There Goes the Neighborhood

The Tony's are going to the dogs. That's right, those slovenly half-wit technicians commonly referred to as "Sound Designers" are now eligible for not one, but two Tony Awards (best play and best musical). Clearly we simply need to placate the poor folks' inferiority complex by making them feel equal to the big boys. I guess I can stomache Sound Design as a category, I have seen a solid half-dozen productions where it actually felt like design (KA, LOVE, and Lestat come to mind). I do think it would have been better to have one Tony for Sound Design (musical/ non-musical together) and the other for Music Composition for a Straight Play, but that's splitting hairs. Let's just pray that Projections Design and Hair/Make-up Design aren't next-- it's getting crowded in the TONY row at tech meetings.

Live Design Article on the Inclusion of Sound Design

In all seriousness, here's hoping that recognition of sounds helps further the area, much as it did for lighting design which also started being recognized (1970) before it fully found itself.