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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.

“I’m standing on this stage right now because I love Hip-Hop. I love what Hip-Hop has done for my life,” boasted independent artist “The Narcicyst.” He was among a host of other musicians who professed their adoration and respect for Hip-Hop at the “Midwest Hip Hop Summit” this weekend. The national non-profit “Hip Hop Congress” launched the 8^th annual convention Friday night, with an amazing, intimate, four-hour concert on the second floor of the Michigan League. The theme of the concert truly encapsulated the essence of the culture- using elements of powerful self-expression and social conscious to foster individual happiness and tangible societal change. Each artist or band took the stage and proudly announced their love of the culture and how it has helped them grow. The acts were so incredible because most of these musicians are not signed to a label; they are not making millions of dollars and getting record deals. They are merely using their passion for music to strive for change in their communities. For any Hip-Hop fan, it was truly a magical atmosphere.

Much to my chagrin I arrived right after the first act, the all-female group of MC’s from Detroit called “The Foundation.” I had heard of them before, and I have an overwhelming faith that they started the night off on a perfect note. When I got to the concert the local Hip Hop group entitled “Tree City” was entertaining the crowd. Formed by three MC’s and a few musicians, Tree City represented Ann Arbor and gave the crowd a unique, amusing performance. One of my favorite aspects of the evening, which was enforced primarily by Tree City, was how evident it was that all of these artists truly love what they do. Tree City will never be famous, but they were ecstatic to just be in front of an audience and perform on the same stage as the likes of Big K.R.I.T.  After their performance, one of Tree City’s rappers joined the crowd and was grooving along with the rest of us. That is what Hip-Hop is all about.

Next on stage was rapper OneBeLo, another Michigan native and crowd-pleaser. His music had a much larger emphasis on lyricism; with no live band he used all synthesized beats, and his DJ would often pause or terminate the music to allow Lo to finish the song a cappella. This allowed the audience to better hear his words, and for listeners such as myself who had never heard his music before, this was extremely helpful. While seeing a new rapper for the first time it can be tremendously hard to discern any differences between songs, which is why OneBeLo’s slower tempo and lack of overpowering beats came as a relief.

My favorite act of the night was not in fact the headliner. With two acts left before Big K.R.I.T. appeared, Maimouna Youssef and her funky reggae band graced the stage. Maimouna was easily one of the most talented artists I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. From the moment she got on stage the crowd could sense her lovable, mellow attitude, and the unity of her entire band (which included two guitarists, a pianist and a drummer). Maimouna, who has been nominated for a Grammy and used to perform with the Roots, guided the audience through her repertoire of soulful, R&B and reggae influenced music and proved her skill level. There were honestly too many elements of her performance I loved to be able to choose a favorite, including her cover and remix of the Beatle’s classic “Come Together,” her brief explanation of how she once gave up Hip-Hop, only to find artists like A Tribe Called Quest and Common, and re-discover her passion. She ended the performance with a rendition of her song “Free as a Bird,” showcasing live recordings of her voice singing different melodies, which were then looped continuously and played over each other. She literally built her beat on stage in front of us, and then proceeded to sing for four minutes over it. That is talent only the best musicians can exhibit.

The last two acts, “The Narcicyst” and Big K.R.I.T., despite having to keep an exhausted audience energized, further enhanced the mood and wonder of the show. To my surprise, Big K.R.I.T. did not seem at all perturbed about the mediocre audience in front of him. On the contrary, he seemed to enjoy interacting with the audience, which allowed for a much more personal show. For his last song Big K.R.I.T. jumped off the stage and bounced around between his fans while rapping. This single act captured the overall theme of the night: that Hip-Hop is a culture meant for anyone and everyone to enjoy. It wasn’t crazy, it wasn’t sold out, it wasn’t a business front; it was just Hip Hop.

Places become famous for reasons, legitimate or not. Something is the largest or the oldest, the site of a well-known story or momentous event. It could be a display of bizarre wonders, of aesthetic beauty, of something worth seeing. People and doings have come and gone, and in their place remains a monument or building or a swathe of ground. It is this thing, this place that others now flock to, to be visited so they can affirm that yes, they have indeed been there.

The idea of tourism is in itself logical enough, innocuous enough; it exists because it’s market supply and demand. Yet the primary idea behind tourism is that it is attraction-based— what will draw in the largest crowds? It’s flashy and loud and superficial. And in that, something is inevitably lost in translation. The original weight and meaning in a fifteenth-century castle, the natural beauty of a stretch of beach, the functional importance of a governmental building, the mysticism around a half-buried ruin with no known history. All of these have become entries on brightly-coloured pamphlets, labeled “must-see.” When one visits France, one is expected to visit the Eiffel Tower, visit the Louvre, and bring back photographic evidence. And then there you go; you’ve seen France.

Sometimes, tourism can be beneficial in that it engenders awareness about something many would not have known otherwise, or provides income for those who need it. On the other hand, it reinforces stereotypes and gives rise to another level of consumerism. It’s commercial; it’s pandering to the masses. When something has become popular for popularity’s sake, though, it has moved, in some oddslot fashion, onto another plane altogether. It has been transformed into an icon, something that is famous for being famous. It has become larger than itself in the public imagination.

Something about tourism irks me still. I am uncomfortable playing the role of tourist, unfoundedly nor not. I do want to see this site, to take the old train up, to step where someone or other has once stood. I do not mind being shepherded along, having things explained to me. It’s nice, really.  Perhaps tourism is inevitable. Places hold meaning, and something in us drives us to see, to be, to take some small part in that meaning. It is not unusual that the unfamiliar frequently holds some sort of draw. One cannot be native everywhere— there is a location (or two or three) that is home. And when one is away from home, following a set of painted white lines is perhaps the safest and most practical way to go. Traveling is understandably a luxury, but should one have the opportunity, it would not go amiss to grasp that opportunity, and take it in a different (and perhaps more worthwhile) direction.

Considering I just arrived in Paris last Friday, and will be studying here for the next semester, I thought it would be fun to compile some of my favorite things about French history:

– In 1560, while walking down a street in France, a man was mugged.  While the thief tried to flee the gentleman pulled out his sword (remember, 16th Century) and cut off the bastard’s ear.  The gentleman was then subsequently sued by the local executioner for the right to own the ear because technically it would have been his job to cut it off had the thief then been arrested and tried.

– Napoleon wore a black handkerchief around his neck for every battle except for one, where his black handkerchief was accidentally thrown in the wash and he was forced to wear a white silk cravat.  That battle was Waterloo.

– People familiar with the Kirsten Dunst 2006 feel good hit of the year, “Marie Antoinette,” of course know that Marie and Louis’s marriage was not consummated in a time frame pleasing to Maria Therese.  In fact, it took over 7 years before the deed was done.  There are many theories as to why this took so long; for a long time it was thought that Louis XVI had a condition wherein his foreskin was too tight, making sex painful, but was given an operation after 7 years that would have fixed this.  However, recent examinations of his very meticulously taken hunting diaries show no breaks that would have been necessary for the healing process, so who knows.

– Shortly before his retirement (the real one.  For those unfamiliar, retirement for de Gaulle was like a Cher farewell tour.  Never actually the last one) him and his wife were visiting with English friends.  In response to the question as to what she looked forward to the most after her husband’s retirement, de Gaulle’s wife said “a penis.”  After some awkward silence, de Gaulle corrected his wife “My dear, I think the English don’t pronounce the word quite like that.  It’s ‘appiness.”