I am a self proclaimed practical sound designer - who likes sound to be realistic as well as accurate as possible. I'm also interested in authenticity - I want shows to be presented in plausible terms. Unless your producing a work of science fiction, complete farce or a piece of absurd theatre, I want the details to add up, for the plot, the characters, the action, setting, etc. to be possible (if not probable.) Historical fiction doesn't necessarily have to be 100% accurate for me, but by golly it better be plausible or I'm not interested. Now, that's not to say that for me a production can't be symbolic, representational, or minimalistic - that's all good - just don't lie to me if I'm your audience member.

To elaborate: From a script standpoint, for me if you're going to set a play in a specific city - say Salt Lake City, UT or Birmingham, AL, you better have details about those cities that jive (even if the buildings or location they take place in are fictional). If you tell me about Birmingham's subway - I'm going to spend the rest of the play mad about the fact you don't know what your talking about rather than watching the work and focusing on whatever the point of the play is.

From a design stand point, I've no problem with concept or setting a play non-traditionally as long as it's consistent. I'm fine with a lot of unusual (even unrealistic) lighting angles, love exaggerated color and lots of patterns; and I can let over-simplified (or over complicated) soundscape slide, but tell me the play is set in the country at dusk and present me with bright yellows and happy over exuberant twittering song birds, I'm going to be cranky with you. If the dialogue mentions a revolver and you pull out a single shot Deringer - I'm also going to be cranky with you. Also along that line - unless you tell me one of your characters is a thief or can do magic, if someone puts something in a bag or box or cupboard, it better be there in Act 2 when said bag, box, or cupboard is opened. (Yes, yes, stage crew IS MAGICAL but that is NOT the point.)

In other words, I can suspend my disbelief for just about anything - except for the grossly inaccurate.

That said, letting accuracy and detail rule your design can also turn a show into a play about whatever that detail is rather than a work of art...

For me it's really rare on a project to have an "in the moment" realization that a project could take a step into that direction. At the moment, I'm working on a new play. It's a very timely piece about love and family. It's about people who are damaged because of loss and are trying to or are unable to move on - as well as about loving your neighbor - specifically a really hot topic in Alabama these days: immigration in the United States.

The script, even in it's infancy, has a lot to offer. It also has some interesting dramaturgical and design elements/challenges - a character is in the U.S. without appropriate visas or immigration status, a banner is required to make some transformations, and brooms are a reoccurring image. These are details and images in the plot - they're important, but they aren't everything - they're just details. What I see happening to me a is that I'm rapidly becoming so focused on keeping these kind of details accurate - what a broom on a street sounds like vs. a side walk, or having a real wood chipper effect - that my design could rapidly become all about a broom and a wood chipper, and the transitional music and other effects could become secondary.

For other folks in the play, I can also see how some of these details - like how this character gets here, how does the banner change, who changes it, and what these brooms should be - that the production could rapidly become a show about brooms, string, and how a girl circumvents immigration. Are these details important? Absolutely - but this isn't a play about a banner and brooms - it's about people.

I can also see that if I don't reign in my own need for realism and accounting - that all I will end up with is an accurate sound of a broom handle in a wood chipper.

Do I think that will happen in the end? Tech gods willing (and with the direction of a good director)... no. Hopefully I can get past the wood chipper and sweeping brooms to find what else I need to do my part to tell this story, and the other details will be just that - blocking and dramaturgical details - and what we'll end up with on stage will be an authentic play about life and death - good and bad, harsh and beautiful.