The Once and Future Career

In which we shall see: A history lesson, a crumpet, a job description, a little song and "dance", some snorting, an attack of geekishness, an anniversary, and girls' night out.

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I am a dramaturg. (No, this has nothing to do with any political affiliation.) If you don't know what a "dramaturg" is, you're not alone - most people, even those in theatre professions, don't know what it is. They've had them in Germany for the last 250 years, but it's only been around here in the U.S. for maybe 40 or so. My first impression of dramaturgy was of some old guy sitting around in a tweed jacket (with leather patches on the elbows), smoking a pipe and saying things like, "Now, when William (or Willie, as he liked to be called) was first writing that play I told him 'Willie, you simply cannot have a happy ending! The young people HAVE to die, don't you see? A MUCH more effective use of emotional psychology, rather! Have a crumpet.'" I thought that a dramaturg was someone who'd been with one theatre company since the earth's crust cooled, and occasionally wrote something avant-garde, if he was bored, for the actors to perform.

Maybe once - but not anymore! (If you've heard the schpiel before, skip ahead.) Today, a dramaturg can do so many things... literally, it's "one who studies or creates drama." My short description is to say that it's someone who provides reasearch and context. For example, a dramaturg may come in to work with a theatre company, and they might start by researching the company's patron base. They'll look at the economic status, community issues, prevailing beliefs and educations levels, and the types of theatre they have responded to in the past. Then the dramaturg will help the company plan the season, based on this research and perhaps using present concerns or events as a connecting theme. Next, a dramaturg would look at each show individually and research down to bedposts and doorknobs - history of the play, background of the author, themes, message, text and language of the script, sociology, culture, music, architecture, costumes, music, food, etc... along with other commentary about the play, and with a focus on the director's particular areas of interest. They take all of that information and parse it down into an Actor's Packet (or, "old school style", simply take ALL the articles and scholarly information and bind them into a production book) which pinpoints relevant information to help the actors as they build their characters.

Further, the dramaturg will make themself available to answer any questions the cast might have, and present any additional research. The dramaturg then goes on to act as a liason between the audience and the play. This might include creating a study guide for adults or young audience members, going out to talk with school groups about the show, and conducting talk-back sessions after a performance. They will often write an introductory or scholarly article about the play or some aspect of it to be posted in the program. They sometimes keep logs or journals about the production process of the play.

A dramaturg might also look at the more literal interpretation of the job as a Literary Manager, or person who helps to develop new theatre by writing or assisting those who write plays. It's a really open, wide-ranging field, and I'm finding it fascinating.
As this point, I've worked mostly in the research part of the profession - I've spent the last year or so researching plays and creating the actor packets. I've worked with high school groups, non-profit theatre companies, and semi-professional theatres.

I've come to realize that I am a complete geek.

Last night I was sitting at a performance of The Civil War out at Hale Theatre. The singing was marvelous, and the fight scenes are wonderful... I kept being taken out of the play, though, by the overly-elaborate staging. I started worrying more about the crew having to keep it all running than I did about the story! During one of these moments of abstraction I started to wonder how one would dramaturg a show like this, what the packet would look like - would I do a timeline of the entire Civil War, or just hit the points mentioned in the script? How would a person research the show without finishing up with an entire book on it? I then started remembering that I only had two pages left to finish the current packet I was working on for a show over at the school, and that maybe I could leave at intermission to go home and get it done. I might have brushed it off and gotten absorbed in the performance, except that the two women sitting next to me were being extraordinarily boorish, laughing and sniggering, both barely under control. One even snorted out loud in the middle of a song, and both of them ignored the dirty looks they were getting from the patrons all around them. (BTW, Civil War is not a funny show.) With that, and the nagging desire to get back to work on my project, I did leave at intermission - and on the way home I realized that only a true theatre nerd would rather be researching a show than actually watching one.

Turned out to be a pretty good piece of work, too.

Oh, and look! Today's my one-month blogging anniversay! I started on the 14th of February, and 14 posts later it's the 14th of March - I wonder if I should get myself flowers... or maybe just ice cream. I am taking myself to a movie tonight (WITH friends)...

Watch out for falling turtles,

Cyd


Family members I've talked with this week: 5
Days I've gone without chocolate: 17 out of 19
Days I've exercised: (I'm starting over tomorrow)
Number of plays I'll see this week and next: 2.5