I've got to agree with what's been said here so far. I would also like to add that Having music thoughout the entire show might not have the desired
effect that the playwright is looking for. I think you might want to look at a few movies for inspiration. Take a look at some old B&W movies, then look at some modern movies. I love The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Incredible score, all throughout the movie. Notice the way it < the score > constantly reflects the action on
screen. In my opinion that is what your looking for as a sound designer for
stage, but, and it's a big but, you don't get to run a soundtrack through the entire show. You get scene changes, pre and post show. Running a "soundtrack" throughout the entire show in
Theatre is bound to cause confusion, and distraction in a theatrical setting. I think there are a lot of areas where we can give and take between
theatre and cinema, but I'm not sure a running soundtrack is that area, for a couple of reasons. One of the biggest reasons, in my opinion, is that, in the movie theater the sound designer has gone through hours of post production and reset levels over and over to balance between spoken dialogue and underscoring. I think that might be the area that you really need to consider. If you are operating as a sound designer your name is going on the production as such, so you have the oppertunity to make choices. If you choose to run a soundtrack under the show make sure it's your choice and you feel comfortable with it. If however you feel that an underscoring is distracting or unneccessary you need to
address these concerns with the Director. Having worked for a very long time at several theatres that specialized in developing "new works" I have found that often playwright have a hard time letting go. They have just birthed a baby < the
play > and they want to guide it with thier
vision of exactly how it wants to be produced. However, once that baby is handed over to a director and producing body < the theater > a lot of those decisions are taken out of the playwrights hands. As callous as this may sound, it's a process that has developed over a long time. It developed for the reason that too often Playwrights are way too close to the trees to see the forrest. < wow really mixing metaphors tonight. Hope this doesn't come off as a lot of rambling. Do some research, watch some classic movies, but listen to them closely feel where themusic and sound swells and ebbs, that's what you get to do. Have fun ! that's the most important part.
Oh yeah and the only dumb question is the one not asked.