Zoey
photo: Janna Toubal
Davis
zoeyannedavis@gmail.com
Zoey Davis is a sound designer for theatre and podcasts based in Montréal Québec. You can find her @zoey.wav on instagram or email her at zoeyannedavis@gmail.com. You can also find her researching seagulls at UQÀM when she’s not in the trenches of QLab.
In The Media:
“Among what’s seen onstage, a personal favourite design element was the sound scape. Built by Zoey Davis, who also doubles as a performer onstage, we get an expertly crafted range of radio announcements, eerie music, and a burning collapse of a dynasty, all of which being incredibly crucial to the telling of the story. As this adaptation relates heavily to false media and the uncanny ability to spread fake news, the distant sound of a radio hum adds that extra layer of unsettledness that fills the halls of the venue, an incredible sound design by Davis who also has a strong talent as a performer. ”
Antigone sound design process vlog
Select Works
Antigone (2026) - Mcgill classics playphoto: Janna Toubal, featuring Nikhil Girard (Kreon) and Griphon Hobby-Ivanovici (Haemon)
(dir. Madelyn MackIntosh). While SubRosa’s 2023 production of The Wolves was my first time sound designing for theatre, Antigone and its many, many, many sound cues was where I truly fell in love with the process.
The 1930’s setting paired with the lush, art-deco atmosphere of le 9e’s performance space provided me with the unique opportunity to immerse the audience in the time period.
The opening soundscape of the show was one of my favourites for this reason. In it, I layered sounds of a few different trains, radio chatter, faint gunfire, morse code, and my own foley of a match struck on my bathroom floor to capture a post-war Thebes.
Layered soundscapes remained a theme throughout the entire show. Another favourite is a lockdown alarm that blares as Eurydice (Nicholas Cho) receives news that her son, Haemon (Griphon Hobby-Ivanovici) has died. The alarm (originally an air-raid siren pitch shifted to a couple different frequencies and layered over one another), devolves into an eerie, washed out ambient track as the scene progresses and Eurydice’s mental state unravels similarly.
The presence of a radio onstage throughout the play allowed me to play with music. A favourite instance of this was while Sam Snyders’ Bartender delivered a fourth-wall breaking monologue addressing both the ensemble and the audience while Billie Holiday’s I’ll Be Seeing You plays from his bar radio. I used an instrumental version of the song (with a homemade 1930’s era radio effect) layered over a stretched out and echoey version of the original vocal cut (made with the free PaulXStretch plugin). Throughout the monologue, The Bartender supernaturally flips back and forth between the two versions.
video clip TBA
Hookman (2026) - TNC McGill(dir. Andrea Alcaraz). Since Hookman is a slasher, I made it my goal to use as much as my own foley as possible. Since I did not own a shotgun mic or portable recorder at the time, I recorded a lot of it on my iPhone in an attempt to be resourceful. I ended up using a pitchfork against the cement floor of my parents’ garage for the titular hook and some brutalized oranges for the… meat sounds.
During the production of Hookman, I got completely obsessed with the sound design in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. I was particularly inspired by this specific part of season 2, episode 14, where a basey, ambient track fades into the repetitive sound of a record player. Since this scene is particularly violent, I wanted to channel something similar for Hookman’s bloody climax. Since much of the play takes place in a car, I used an idling car motor instead of a record player as a basis for this soundscape that I bass-boosted to oblivion to create an unsettling pulse. In a moment of shameless self-indulgence, I titled the track “It Is Happening Again”.
tl;dr: I figured out how to play with subbass plugins while working on this show and decided to make it everyone’s problem.
CV
Theatre
* = also performed in show
Sound Designer, 2026
Dir. Andrea Alcaraz
Morrice Hall, McGill
Hookman - TNC McGill
Sweeney Todd - Starcatcher Productions
Assistant Sound, 2026
Dir. Ainsley Tsokwenion
VENUE TBA**
Antigone* - McGill Classics Play
Sound Designer, 2026
Dir. Madelyn MackIntosh
Le 9e
Sound Designer, 2023
Dir. Noa De Gasperis Tedesco / Lucia Castro Giron
MainLine Theatre
The Wolves* - SubRosa
Tranthologies* - Listless Network
Audiodrama
Sound Designer, 2022-2024
Prod. Alex Abrahams, Moira-Juliet Scott, Zoey Davis
AudioVerse Award 2022: Best Environmental Sound Design, Best Guest Performance
Neighbourly - Fable and Folly Network
Dialogue Editor, 2022
Dir. Matthew O.K. Smith