My name is Sadah Espii Proctor (she/her/Espii) and I'm a sound designer, new media artist, and dramaturg based in Brooklyn. I work in live, digital, and virtual forms of storytelling through multimedia theatre, audio dramas, virtual/augmented reality, and immersive experiences.
I started out in performance doing dance, music, and devised + physical theatre. Through ritual theatre and ensemble-generated performance, especially in Building Home (Virginia Tech) and The Bowery Birds (Downtown Art), I was able to create original work and develop an understanding of dramaturgy through movement and improvisation.
I started out in performance doing dance, music, and devised + physical theatre. Through ritual theatre and ensemble-generated performance, especially in Building Home (Virginia Tech) and The Bowery Birds (Downtown Art), I was able to create original work and develop an understanding of dramaturgy through movement and improvisation.
When I was introduced to sound and visuals, it was through my experience in the Linux Laptop Orchestra and the Digital Interactive Sound & Intermedia Studio (Virginia Tech). From the beginning, my work in sound has been anchored in gesture, interactivity, new media dramaturgy, and electroacoustic composition + performance. My visual works are often interactive, sculptural, telematic, and collage and assemblage in form.
Now, my practice has become multidisciplinary and centered around audiovisual story experiences. My work as a sound designer, composer, and new media artist includes practices in theatre, podcast/audio dramas/audiobooks, and virtual and augmented reality. I'm interested in soundscape composition, poetic text, spatial design, and exploring different modes of "presence" and abstraction of visuals in a digital/virtual environment. Thematically and structurally, I am interested in Afrofuturism/AfroSurrealism/Black Quantum Futurism, diasporic futurisms, ethnographic surrealism, cyberpunk, and magical realism. I also love a good documentary. Let's collaborate!
Longer Bio:
Sadah Espii Proctor (she/hers/Espii) is an XR director and sound/media designer for live performance and immersive experiences. She was recognized by American Theatre Magazine for multimedia storytelling in the "Six Theatre Artists to Know" series, and she also received a Barrymore Award for Outstanding Media Design. Her work encompasses global stories of women, social issues, and the African Diaspora, often with an Afrofuturist/Cyberpunk lens.
Espii directed the VR documentary Girl Icon, which was part of Oculus’ VR For Good 2.0 and premiered at SXSW, Tribeca, Beijing, Women Deliver, Sheffield Doc/Fest (Best Digital Narrative nomination), Transilvania, Guanajuato, and other international festivals. Girl Icon exhibited at the National Civil and Human Rights Center in Atlanta, GA, and made the Forbes List for Top XR Experiences of 2019. She also was the sound designer for the interactive VR theatre production, Finding Pandora X, which premiered at Venice Film Festival and won the Golden Lion for Best VR Immersive experience.
Designing for live performance and music videos, her collaborations include Kimbra and Sophia Brous (EXO-TECH), Sasha Velour, Delune, Darian Dauchan, Neycha, and Soul Science Lab. Espii works nationally and internationally as a sound and video designer. She’s mentored and taught master classes for #BUILTBYGIRLS, Garage Stories, Cannes, Live Design, Institute of Documentary Film, MIT, and NYU. She has also been a member of NEW INC and the inaugural cohort of ONX Studio.
Espii is a member of the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA) and the Toasterlab Mixed Reality Performance Atelier, is a co-founder of the Black Realities Grant (Artizen), and sits on the XR in Entertainment board of the Academy of International Extended Reality (AIXR). She received her M.F.A. in Performance and Interactive Media Arts from Brooklyn College and is a proud alumna of Virginia Tech.
Sadah Espii Proctor (she/hers/Espii) is an XR director and sound/media designer for live performance and immersive experiences. She was recognized by American Theatre Magazine for multimedia storytelling in the "Six Theatre Artists to Know" series, and she also received a Barrymore Award for Outstanding Media Design. Her work encompasses global stories of women, social issues, and the African Diaspora, often with an Afrofuturist/Cyberpunk lens.
Espii directed the VR documentary Girl Icon, which was part of Oculus’ VR For Good 2.0 and premiered at SXSW, Tribeca, Beijing, Women Deliver, Sheffield Doc/Fest (Best Digital Narrative nomination), Transilvania, Guanajuato, and other international festivals. Girl Icon exhibited at the National Civil and Human Rights Center in Atlanta, GA, and made the Forbes List for Top XR Experiences of 2019. She also was the sound designer for the interactive VR theatre production, Finding Pandora X, which premiered at Venice Film Festival and won the Golden Lion for Best VR Immersive experience.
Designing for live performance and music videos, her collaborations include Kimbra and Sophia Brous (EXO-TECH), Sasha Velour, Delune, Darian Dauchan, Neycha, and Soul Science Lab. Espii works nationally and internationally as a sound and video designer. She’s mentored and taught master classes for #BUILTBYGIRLS, Garage Stories, Cannes, Live Design, Institute of Documentary Film, MIT, and NYU. She has also been a member of NEW INC and the inaugural cohort of ONX Studio.
Espii is a member of the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA) and the Toasterlab Mixed Reality Performance Atelier, is a co-founder of the Black Realities Grant (Artizen), and sits on the XR in Entertainment board of the Academy of International Extended Reality (AIXR). She received her M.F.A. in Performance and Interactive Media Arts from Brooklyn College and is a proud alumna of Virginia Tech.
