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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
Writing the Fight
Essay

Writing the Fight

What Playwrights and Dramaturgs Need to Know About Staging Violence—Part 2

21 March 2014

Stage combat is the art of creating the illusion of violence for the sake of storytelling. Some illusions are easier and/or less expensive than others. One thing I’ve found myself saying many times is that the difference between one character pulling a knife on another versus breaking a bottle and threatening to attack them with the broken base is hundreds of dollars.

Writing the Fight
Essay

Writing the Fight

Part 1 of 2

7 March 2014

What Playwrights and Dramaturgs Need to Know About Staging Violence. These two articles are based on a workshop I’ve taught at venues that include ATHE (Association for Theatre in Higher Education), Region I KC/ACTF (Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival) , The Last Frontier Theatre Conference, and other organizations. The idea for it was based both in the experience of fight directing premieres of new plays and from my own experiences in the classroom during my MFA in playwriting.

Portrait of Amelia Bassano Lanier.
A New Approach to Othello
Essay

A New Approach to Othello

Shakespeare's Dark Lady

10 February 2014

By showing that Othello has similar content to her poetry, and Emilia bears multiple resemblances to Amelia Bassano herself, "Writing Othello" makes the case that the "dark lady" had a hand in crafting this play. It translates academic research into practical performance on stage.

Crossed rapiers.
Despite All of His Contributions to Modern Stage Combat, Ridolfo Capo Ferro Was NOT a Fight Director
Essay

Despite All of His Contributions to Modern Stage Combat, Ridolfo Capo Ferro Was NOT a Fight Director

30 November 2013

Meron Langsner compares his knowledge of the sports combat and stage combat to better articulate the purposes of stage combat.  

Portrait of Meron Langsner.
Fightaturgy
Essay

Fightaturgy

Towards a Dramaturgy of Stage Violence

11 November 2013

Dramatically motivated fight choreography makes the audience lean forward in their seats. “Fightaturgy” matters.  

Portrait of Bree Windham.
(Re)Search
Essay

(Re)Search

Dramaturgical Catharsis

14 September 2013

(Re)Search is a six part series by Bree Windham, a current graduate student in dramaturgy. It details her experiences as a young dramaturg navigating different resources and the ways she has come utilize them through trial, error, and advice from others.

A bookshelf.
(Re)Search
Essay

(Re)Search

Subscription Based Resources

6 September 2013

(Re)Search is a six part series by Bree Windham, a current graduate student in dramaturgy. It details her experiences as a young dramaturg navigating different resources and the ways she has come utilize them through trial, error, and advice from others.

A Facebook post.
(Re)Search
Essay

(Re)Search

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Social Media

21 August 2013

(Re)Search is a six part series by Bree Windham a current graduate student in dramaturgy. It details her experiences as a young dramaturg navigating different resources and the ways she has come utilize them through trial, error, and advice from others.

Venn diagrams depicted boolean search terms.
(Re)Search
Essay

(Re)Search

Boolean Phrases AND/OR The Language of Research

16 August 2013

(Re)Search is a six part series by Bree Windham, a current graduate student in dramaturgy. It details her experiences as a young dramaturg navigating different resources and the ways she has come utilize them through trial, error, and advice from others.

The Dramaturg Corps of the Potomac
Essay

The Dramaturg Corps of the Potomac

Training New Play Dramaturgs

16 August 2013

Matt McGeachy reports on the New Play Dramaturgy Intensive at the Kennedy Center, and how listening is much better than speaking when it comes to developing new work.

A tray of fast food.
Fast Food Dramaturgy
Essay

Fast Food Dramaturgy

12 August 2013

Amanda Boyle disects fast food dramaturgy: a brand that caters to productions' quick and easy needs.

A picture of the lapin agile.
(Re)Search
Essay

(Re)Search

Using People as Resources; or How I Learned to Love To Ask

2 August 2013

(Re)Search is a six part series by Bree Windham a current graduate student in dramaturgy. It details her experiences as a young dramaturg navigating different resources and the ways she has come utilize them through trial, error, and advice from others.

Stumbling Into Self-Dramaturgy
Essay

Stumbling Into Self-Dramaturgy

What My Plays Taught Me

29 July 2013

Stephen Spotswood found that self-dramaturgy can illuminate personal themes and motive deeper analysis of the purpose of the work.

A phone opened to a Wikipedia page.
(Re)Search
Essay

(Re)Search

Free Resources for Dramaturgy Research

19 July 2013

(Re)Search is a six part series by Bree Windham, a current graduate student in dramaturgy. It details her experiences as a young dramaturg navigating different resources and the ways she has come utilize them through trial, error, and advice from others.

Will Somebody Just Tell Me What a Dramaturg is?
Essay

Will Somebody Just Tell Me What a Dramaturg is?

16 July 2013

Elliot B. Quick examines what it means to be a dramaturg, and what role the MFA has in determining those definitions.

The Dramaturgy of Audience
Essay

The Dramaturgy of Audience

Jayne Benjulian goes to the Theater as a Civilian

10 July 2013
Photo from War Horse.
War Horse in the UK and US
Essay

War Horse in the UK and US

The Challenges of the Replica

3 July 2013

The tour of UK’s War Horse in the United States shows us that, even a ingenious play, assumed historical knowledge can make or break an audience’s experience.

Wide logo for Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of The Americas.
Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas Conference
Video

Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas Conference

Thursday 27 June and Saturday 29 June 2013
Vancouver, Canada

The Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas annual conference in Vancouver, Canada was livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 27 June and Saturday 29 June 2013.

LMDA Logo.
Interview with Vicki Stroich, President of LMDA
Essay

Interview with Vicki Stroich, President of LMDA

28 June 2013

Jeremy Stoller interviews Vicki Strioch, President of LMDA.

A statue and the Capitol building in Austin, Texas.
Hacking Theater In A Networked World
Essay

Hacking Theater In A Networked World

15 April 2013

Robert Matney writes about the various ways in which theater companies are adapting and thriving by incorporating technology into their practice.

Playlabs logo.
Panel Discussion: A Culture for New Work at The Playwrights' Center
Video

Panel Discussion: A Culture for New Work at The Playwrights' Center

Sunday, 21 October 2012
Minneapolis, MN, United States

The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis presented the panel A Culture For New Work as a part of PlayLabs, their national festival of new plays,livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Sunday 21 October 2012.

On Teaching Dramaturgy
Essay

On Teaching Dramaturgy

20 August 2012

What does it means to teach dramaturgy, and how do the pratical and theoretical intersect to inform this oft-misunderstood practice?

The Peculiar Joys of a Bad Script
Essay

The Peculiar Joys of a Bad Script

12 June 2012

Dylan Southard writes about his job as a script reader, and how bad scripts can be just as enticing and informative of modern theater culture as good scripts.

An illustration of multiple black and white faces facing each other.
A Manifesto for the 21st Century Literary Office
Essay

A Manifesto for the 21st Century Literary Office

1 March 2012

Otis Ramsey-Zoe continues our series of responses to the American Voices New Play Institute's 21st Century Literary Office Convening with this manifesto of what we as a theater community need to do to create the literary office of the future.

I Dare Us
Essay

I Dare Us

a Manifesto on the 21st Century Literary Office

29 February 2012

Julie Elise Dubliner presents her manifesto for the 21st Century Literary Office. This manifesto was presented as part of the American Voices New Play Institute's 21st Century Literary Office Convening.