Perspectives / Martin Desjardins Sound designer Martin Desjardins has worked on dozens of Humana Festival plays, including The Mystery of Attraction, Cloud Tectonics and Resident Alien. The search for potent, vital energy is common in all periods in the evolution of theatrical form. From the treatises of Aeschylus to the manifestos of Artaud, Brecht, and Brook: the nature of how one tells a story on the stage is invariably the subject of great debate. However, debate is merely debate, and stops short of directly contributing to the living act of creating theatre. The Humana Festival stands as one of the few American arenas in which we as artists can move beyond discourse, and can directly face the challenge of creating new work. In this search and struggle, design and the designer play significant roles in creating the new work for the Festival. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the rediscovered world of sound design. After nearly disappearing for the better part of the 20th century, sound and music have reemerged as powerful voices in shaping new forms of storytelling for the stage. The Humana Festival is an environment whose intent is to actively search for those new voices and forms. As such, Humana presents sound designers with a unique opportunity to bring the medium of our discipline and the sharpness of our vision to bear on this struggle for the modern stage. It is this opportunity for which I return to Humana again and again, and which establishes Humana as a highpoint in every design season.