A drama-who?

A dramaturg.  Webster’s defines us as experts in dramaturgy, which, in turn they define as “the art or technique of dramatic composition and theatrical representation.”  They also spell dramaturg dramaturge, which is common and I’ve never really found why we’ve decided to drop that little e at the end.

As far as dramaturg definitions go, this is one of the better ones I’ve heard.  I guess there’s a reason Merriam-Webster is still in business.  I’d like to shed a little light and give some first hand examples of what has constituted dramaturgy for me.  I think you’ll find most dramaturgs have different experiences, but we all have one thing in common: love for the text.

What that really translates to is that dramaturgs are the nerds of theatre.  If you’re still in high school mode and think of actors as Drama Club dorks, then you would be floored by just how dorkier it can get.  Read some of our Twitter conversations that include playwright puns and heady discussion about artistic responsibilities and new work philosophies and you’ll see what I mean.

In established work, a dramaturg is around primarily to help the director and actors best understand the material and make informed choices regarding their work.  Mostly, a production dramaturg in these situations is like a researcher.  For example, I worked on the University’s production of Spring Awakening recently.  The first thing I do when I get the script for a show is I read it twice.  I read it once for myself and then once to compile a list of terms, people, and places that the actors may need defined.  For some shows I’ve worked on, the glossary has almost reached 300 words, but for a regular show the total is usually around 100, give or take 20.  For Spring Awakening I think it was around 90 words.  I also try to include pictures as often as possible.

Going along that visual route, most dramaturgs also compile a visual research board.  For Spring Awakening this was fun because there are two worlds: 1891 Germany where the scenes take place and the interior monologue space which is based in contemporary pop-rock.  I included images of 1890s Germany, the German countryside, haylofts, expressionistic art, and post-punk to give a feel for the song world.  This is one of my favorite parts of the process, because it’s the one you really see the results of.  As much as dramaturgs and directors know the research is critical, it’s always a crapshoot if the actors actually use it.  Actors are invariably drawn to visual mediums though, and they will undoubtedly take some inspiration from the visual research board.

After those two steps are over, I get to more particulars of the production.  Each play has a few issues that are specific to the play.  For Spring Awakening, there were quite a few.  I had sections in my production binder about Lutheranism, 1890s Germany, Germany in general, abortion, teenage sexuality, and suicide.  This musical was also adapted from a play, so I had a section about the play and its author, Frank Wedekind.  I included the play’s production history and the difficulties it faced getting produced because of the subject matter.  I also always include a section on the writers of the show as well as any previous production history.  This gives the artists working on a show an idea of where they are coming from and what new levels they can take the show to.  It also shows where previous productions may have found difficulty so they know what to be aware of in the future.

Some production dramaturgs are also literary managers at their home theatres, so their dramaturgy sort of ends at the first rehearsal.  They send their research into the rehearsal room and hope it is utilized.  Then they must move onto the next project, starting the whole process over again.  The show in production is just a thought in the back of their mind, save the program article they will probably be asked to write, where they can share a little snippet of their research with the audience.  (Let me tell you, condensing weeks’ worth of research into a 300-word article is a challenge.)

Luckily for me, when working in the university setting, I’ve been able to pop in on rehearsals at my convenience.  I also try to make myself as available to the actors and directors as possible, which is much easier for us in this technological age than it was for our predecessors.  Without fail, new areas of interest emerge in rehearsal, whether it is a product of a new direction the director decides to pursue or an actor’s decision that they need more information on a location their character mentions offhandedly.  You may have included that place in your glossary, but the actor has decided that this location is instrumental in their characterization and they need more information.  This is the part that is fun for me, when the actors really delve into the script and begin asking interesting questions.
We’re also the first people to go to when you want to nerd out about syntax or word choice.  If you want someone to get giddy about script analysis, find yourself a dramaturg.  I could spend days thinking about the repetition of one word throughout a script and the different ways that it operates within the text.  That is my idea of a good time.

So that is one type of dramaturg.  Next week we can talk about new works dramaturgs.  They share a lot, but it is really a different world.  For me, it’s a more fun one too.