The Hunchback of Notre Dame was a passion project from beginning to end. A culmination of the lessons I had learned from my training at University of the Arts and blended my branding into those methods. Thus creating an interesting balance between avante-garde, and commercial theatre.
For our production of Hunchback, I casted an unprecedented small rotating cast of 18, reduced the orchestrations down to a piano, and some misc. instruments played by the actors onstage.
American Sign Language was utilized throughout the production by Quasimodo and an invited performance was ASL interpreted. We used no microphones and no additional choir was present.
Using an ideograph of a triangle as our inspiration, Hunchback never strayed from simple storytelling, and do-it-yourself theatre.
We had a list of goals we maintained throughout the entire process:
- Keep storytelling in the foreground, never hidden behind effects
- Highlight the musical score as the only spectacle in the show
- Be inclusive for audiences that are hard of hearing
The result was an incredibly intimate and moving theatrical experience.