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Defining the Dramaturg
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Defining the Dramaturg |
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The Dictionary defines dramaturgy as "the art or technique of dramatic composition and theatrical representation". But perhaps the best way to think of a dramaturg is someone with varied skills and broad intellectual oversight, or simply, a resident scholar. In Europe, the dramaturg’s role may diverge from that of the American counterpart. Here are some of the duties dramaturgs have been known to assume:
Terms To Know |
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Chronicle Play. A play with a historical basis, told as a series of episodes rather than as a complete story with a structured plot. Shakespeare’s Richard II, based on Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles is an example. Concept Meeting. A gathering of the producer, director and casting director to reach an agreement about the look and quality of each character in a script. Co-Writing. Joint authorship of one work by two or more writers. Dramaturg. One who studies a play to interpret it for a company of actors, answering questions about the text, the language, the period, the manners and mores of the characters, the clothing, and the customs. He or she may share in selecting plays, their revisions, or adaptations; choosing translations; writing program notes; and advising technicians. Dramaturgy. The study and interpretation of plays with special attention to the difficulties plays from another period present for the acting company of today. Sometimes a component of playwriting MFA programs, the University of Michigan, among others, offers a doctoral program in dramaturgy. Pen. To compose or write. Subtext. The subtleties between the lines of a scene. |
In her very definitive and comprehensive work in the field of dramaturgy, Dramaturgy in American Theater, A Source Book, Susan Jonas states the following in defining the dramaturg:
The primary job of a theater’s production dramaturg is to focus his or her energies and those of the artistic director on long-range research and development and on artistic planning. The dramaturg must ask important questions -- of both the theater and his or her artistic collaborators. These questions will determine what lines the theater plans along and what kind of plays the theater will eventually develop and produce. These important questions begin with the most fundamental ones: Who are we as artists? What are our theatrical or extratheatrical models and our ideals? What kinds of work do we respond to? Who is our work for? What is our theater’s community in terms both of artists and audience? As these questions are discussed and addressed, an artistic philosophy will be shaped and discerned. In the end, artistic policy is of course defined by the repertory itself. It may or may not be stated in programs or grant applications, but it is always evident on the stage.
The production dramaturg’s role is to develop repertory material that will express the theater’s artistic purpose. The dramaturg will need to find, develop, and possibly even create plays by contacting writers, commissioning plays, researching lost or little-known plays in libraries or archives, and occasionally compiling texts as an editor would from other existing library or non-literary sources. The aim of this work is to present the artistic director with a slate of plays for inclusion in the season that embody the theater’s artistic purpose. The creation of this slate of plays requires experience in two areas of the repertory: the first includes classical plays and revivals, and the second area comprises work on new plays.
The Dramaturgy Pages, a popular website for the topic, engages the question of "What is Dramaturgy" by enlisting the varied perspectives of at least three practitioners in the field on a webpage of its website which can be found at http://www.dramaturgy.net/dramaturgy/What.html. The Dramaturg’s Network, an organization based in London, sees the role of the dramaturg in the following way:
In 1767, the first known dramaturge, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, was hired by a group of Hamburg businessmen to be an artistic adviser for what they hoped would become the first German national theatre. In today’s Germany, there is a network of some 200 government-funded theatres with large permanent ensembles staffed with salaried actors. These resident theatres, found in every major German city, have two- to four-person dramaturg staffs that organize and plan the repertory for these important state-subsidized institutions. These theatres have established histories in their cities and perform for audiences for whom theatregoing and knowledge of the theatre is a tradition and significant to social status. After its birth in Germany, dramaturgy is believed to have spread to England, France and America, or whereever theatres were similarly organized. In Europe, the chief dramaturg is usually an elder statesman of the theatre who presides over the artistic and literary aspects of the theatre.
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Vocal Direction for the Theatre: From Script Analysis to Opening Night by Nan Withers-Wilson 192 pages; (December 1994) Drama Publishers; ISBN: 0896761223 |
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During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, English actor/managers, from John Philip Kemble to Harley Granville-Barker, functioned as dramaturgs. They reinvented the classical repertory and interpreted and adapted plays to reflect preferences of the day. In the tradition of Shakespeare, these actor/managers were men of the theater with an understanding of acting, writing, and how plays work for audiences. Often they knew a wealth of anecdotal information about Shakespeare and his plays. Some of the more recent and well known dramaturges are Bertolt Brecht and Kenneth Tynan.
One of the earliest known uses of the term "dramaturg" in connection to the American theatre appeared in the annual report of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in 1968, which had begun assigning people to perform dramaturgical functions at its annual playwrights conference. At about the same time, Robert Brustein, who became dean of the Yale School of Drama in 1966, introduced a dramaturgy program there. The other major center of dramaturgical training has been the University of Iowa and, more recently, the American Repertory Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard. In today’s modern day academic programs students are trained both as institutional dramaturgs, delving into artistic policy and its communication and implementation (a producer who might interface more with creative staff rather than financial backers), and as production dramaturgs, supporting the rehearsal process.
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American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) |
A.S.K. Theatre Projects |
Dan and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting |
| Dramaturgs’ Network 139B Tooting Bec Road London SW17 8BW Phone: 020 8767 6004 / +44 20 8767 6004 An organisation of professional dramaturgs with the aim of promoting the role of the Dramaturg in the UK by bringing dramaturgs, literary managers, script editors and others together; making opportunities for debate and sharing information and experiences. Email: info@dramaturgy.co.uk http://www.dramaturgy.co.uk |
International Brecht Society David W. Robinson, IBS Secretary/Treasurer Department of Literature and Philosophy P.O. Box 8023 Georgia Southern University Statesboro, GA 30460-8023 Phone: 912-681-0155 Fax: 912-681-0653 The International Brecht Society Homepage is maintained as a service to scholars, critics, dramaturgs, students, and theater people round the world who are interested in the works and thought of Brecht. Email: dwrob@gasou.edu http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/german/brecht/ |
International Federation for Theatre Research c/o Dean of Arts & Humanities Lancaster University Lancaster, LA1 4YN Exists to promote collaboration and the exchange of information between individuals and organizations concerned with theatre research through conferences and publications and project assistance. Email: d.whitton@lancaster.ac.uk http://www.firt-iftr.org/ |
| Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas PO Box 728, Village Station New York, NY 10014 Phone: 212-561-0315 Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas is the membership organization for the fields of dramaturgy and literary management. LMDA sponsors projects designed to assist the growth of the dramaturgical professions and of theater in general. These projects are carried out by volunteers among LMDA’s membership. Email: lmda@lmda.org http://www.lmda.org |
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