Shakespearean dialogues, flamboyant gestures and makeshift stages backdropped by the yellow-tinted auditorium walls mark most people’s experience with theatre production. Kate De Lorme, a graduating student in UBC’s BFA theatre production and design program, refines high school theatre production and takes it into the university arena.
Although De Lorme now devotes herself into the audio engineering aspect of theatre production, acting is what initially brought her into theatre. “I was in an audition group in high school. Then I started helping with the tech side and did concerts for school. Soon I became the go-to person for that sort of thing … I found a way to merge technical engineering with theatre and I got really interested,” said De Lorme.
After entering UBC, De Lorme was often entangled in a dilemma over how to spend her time: the constant struggle between non-theatre curriculums and theatre projects. Because participating in independent theatre projects is her main motivation for studying at UBC, the compromise she has had to make manifested itself in emotional burdens.
“The language requirement was a huge thing for me. The [theatre production] program is heavily dependent on what you make of it and how much effort you're willing to put in. So I wanted to put my whole self into the theatre and just be working on shows. Many times I couldn't because I had to work on my science or language courses … and they became a huge stress for me,” said De Lorme.
De Lorme finally decided to tackle the challenges head-on, devoting her third year to fulfilling the onerous non-theatre courses and thus freeing up her fourth year for theatre production.
In her fourth year alone, Lorme was able to participate in three of the UBC’s major shows as a sound designer. Currently, De Lorme is working on a show called Inside/Out directed by Stephen Malloy, a professor in the theatre department, starring Patrick Keating. The show is an autobiographical work of Keating’s 10 years in prison. “I did things like the sound of an ambient room, a car driving up, a cop siren and the sound of a radio. I also made the sound surround the space in a logical way,” De Lorme said.
Many may find De Lorme’s interest as a sound designer slightly obscure. Lorme herself, in fact, hesitated when being asked to define her role. “In a theatrical setting it's kind of hard to describe what a sound designer does … it includes sound effects … for The Bacchae [2.1], which I did early at UBC, I composed a bunch of music. For The Triumph of Love ... I designed the speaker setup. The tasks vary a lot,” she said.
In the next 10 years, Lorme still sees herself in theatre production industry but probably in a different city that would offer her more opportunities.