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Dramaturgy

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Teaching Dramaturgy as a Creative Practice 
Essay
Teaching Dramaturgy as a Creative Practice 
by Jessica Elaine Ellison
13 March 2024
Curating Openings in the Theatre of María Irene Fornés
Essay
Curating Openings in the Theatre of María Irene Fornés
by Juliana Frey-Méndez, Anna D. Novak
26 February 2024
Shakespeare Against the Canon in Our Verse in Time to Come
Essay
Shakespeare Against the Canon in Our Verse in Time to Come
by Melissa Lin Sturges, Karen Ann Daniels, Malik Work, John Ray Proctor III
22 August 2023
Stretching the Canvas in Ethan Lipton’s Tumacho
Essay

Stretching the Canvas in Ethan Lipton’s Tumacho

6 September 2016

Ethan Lipton discusses making music, making theatre, and combining the two in his full-length play-with-music Tumacho at Clubbed Thumb.

Using Theatre to Teach STEM Classes to Youth
Essay

Using Theatre to Teach STEM Classes to Youth

2 September 2016

Dramaturg and Physicist Lina Pulgarin-Duque shares her experience working with Attack Theatre, and their approach to teaching science and math to young students in Pittsburgh, PA.

The Open Constellation
Essay

The Open Constellation

Tackling Polyphonic Drama that Resists Resolution

17 July 2016

Chicago-based theatre practitioner, Amber Robinson, reflects on the polyphonic nature of The Goodman Theatre’s adaption of Roberto Bolaño’s novel 2666 and other multi-narrative theatrical works.

The 31st Annual Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas Conference
Video

The 31st Annual Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas Conference

Thursday 7 July to Saturday 9 July 2016
Portland, OR, United States

Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas presented the 31st Annual Conference in Portland, Oregon livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Thursday 7 July to Saturday 9 July. Share your thoughts and media with hashtags #LMDA16 and #howlround in all social media platforms. Follow @LMDAmericas and @HowlRoundTV in Twitter for updates.

The Youngest People in the Room
Essay

The Youngest People in the Room

Dramaturgy in Undergraduate Theatre Programs

15 May 2016

Jeanmarie Higgins, Professor of Dramaturgy at UNC Charlotte, presents strategies for decentralizing and distributing the dramaturg's role among groups of students and faculty who collaborate on a variety of research-driven tasks.

Theatre-ing While Disabled
Essay

Theatre-ing While Disabled

Contracted Artist Edition

10 May 2016

Kate Langsdorf writes about the joys and hardships of working on a project as a dramaturg.

Examining Love Sonnets from a Critical Distance
Essay

Examining Love Sonnets from a Critical Distance

6 May 2016

In this second installment, Helen Schultz reflects on her dramaturgical process.

Why I’m Breaking Up with Aristotle
Essay

Why I’m Breaking Up with Aristotle

22 April 2016

Chantal Bilodeau on writing ourselves out of the pyramid and why she is breaking up with Aristotle.

The Fifth Wall
Essay

The Fifth Wall

Climate Change Dramaturgy

17 April 2016

Eco-theatre scholar and pioneer Una Chaudhuri considers how theatre is inventing new strategies for performance offered or necessitated by climate change.

Staging The Glass Menagerie with Puppets
Essay

Staging The Glass Menagerie with Puppets

15 March 2016

Eric Bass discusses the dramaturgy of puppetry in a production of Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie in Germany.

Subversively Smart and Turning the Tide
Essay

Subversively Smart and Turning the Tide

Lauren Gunderson’s Women Heroes

15 March 2016

Playwright Lauren Gunderson and Director Sean Daniels discuss Gunderson’s body of work including I and You, a play about two stumbling teenagers and a nineteenth-century poet.

History, Legacy, and Light
Essay

History, Legacy, and Light

The Consciously-Embodied Art of Erica Fae

12 March 2016

Erica Fae talks about her stage, television, and film career “embodying women who have come before and who have done incredible things.”

La Esquinita
Essay

La Esquinita

Arnulfo Maldonado

11 March 2016

In this installment, Scenic and Costume Designer Arnulfo Maldonado discusses his process and working relationship with Director Ken Rus Schmoll.

Goin’ to Kansas City
Essay

Goin’ to Kansas City

Dramaturgy Open Office Hours Branches Out

16 February 2016

Dramaturgs Amanda Boyle and Alyson Germinder share their experience with hosting the Dramaturgy Open Office Hour Project in Kansas City, MO.

Interview with Ken Cerniglia
Essay

Interview with Ken Cerniglia

Dramaturg & Literary Manager, Disney Theatrical Group

23 January 2016

In this installment, Michael Lueger interviews Dramaturg Ken Cerniglia about his journey and work with Disney Theatrical Group. 

Theatre and Social Justice
Essay

Theatre and Social Justice

Everything Has to Come Out of Session

16 January 2016

Martha Steketee talks with Associate Artistic Director Estelle Parsons about a public series on social justice that has been created out of Actors Studio session work.

Will Eno’s Theatrical Rhythms
Essay

Will Eno’s Theatrical Rhythms

10 December 2015

Did 2014 reflect a kind of final critical understanding of Eno’s subject matter? Are we all finally ready to experience with him, according to his rhythms and speech patterns, the gentle devastation of small town family life? Perhaps yes to all of the above.

Achieving Gender Parity
Essay

Achieving Gender Parity

Play by Play & Role by Role

4 December 2015

Director Christine Young advocates for casting more women in university theatre productions, ranging from the classics to contemporary work.

Five Artists Discuss Representation
Essay

Five Artists Discuss Representation

22 November 2015

Using the production of Ken Urban’s play A Sense of an Ending to launch the conversation, theatre  artists Adrienne Campbell-Holt, Gregg Mozgala, A. Rey Pamatmat,  Mfoniso Udofia, and Ken Urban talk about representation on stage. 

Against Subtext
Essay

Against Subtext

26 October 2015

Agnes Borinsky considers a framework for thinking about playwriting from the sentence up, rather than from the idea down, which offers an alternative to the infiltration of playwriting with market-based thinking.

Extending the Frame for Women Playwrights
Essay

Extending the Frame for Women Playwrights

8 October 2015

Martha Steketee explores the lens and artistry of Jody Christopherson in “Necessary Exposure The Female Playwright Project: Portraits of Playwrights Who Identify as Female” in New York City.

Media Design and Dramaturgy
Essay

Media Design and Dramaturgy

Creating Meaning

19 August 2015

In the second installment of his media design series, Daniel Fine discusses the important connection between media design and dramaturgy in effective storytelling onstage.

Sand Castles in War Zones
Essay

Sand Castles in War Zones

Insanity and Forgiveness

30 July 2015

Martha Steketee on Daniel Talbott’s ghost story of a sand-bound ship of fools and the exquisite possibility of forgiveness. 

Where are all the bisexuals? Understanding the gray areas of LGBTQ representation
Essay

Where are all the bisexuals? Understanding the gray areas of LGBTQ representation

28 July 2015

Dramaturg Emily White looks at the amount of LGBTQ characters in theatre, film, and television, and wonders why so few of them are bisexual. 

Sparking Dramaturgy
Essay

Sparking Dramaturgy

A Budding Look at a Confusing Profession

19 July 2015

Louisiana State University undergrad Alexander Adams writes about discovering dramaturgy at a school without a concentration in the field.