Sonic Environment, The

The Sonic Environment grew out of a collaborative project involving Chatterbox, Germantown Community Theatre, East High School, Millington Central High School, and Houston High School. The project, which we titled “Thinking Out of the Box,” was the brainchild of GCT Executive Producer Bo List.

Over the course of five weeks, Bo, Julia Hinson (GCT’s Director of Education and Outreach), and I raided three classrooms in the above-named schools, teaching the basics of audio theater and challenging the students to respond to a variety of writing prompts. We then arranged those responses into the scenes, lines, stories, quips, exchanges, confessions, and flights of fancy that you will hear acted out in this show.

It was Chatterbox’s first shot at an outreach program, and our first concerted attempt to mine the enormous educational potential of our troupe. What we experienced only made me hungry for more. I think you will be impressed, as I was, by the depth and range of the students’ work; by their honesty, their wit, and their creativity; and by how unabashedly weird they can be when their minds are allowed to roam freely.

The cast and crew of this production also deserve special mention for so ably bringing these writings to life. Over the course of our month-long rehearsal process, they gracefully weathered scheduling issues, family emergencies, and other assorted disasters, never giving less than their all. The show reflects their individual voices as much as the students’. Plus they were a great deal of fun to work with, and already I miss seeing them at our nightly rehearsals.

In addition, I owe a great debt to Bo, for his unfailingly good ideas; to the amazing Angelo Rapan; to our three collaborating teachers, Ms. Weirich, Ms. Hall, and Ms. Cotton, who welcomed us graciously into their classrooms; and especially to Julia, who scheduled and created and called and typed and organized and brainstormed and arranged, and is the heretofore-unsung hero of the entire project.

—Robert Arnold