depressing and (Dinah Washington This Bitter Earth), with a lesser range in the middle (Erskine Hawkins After Hours). There are also instances of tribal African music, drum heavy and primitive (Olatunji Why Do You Run Away?) The raw and live-audience feel of this genre would lend itself to actual live music, not to the extent of an orchestra pit, but a piano and possibly brass instruments, which could easily be recorded and positioned advantageously to acoustics. Tribal music could be substituted or supplemented with a setup like Homemade Drums from the 2012 Talent Show. Sound Cues: Doorbell, phone ring, radio seek or warming up sound, alarm clock, vacuum cleaner muffled by a floor, clink of a coin and the sound of a key in a lock(?), Ruth's voice off stage. CUE NOTES ACT ONE SCENE 1 p. 1 Alarm cloud sounds in bedroom p. 17 He tosses back a coin and we hear a clink p. 34 looking up to the ceiling where a vacuum cleaner has started up SCENE 2 p. 41 A spirited gospel number on the radio fills the apartment. - Mahalia Jackson's Move On Up a Little Higher or I'm Gonna Live The Life I Sing About in My Dreams p. 47 doorbell rings ACT TWO SCENE 1 p. 64 She has the radio going: a good loud blues or perhaps Dinah Washington's This Bitter Earth

p. 64 A lovely Nigerian melody Olatunji's album, Drums of Passion album cut: Adunde p. 67 The doorbell rings p. 77 A key is heard in the door SCENE 2 p. 86 the phone rings p. 87 Turns on the radio and listens for music, a steamy deep BLUES INSTRUMENTAL number comes up SCENE 3 p. 92 BEFORE THE CURTAIN, Ruth's voice, a strident, dramatic church alto, cuts through the silence. It is, in the darkness, a triumphant surge, a penetrating statement of expectation Oh Lord, I don't feel no ways tired! Oh Glory Halleluyah! **Live or recorded? p. 94 As the music comes up, soulful and sensuous... Erskine Hawkins After Hours p. 95 The bell sounds p. 107 the doorbell rings p. 108 the doorbell rings a second time ACT THREE p. 113 The doorbell rings