david sophia siegel - one kind theatre's production of 'woman in a tree on the hill'

david sophia siegel's music
for one kind theatre's 'the woman in a tree on the hill'
the music: ... best of ... all the music ... full resume ... just kml! ...

January 7 - 9, 2005
One Kind Theatre's production of "The Woman In A Tree On The Hill", by Ovidia Yu.

Director: Alec Tok

Cast: Fontana Butterfield Guzman and Torvald _____.

Venue: The Yugen Theatre in San Francisco, California.

My role: Sound Designer, Composer and Performer/Musician.

This play revolves around the two actors playing three distinct

pairs of individuals - Noah and his wife in an ancient male-female

dynamic; Nora and Paul, a modern couple finding their relationship

dissolving as Nora wants more from her life; and a Chinese goddess

and narrator, who plays a variety of roles in relation to this

final female character. I played classical guitar versions of some

of the music I had written for the play, with two other musicians -

a Chinese percussionist and a Chinese woodwind player - providing

other sounds, as directed by the play's director, Alec Tok.

Initially, the director and I had discussed the possibility of me

providing a variety of other music, both pre-recorded and live, much

of which was scrapped. Below, I have posted the variations on the

themes I developed for the show, including some that were not

actually used. All music below is written and performed by myself.

This first group of music is four variations on what I have termed

the "Sober Melody," an acoustic guitar version of which was used

in the actual play. This music was not used specifically in relation

to one set of character pairs, but was more general to the play.

01 Sober Melody, variation 1 (piano)

02 Sober Melody, variation 2 (piano)

03 Sober Melody, variation 3 (piano)

04 Sober Melody, variation 4 (guitar)

This second motif is music intended to underscore Nora and Paul's

almost silly and almost circus-like interactions, as she refuses

heed her husband's requests for her to get down from the tree in

which she is sitting as she strives to achieve peace of mind and

individuality. The controlling and violent energy underscoring

their interactions, culminating in Paul ramming his car into

the tree and accidentally killing his wife, is an aspect of this

musical motif.

05 Nora and Paul, variation 1

06 Nora and Paul, variation 2

07 Nora and Paul, variation 3

08 Nora and Paul, variation 4

Paul and Nora have two children, June and Stanley, who are not

acted and remain invisible, although they do interact with the

acted characters of Paul and Nora. What follows are some ideas

of what June and Stanley's voices could sound like, if the director

had wished to have the children heard, even if they were not seen.

09 June's voice (tinkling glasses)

10 Stanley's voice (water plops and scraping chair)

Finally, there is a sweet melody that was included to underscore

the resolution of the play, which involves a slight softening of

the relationship between the characters simultaneously with an

apparent threat of destruction from a new global flood. This

is played on acoustic guitar.

11 Sweet Melody, variation 1

12 Sweet Melody, variation 2 (sparser)