Interview with Montana Kern, PROPERTIES DESIGNER

Backstage props table

Education Outreach: What's your favorite part of being the sound designer ?

Montana Kern: My favorite part of the props design process is the set dressing. adding the final details to the stage really makes the show worth working on. sometimes it is just a little thing added that you would never notice, but you would certainly notice there was something missing if it wasn't there.

EO: What was your inspiration or intention behind your design?

MK: I wanted to echo the set design in the props for the show, but also introduce some contrast into the world. many of the props are designed to pop out and be visible. I had to work with how to do that, without being distracting.

EO: What one neat fact about sound designing would you like to share with students seeing the show?

MK: The most fun part about set dressing is hiding secret objects around the set. It is really fun to incorporate your own personal interpretation of the characters by what they put on their bookshelves. most of the items will go unnoticed, but it is fun for me to sit there and laugh about what is behind the actor, or what is in their hands. 

EO: Some funny or interesting moment in the production thus far?

MK: The process itself is somewhat funny. You start off designing the most ridiculous and extravagant things imaginable, but due to budgets, or time, or in some cases just physics, you start to change your design to something more manageable. It is funny at the end of the process to look back at your original design and think "wow, that would have been impossible" or "that wouldn't have worked at all"