It’s been a while, hasn’t it? After 2+ years spent mostly away from sound design, I’m SO grateful to be back at work, designing Selling Kabul at Seattle Rep! This story sneaks up on you, and before you know it you’ll be holding your breath, hoping the wrong person doesn’t walk through the door. Selling Kabul by Sylvia Khoury is a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Finalist! Masterfully directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton.

Taroon once served as an interpreter for the U.S. military in Afghanistan. After the Americans have withdrawn, their promises of protection and safety are no longer there. He now spends his days in hiding from growing presence of the Taliban as he anxiously awaits news from the hospital on the eve of his first child’s birth. What are the consequences of taking sides during wartime? What difficult choices must we make to keep our loved ones as safe as possible in unsafe circumstances?

Yousof Sultani as Taroon, Fatima Wardak as Leyla, and Barzin Akhavan as Jawid

Susaan Jamshidi as Afiya and Fatima Wardak as Leyla

Yousof Sultani as Taroon

Yousof Sultani as Taroon and Barzin Akhavan as Jawid

It was a real joy to dive into Afghan culture, and learn about Afghan music. I truly believe two of the things that bring us together the most cross-culturally are music and food. Share in someone’s food and listen to their music, and you stand to gain some beautiful insight into another person and where they come from. So often what we have seen in the American news cycle overlooks the humanity of everyday Afghan people. People who are living their lives and trying to do what’s best for themselves and their families. This story is about the human cost of political conflict.

Selling Kabul runs until May 22nd, 2022. Tickets are available for both in person and streaming access!

I had the unparalleled pleasure of assisting Sound Design Extraordinaire, Joanna Lynne Staub on this new musical about the life of Sister Rosetta Tharpe! After a debut run at the Pasadena Playhouse in Los Angeles, the script has been reworked and refined and Seattle is being treated to the next iteration of this story. I got to be part of the immense tech process of mounting a large-scale new musical - something I’d never done before! I may have gotten bit by the mixing bug… Come check out Shout Sister Shout for the holidays! This rollicking new rock n’ roll gospel musical will have you clapping your hands and tapping your feet!

If you haven’t caught Larissa Fasthorse’s biting and hilarious satire, The Thanksgiving Play, what’re you waiting for?? Must close November 16th. This new play is one of the country’s most produced this year, and you need to see it to understand why. Tickets are still available here!

I’m so excited for this show to open. A story about revolution. As the lives of an estranged father and daughter begin to intertwine, old wounds are revealed, generational differences exposed, and smoldering truths laid bare. Dominiqie Morisseau is one of the most exciting and beautiful voices in theatre right now. SUNSET BABY is an energetic and vibrant narrative of the duality and intersectionality of family, legacy, and liberation. Get tickets here!

Photo by John McLellan

Photo by John McLellan

Seattle Public is doing some of the most exciting work in town right now. Getting to work with Co-Artistic Director Annie Lareau on this true passion project has been a dream. An all-female design team (I’m lucky in that this isn’t the first time I’ve gotten to be part of such a group!), contributed to the great experience of putting together this show.

A play about compassion, taking risks, and having faith in the unknown, Tanya Barfield’s words leap off the page with this stellar cast and seasoned director.

Running until June 9th, get your tickets to The Call while you still can!

Photo by John Cornicello Photography

Photo by John Cornicello Photography

This work has been one of my favorites of 2019 so far. Getting to collaborate with ArtsWest artistic director Mathew Wright, as well as an incredible team of designers, I really believe we’ve made something special.

Office Hour bends reality in a way that makes the audience unsure which narrative to trust. Just when you think you’re seeing the truth, the rug gets pulled out from under you, and you’re left unsure. The forwards and backwards in time that this story travels was fun for me to design. Starting with a conversation about beauty rather than horror, I believe, was the key to the success of this design.

While not a premier, I truly believe we’ve told this story like it hasn’t been told before. With the tenderness and hopefulness that it deserves.

Runs through May 26th at ArtsWest. If you’re in the Seattle area, you don’t want to miss this one.

I’ve been a fan of Pony World for some time, and I finally had the chance to work with this passionate group of artists. Together, we get to tell a very personal story about America and the immigrant experience. This work is being presented at The Slate Theater, which is inside of the old INS building in Seattle’s International District. The subject matter of the story, and the history of the building, make for a truly immersive experience. Written by internationally produced and award-winning playwright Yussef El Guindi, this is the first time Language Rooms is being produced in Seattle. Tickets available here!

Thanks to the folks at Seattle Theater Writers for another Gypsy Rose Lee Award nomination for Excellence in Sound Design (Smaller Theater)! And this time, it was a win! Silhouette was a crazy ambitious project — an original science fiction a cappella musical. What a wild ride!

This piece is posing unique challenges for me as a sound designer. We spent time in the recording studio recording the many voice-overs that the script calls for. The trick with this piece is, the core ensemble of five actors are entered into a lottery each during each performance which determines who plays which roll. Effectively, there’s over 720 combinations of roles and actors that could happen! Thankfully, I don’t have to program 720 versions of the show - who’s got time for that?? But I do need to program 5 different versions with a different lead. How will this grand experiment turn out?? Exploring our most universal truth : You can’t take it with you, but you can try. This play was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize - come see why. Tickets available HERE.

It’s finally here! Thank you to all who contributed to this massive project and made it possible. Video created in collaboration with my brother, Craig Amromin.

I’m spending the last few days of rehearsals with the bang-up team at Shotgun Players in Berkeley, CA watching Women Laughing Alone With Salad come together! What a wild show this is! Sound designer and composer Jake Rodriguez has put together a sweet soundtrack for this wedge of sociopolitical feminist absurdism. Susannah Martin directs Sheila Callaghan’s fresh script. Catch it if you’re in town!

Reshape has been a first for me. Not only did I create a video installation (which you can read more about here), but I also did a durational performance piece. Isolated in a booth with a modified plastic portal, lit from behind, I had a microphone on a table in front of me which was connected to a telephone on the other side of the wall. Guests could pick up the phone and hear me breathing - an intimate connection. However, the communication was only one way. I was the gatekeeper and decided who I wanted to talk to and when, if I wanted to talk to anyone at all. The idea was a self-imposed isolation, which was regulated by me alone.

I learned a lot on this project - both about myself and about the other truly remarkable artists I got to collaborate with. Watch this video created by Craig Amromin (my one-of-a-kind super talented bro) to learn a little more and see some footage of this unique event.