A Year with Frog and Toad

Design

Director: Heather Utsler-Smith

A Year with Frog and Toad was done at The Rainey Institute through Talespinner Children's Theatre. A Year with Frog and Toad is a musical based on the classic children's book. We spend a a full year with Frog and Toad as they go on many adventures together while encountering other friends in the forest. They learn several lessons on their journeys, but more than anything this is a wholesome story about the unconditional love between two best friends.

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As the designer on A Year with Frog and Toad, I had the interesting challenge of coming into a space with an already established sound system that I was unfamiliar with. This meant that there was some interesting troubleshooting to be done, but I am ultimately grateful for the opportunity to think in new ways and work in a new environment. Talespinner is also very conscious to make all of their shows accessible and sensory friendly. From a sound perspective, this meant finding the balance between having things at a lower volume overall and still being able to maintain intelligibility and dynamic range. Overall, this was a very fun and unique experience, and I would love to work in both theatre for young audiences and an accessibility forward environment again.