Sound, mind and body mikes

Just finally got around to listening to Anne Nicholson Weber's Talk Theatre in Chicago interview with sound designers Nick Keenan, Ray Nardelli and Joshua Horvath. There's a lot of thought-provoking stuff (especially in the second half of the interview, when they get a little more free-form) about American theatergoers' relationship with sound design; as Anne admits, many regular theatergoers (including critics) don't know a lot about what goes into the sound designer's job. I was particularly compelled by their opinions on body miking, which I often find in the big touring houses (or even in relatively smaller proscenium spaces like the Goodman's Albert theater) makes me feel like there's a sheet of Plexiglass between the audience and the stage. The specific productions they discuss (Goodman's Rock 'N' Roll and Court's The Piano Lesson) have both, unfortunately, already closed, but it's still worth a listen.