Technical Theater — Automated Props

I helped create Karen, a robot character a my middle school production of Spongebob: The Musical. The actor playing Karen would walk around with the robot and trigger it to "speak" whenever her character was talking.

I had a lot of fun coding the randomized speaking animation as a combination between software and visuals. I workshopped many different algorithms for the random visuals from combinations of sin waves to complete randomness. The best result ended up being a random walk for each column of lights, weight a weighted preference for movement.

I designed and built a motorized trapdoor that was pulled by a motor and slid on a linear slide, with all mechanisms hidden in a wall. This was for a production of Clue On Stage, where I also played the role of Colonel Mustard.

The most interesting part of this project was sound dampening, as is neccessary in a live performance. We connected the motor to the wall with a rubber material and added sound insulation for all vibrating components.