The creators of After, There Will Be Flowers want to shift the narratives of intimate partner violence from perpetration to healing. Lizzie Rajchel, the project’s co-creator, describes some of the dramaturgical and practical moves the production made to center healing and care.
Jordan and Leticia interview Canadian playwright, director, and educator Djanet Sears, hearing about her unique approach to dramaturgy and an in-depth look at Black theatre in Canada.
Dramaturg Yejia Sun discusses the process of When I Look at Myself, a multimedia performance workshop documenting Chinese women’s relationships with their bodies. She shares how the experience provided a container for healing and a space for empowerment via exploring feminist narratives in China.
Ghost Forest grapples with the climate crisis playing out through sea level rise that impacts forests of the Eastern Bay in Maryland. Taylor Leigh Lamb discusses the way the play’s ecological approach extended into new play development process that supported the art, the artists, and the surrounding community.
Access dramaturgy is a practice of integrating access creatively and collaboratively in performance from the earliest moments of the creative process. Access dramaturg Alison Kopit, in collaboration with Ann Marie Dorr and Maggie Bridger, introduces the transformative practice of access dramaturgy as implemented in Radiate and Dark Disabled Stories.
Robert Duffley, dramaturg for the We Hear You—A Climate Archive series, details the process of creating 77 Messages to the Future, an offering that amplifies and preserves youth perspectives on the climate emergency from around the world. He shares how this work counters dominant media narratives that exclude the voices of youth and illustrate the climate crisis as something yet to come.
How would our view of Othello change if we knew he were a Muslim? Abdul-Rehman Malik reflects on this question, which became a central point of exploration for his work on the English Touring Theatre production of Othello.
In the spirit of decentering directors as the sole owners of a production’s concept, Daphnie Sicre proposes a two-day pre-production gathering, or dalliance, for the creative team. The format of this dalliance is inspired by her group’s work at the Latinx Theatre Commons Designer and Director Colaboratorio.
Dramaturgs serve productions in a variety of ways, which are often dictated by needs of the play and the playwright. Playwright and dramaturg Jacqueline Goldfinger, along with dramaturg and dean of the Theatre School at DePaul University Martine Kei Green-Rogers, join the conversation to discuss the role of the dramaturg in new play development, as well as how to incorporate dramaturgy in the classroom.
Watch the Into Abolitionist Theatre: A Guidebook for Liberatory Theatre-making Book Launch Panel! Organized and moderated by Editor Rivka Eckert, contributors shared their perspectives and insights from the book.
Jessica Elaine Ellison challenges training programs to position dramaturgs as creatives. Through this framing, these programs have the opportunity to expand and innovate in the way that embraces the expansiveness of dramaturgs working in the field.
Dramaturg Anna D. Novak and director Juliana Frey-Méndez discuss their collaborative dramaturgical process for Fefu and Her Friends, written by María Irene Fornés. Together they crafted a process that embraced the play’s mysteries and made space for everyone’s analysis.
Karen Ann Daniels, Malik Work, and John “Ray” Proctor sit down with Melissa Lin Sturges to discuss their work on Our Verse in Time to Come, a Folger Theatre production that used Shakespeare as a jumping off point to become a testament to “the other bards”—the ones still living and the ones still to come.
Stewart Pringle, senior dramaturg at the National Theatre, sheds light on the theatre’s Generate program. Jeffrey Mosser and Stewart discuss the problem with the term “literary department,” when to take a risk, and why it’s important that the big fish in the big pond makes the investment in smaller-scale ensemble-based companies.
Theatremakers Sulu LeoNimm, Liz Morgan, and Katy Rubin discuss the process of co-authoring The Wildcard Workbook, a guide designed to help others in the field delve into Theatre of the Oppressed practices and devised theatre processes.
In this episode, Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley look at the life and legacy of playwright Robbie McCauley, who recently passed away. They discuss her work as a pioneer of solo performance as a Black woman and how she impacted the world of Black feminist theatre.
Theatremaker Joel Schechter explains the importance of Karl Kraus’s The Last Days of Mankind and why he believes its anti-war message is still relevant today.
Literary Managers and Dramaturgs From the United States, Mexico, and Canada Share Twelve Playwrights and Play-Makers Whose Work You Should Know
Thursday 28 July 2022
United States, Mexico, Canada
Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas presented the conversation Playwrights Under the Radar livestreaming on the commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 28 July 2022 at 9 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 11 a.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 12 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).
This episode honors the life and work of composer, writer, and performer Micki Grant, who passed away in August 2021. Grant was the first Black woman to write and compose a musical that made it to Broadway, and she is also the subject of Jordan's dissertation.
This episode is an interview with Addae Moon, the associate artistic director at Theatrical Outfit in Atlanta, Georgia. We discuss his journey as a theatre artist; his playwright development lab, Hush Harbor Lab; and his own artistry and creativity.
A conversation with Anne Cattaneo about her new book: The Art of Dramaturgy
Wednesday 8 December 2021
United States
The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center presented SEGAL TALKS, a conversation about curating, producing, and presenting theatre and performance in the time of COVID with Anne Cattaneo, livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network on Wednesday 8 December 2021 at 9 a.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 11 a.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 12 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5) / 17:00 GMT (London, UTC +0) / 18:00 CET (Berlin, UTC +1).
A Ceremony Celebrating the Twentieth Anniversary of the Dramaturgs’ Network and the Work of All the Shortlisted Nominees
Saturday 20 November 2021
London, United Kingdom
Dramaturgs' Network presented the Kenneth Tynan Award 2021 livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 20 November 2021 at 11:30 a.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 2:30 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5) / 19:30 GMT (London, UTC +0).
A Robust Discussion of Some of the Most Pressing Issues in Theatre’s Move Towards a Decolonized Model
Saturday 20 November 2021
London, United Kingdom
Dramaturgs' Network presented a panel on Anti-racist Strategies in Dramaturgy livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 20 November 2021 at 9 a.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 12 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5) / 17:00 GMT (London, UTC +0).
