How to Embrace the Dramaturgy of Creative Caption Design

HowlRound Theatre Commons: Captions play an important role in the accessibility of theatrical productions for all audience members, particularly those who are d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHOH), neurodivergent, and/or living with sensory processing disorders. Secondary to their use as an accessibility tool, captions are an important visual element of a theatrical production and should be approached with the same thought, artistry, and attention as design elements like lighting and projections. This is where the concept of creative captions come in.

Arden Theater explores Martin Luther King's last night in 'The Mountaintop'

The Arts | phillytrib.com: More than a half century ago, on April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. took the stage at Mason Temple, a Black church in Memphis, Tennessee, to deliver what was to become his final speech. His historic “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech, which touched on his own mortality and how the Civil Rights Movement would go on without him, proved to be prophetic.

Inventing Worlds

HowlRound Theatre Commons: I grew up with a saying: “If you can’t make it in show business, you go into politics.” While there is some truth to that, ultimately it just illustrates that politics is inherently performative. It requires carefully crafted messaging, a deep understanding of perceived perspectives, and the ability to remain flexible and switch tactics at a moment’s notice. It’s made up of meticulously chosen words, meant to inspire and provoke, and body language that welcomes and dissuades.

A European Theatre Dialogue: Directors, Text and Dramaturgy

Exeunt Magazine: Shall we get the D-word out of the way…? Surely one of the biggest artistic differences in the way we approach theatre is whether we work with dramaturgs as intrinsic to the full creative process – programming, concept, realisation – or as someone to give a few script notes / deliver a research pack on day one. The importance of dramaturgs, on the whole, in Europe just feels wildly different.

"New Dramaturgies:" Insights Into Mark Bly’s Playwriting Exercises. Interview with Mark Bly

The Theatre Times: Mark Bly is an American dramaturg, editor, and lecturer. He was the chair of the MFA Playwriting Program at the Yale School of Drama from 1992-2004 while being the associate artistic director at the Yale Rep. He taught dramaturgy at Yale and was the director of the MFA Playwriting Program at Hunter College from 2011-2013, and subsequently the MFA Playwriting Program at Fordham/Primary Stages.

2019 Super Conference – “What Dramaturgs Do And Why/When You Need One” with Ashley Chang, Jenna Clark Embrey, Jack Phillips Moore, and Jill Rafson

The Producer's Perspective: If you’ve ever wondered what a dramaturg does, then this panel from last year’s Super Conference is for you. And something tells me you’ll want to run out and get one for your show when you’re done watching (email me if you do – I can give you a rec).

In Memoriam: Robert Blacker Looks at the Past And Future of American Dramaturgy

The Theatre Times: Dramaturgy in America was a European ideal grafted onto native aspirations. Arising in the 1970s, it became widely disseminated as a job description and set of emerging ideas in the 1980s, as a new generation of artistic directors took over regional theaters This piece attempts to indicate macrohistory by relating anecdotal microhistory, revealing snapshots of the evolution of American dramaturgy. In a series of interviews conducted over the winter and spring of 2013, Robert Blacker and I discussed the role of the dramaturg in a trio of theatrical institutions that represent three kinds of theatre organizations– regional, developmental, and classical.

"We Always Depend On Other People"--Dramaturge Stefan Bläske On His Process Of "Five Easy Pieces" With Milo Rau

The Theatre Times: It was a pleasure to sit down and talk to Stefan Bläske, the resident dramaturge of the International Insititute of Political Murder (IIPM), founded by renowned Swiss director Milo Rau, who probably is the current hot topic among the theatre world in Europe. Rau’s productions are often linked up with controversy, tackling real political topics around the world that blurs the line between theatre and real life.

How to Fix the Dreaded Talkback

Theatre Development Fund – TDF: I'm a dramaturg. That term means different things depending upon whom you ask. But in my case, it often means I'm the lucky theatre staffer tasked with moderating the post-show Q&A between the artists and the audience, commonly known as the talkback. And, I must confess, most of the time, I loathe it. Whenever you give the audience a microphone, it's inevitable that someone will (usually unwittingly) upset the theatre-makers.

Dramaturgy Under Capitalism

Exeunt Magazine: At first encounter, it’s a terrifying word. The first time I came across the title I was still at school, and had just become angrily aware of the existence of Ben Power, a person who somehow had my ideal job. Now the first ever deputy artistic director at the National Theatre, at that point he was writing, adapting, working with Headlong and Complicite, and among other things delivering a ‘new version’ of Medea for the National. I couldn’t quite see how he’d done it, but he was undeniably there, in amongst the thick of it, some instrumental part of what was going on, and I even envied him for that maddeningly distinctive name. His Wikipedia page described him as a ‘dramaturg’. I had to look it up.

Not A Lighting Designer Or Creative Director | A Dramaturg

Business & People News content from Live Design: Often people ask about my vocation, "what do I do." Even my mother is not quite sure.

I had an occasion of realization lately, one of those perfectly tuned moments of clarity where the pattern of the weave becomes clear beyond the threads.

The shroud of mystery comes from trying to look at the threads, the process of the journey. These are the ingredients that in sum answer the question posed. But by themselves, they are deceptive, maybe even seeming like whole answers.

Fusions, Explorations and Making It Make Sense: Talking Dramaturgy with Flavia D'Avila

The Theatre Times: So the idea started in 2011, that is when I founded the company, actually responding to a task I was set when I was on a production course in London. I went down to London for the six-week course at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. I went because I wanted to learn a bit more about producing, and realized when I got there that everyone else had their own specific thing that they were working on. So, just for the sake of being able to respond to the tasks, I created a company – and I quite liked it!

LMDA Regional Spotlight: Mark Bly and Heather Helinsky in New York

urban excavations: Two leading names in U.S. dramaturgy from two different generations – LMDA founder Mark Bly and established freelance dramaturg Heather Helinsky – gathered to discuss their professional journeys with Metro New York City LMDA members on May 24, 2016 in the friendly offices of the Disney Theatrical Group, above the New Amsterdam Theatre.

The New Play’s the Thing

AMERICAN THEATRE: As part of this special issue’s exploration of the state of the new American play, we wanted to highlight some of the most exciting works of theatre written within the past five years. So we asked a group that champions new work, dramaturgs and literary managers across the U.S. and Canada, which productions they were most looking forward to this season.

Mark Bly in conversation with Katalin Trencsényi: "Questioning Spirit”—Dramaturgy in America

The Theatre Times: Mark Bly is an American dramaturg, editor, and lecturer. He was the chair of the Playwriting Program at the Yale School of Drama from 1992-2004, while being the associate artistic director at the Yale Rep. He taught dramaturgy at Yale and was the director of the MFA Playwriting Program at Hunter College from 2011-2013, and is currently adjunct professor in the MFA Playwriting Program at Fordham/Primary Stages. Over the past thirty-five years, he has served as a dramaturg, director of new play development, and associate artistic director at venues such as the Arena Stage, the Alley Theatre, the Guthrie Theater, the Seattle Rep, theYale Rep and on Broadway, dramaturging and producing over two hundred plays.

Goin’ to Kansas City: Dramaturgy Open Office Hours Branches Out

HowlRound: In Fall 2015, Kansas City hosted a new branch of the Dramaturgy Open Office Hour Project, which originally began with Jeremy Stoller's initiative in New York City. Amanda launched the branch after hearing about the project at the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA) 2015 conference and chatting with Jeremy. After seeing the project’s feature in American Theatre magazine, we believed there was a need for this project in the Kansas City community.

Interview with Ken Cerniglia: Dramaturg & Literary Manager, Disney Theatrical Group

HowlRound: What was your path from a PhD in Theatre History and Criticism to working for Disney?

Ken Cerniglia: That's an excellent question; the two can seem disconnected, but the fact is that I've been able to use every ounce of my academic training in my industry job, and then some. I like to think of dramaturgy as "applied scholarship." When I decided to pursue the academic route in grad school after my undergrad training in psychology and theatre performance/directing, dramaturgy provided an organic way for me to stay connected to production.

Shakespeare in Modern English?

The New York Times: THE Oregon Shakespeare Festival has decided that Shakespeare’s language is too difficult for today’s audiences to understand. It recently announced that over the next three years, it will commission 36 playwrights to translate all of Shakespeare’s plays into modern English.

“Tamara” at Quantum

The Pittsburgh Tatler: It’s 1927. You’re in fascist Italy, in the splendid – one might even say, decadent! – villa of the famous poet and war hero Gabriele d’Annunzio (Fermin Suàrez), awaiting the arrival of Polish artiste and bohème supreme Tamara de Lempicka (Megan MacKenzie Lawrence), who is hoping to obtain a commission to paint d’Annunzio’s portrait. You’ve somehow found your way into the oratorio, a music room eclectically decorated with Persian rugs, masks, taxidermied animals, and (of all things) a large coffin. The talented musician Luisa (Robin Abramson) plays piano while the pious, pretty ballerina Carlotta (Cathryn Dylan) practices the dance she hopes will earn her d’Annunzio’s recommendation to Diaghilev, when – ta da! – Tamara arrives.

Ghostly Profound: A Thing of Unknowable Depth

HowlRound: I have been terrified to even put down the word 幽玄. I had to ask Google to write these characters for me. According to Google Translate, yugen means “subtle and profound.” Looking at the unfamiliar characters, I would have guessed “ghostly.” For the first time in decades, I looked for the Japanese dictionary that I brought with me when I left Japan alone at age sixteen. It was on my bookshelf having survived many moves. The first definition of the word translates (roughly) as “a thing of unknowable depth,” and ironically, the second definition remains unknown to me because I don’t know the key character in it. I could only make out “infinite experience.”