Sound Design and Cue Sheet

Theatre 3-4

Children’s Theatre

Sound Design and Cue Sheet

Instructions & Rubric

Sound is one of the most powerful ways to reinforce the reality of your play and set the mood for your piece. From the audience’s viewpoint, music and sound effects help to establish the credibility of a show. Therefore, it is important that the pieces you use are faithful to the setting and time period of the production. Music tends to have a strong emotional impact on audience members, so keep the emotional content of the show in mind as you make your selections. It is also important to consider the director’s concept and style of the play. Your objective is to create a sound design that complements your script and your concept.

Your responsibilities with sound can be broken down into three basic areas.

The first is a sound cue sheet. This tells your sound board operator when your cues begin and when they end. Blank cue sheets will be provided. The cue sheet you submit must be neat and easy to read, so that it can be easily understood by cast members, crew members, and the director. It must be entirely accurate.

Your second responsibility is to create a CD or playlist of sound effect and music needed for your show. You should check to be sure that these music pieces/effects are correctly sequenced and match your cue sheet exactly. You will also need approximately 20 minutes of pre and post show music. It is generally easiest to compile these songs on a separate CD or playlist. CD’s should be clearly labeled in permanent marker; playlists must be uploaded to the booth computer and clearly labeled.

Finally, you need to label your cues in your tech script and highlight each cue so it can be easily seen.

Remember, parents, faculty, and friends will see our production, so make this your best work. Other cast members will be depending upon you. You help to make our show a success!

Sound Rubric:

Sound Design and Cue Sheet follow the guidelines below.

Cue Sheet/15

(Includes name of production, designer name,

blank tracking sheet completely filled in, clearly and

legibly defines the start and stop of all cues)

Design- CD or playlist/25 (Contains approximately 20 minutes of pre/post show

music on one CD. Other cues are on a separate CD/

playlist. All CD’s /playlists are labeled.

Track numbers correspond sequentially with cues on

cue sheet. All music/effects required by the script are present;

music/effects are faithful to mood and or time period of the

show; stay true to the emotional content

of the piece; all selections are discussed with/

approved by the director.)

Script/10

(Extra script has cues clearly marked and highlighted

alongside corresponding dialogue.)

TOTAL =/50