This text presents a transformative introductory approach to dramaturgical thinking and collaboration, emphasizing useful skills (listening, reflection, questions) and collaborative techniques. Useful for those at a formative stage and for those unfamliar with the work of dramaturgs and the impact they can have on production.

The Art of Dramaturgy is a transformative approach to dramaturgical thinking and collaboration. Each chapter includes ways to approach so-called old plays or set texts (think Shakespeare or Pinter or Parks) and then takes it up a notch to show how to use those skills when working on new plays.

This text offers a series of workable strategies and practical exercises meant to develop and improve the skills needed during the practice of production dramaturgy. Includes case studies, sample syllabus, list of resources.

An introduction to the mysterious theater role of a dramaturg by a legend in the field Anne Cattaneo was among the first Americans to fill the role of dramaturg, one of theater’s best kept secrets. A combination of theater artist, scholar, researcher, play advocate, editor, and writer’s friend, it is the job of a dramaturg to “reflect light back on the elements that are already in play,” while bringing a work of theater to life. Cattaneo traces the field from its beginnings in the eighteenth century to the present and chronicles the multitude and variety of tasks a dramaturg undertakes before, during, and after a production is brought to the stage. Using detailed stories from her work with theater artists such as Tom Stoppard, Wendy Wasserstein, Robert Wilson, Shi-Zheng Chen, and Sarah Ruhl, as well as the discovery of a ‘lost’ play by Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, Cattaneo provides an invaluable manual to those studying, working in, and interested in this most fascinating profession.

Dramaturgy of Form examines verse in twenty-first-century theatre practice across different languages, cultures, and media. Through interdisciplinary engagement, Kasia Lech offers a new method for verse analysis in the performance context. The book traces the dramaturgical operation of verse in new writings, musicals, devised performances, multilingual dramas, Hip Hop theatre, films, digital projects, and gig theatre, as well as translations and adaptations of classics and new theatre forms created by Irish, Spanish, Nigerian, Polish, American, Canadian, Australian, British, Russian, and multinational artists. Their verse dramaturgies explore timely issues such as global identities, agency and precarity, global and local politics, and generational and class stories. The development of dramaturgy is discussed with the focus turning to the new stylized approach to theatre, whose arrival Hans-Thies Lehmann foretold in his Postdramatic Theatre, documenting a turning point for contemporary Western theatre. Serving theatre-makers, scholars, and students working with classical and contemporary verse and poetry in performance contexts; practitioners and academics of aural and oral dramaturgies; voice and verse-speaking coaches; and actors seeking the creative opportunities that verse offers, Dramaturgy of Form reveals verse as a tool for innovation and transformation that is at the forefront of contemporary practices and experiences.

Since its release in 2010, Ghost Light: An Introductory Handbook for Dramaturgy has become the international standard for dramaturgy training and practice. As the field of dramaturgy continues to shift and change, this new edition prepares theatre students and practitioners to create powerful, relevant performances of all types.

Dramaturgy, in its many forms, is a fundamental and indispensable element of contemporary theatre. In its earliest definition, the word itself means a comprehensive theory of "play making." Although it initially grew out of theatre, contemporary dramaturgy has made enormous advances in recent years, and it now permeates all kinds of narrative forms and structures: from opera to performance art; from dance and multimedia to filmmaking and robotics. In our global, mediated context of multinational group collaborations that dissolve traditional divisions of roles as well as unbend previously intransigent rules of time and space, the dramaturg is also the ultimate globalist: intercultural mediator, information and research manager, media content analyst, interdisciplinary negotiator, social media strategist. This collection focuses on contemporary dramaturgical practice, bringing together contributions not only from academics but also from prominent working dramaturgs. The inclusion of both means a strong level of engagement with current issues in dramaturgy, from the impact of social media to the ongoing centrality of interdisciplinary and intermedial processes. The contributions survey the field through eight main lenses: world dramaturgy and global perspective dramaturgy as function, verb and skill dramaturgical leadership and season planning production dramaturgy in translation adaptation and new play development interdisciplinary dramaturgy play analysis in postdramatic and new media dramaturgy social media and audience outreach. Magda Romanska is Visiting Associate Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University, Associate Professor of Theatre and Dramaturgy at Emerson College, and Dramaturg for Boston Lyric Opera. Her books include The Post-Traumatic Theatre of Grotowski and Kantor (2012), Boguslaw Schaeffer: An Anthology (2012), and Comedy: An Anthology of Theory and Criticism (2014).

In this encompassing and accessible introduction to dramaturgy, Felicia Hardison Londre promotes the dramaturgical essay as both an art form and as a method for improving creative writing skills. "Words at Play: Creative Writing and Dramaturgy "includes Londre s essays on plays produced at several regional professional theatre companies interspersed with instructive examples for writing more clearly, economically, and compellingly. Beginning with an introduction that outlines the purpose of the dramaturgical essay as well as its usefulness as a tool for teaching how to write for the theatre, Londre provides numerous examples of this specialized literary genre culled from program essays she has written for Missouri Repertory Theatre, Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, American Heartland Theatre, and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. "Words at Play: Creative Writing and Dramaturgy "contains more than sixty complete essays and pertinent selections from twenty others. Drawing on personal and professional experiences as a teacher and dramaturg, Londre considers plays from timeless classics, including those of Shakespeare and Chekhov, to contemporary favorites and a few unusual and largely unknown pieces. "Words at Play: Creative Writing and Dramaturgy" furthermore incorporates introductory paragraphs that are informal and personal yet cogent and critical, providing readers with object lessons in both writing style and analysis. Taking the reader into her confidence, Londre also shows how a dramaturg develops a print relationship with other theatre artists and the community. A foreword by Royal Shakespeare Company associate artist Barry Kyle addresses the evolving role of the dramaturg in Britain and America. Dakin Williams, brother of playwright Tennessee Williams, provides a letter."

A Theory of Dramaturgy is the first text of its kind to define concepts and combine arguments into a coherent dramaturgical theory supported by an operative systems theory. This is a wide-ranging theory with historical and contemporary perspectives on dramaturgy, rather than simply a how-to book. Dramaturgy began in ancient Greece, born from experimentation with democracy and commentary in the theatre on the human condition. The term itself has seen constant evolution, but thanks to its introduction into common English usage within the last three decades, it has gained new importance. Dramaturgy draws focus to the communication of communication, and in theatre it examines how moving bodies, voice, sound, and light can tell a story and affect values. Beyond the theatre, in daily life, dramaturgy becomes a question of "performativity", as we constantly have to act in relation to the roles that we occupy. It is because of this that the way in which society describes itself to itself is not just a matter for scientists and theorists, but for all of those who are met on a daily basis with devised, staged, and directed versions of important values and events in our contemporary lives. Ideal for both scholars and students, A Theory of Dramaturgy explains how to approach the values, strategies, and theories that are essential to understanding arts and media, and investigates what art should do in the current world.

Curating Dramaturgies investigates the transformation of art and performance and its impact on dramaturgy and curatorship. Addressing contexts and processes of the performing arts as interconnecting with visual arts, this book features interviews with leading curators, dramaturgs and programmers who are at the forefront of working in, with, and negotiating the daily practice of interdisciplinary live arts. The book offers a view of praxis that combines perspectives on theory and practice and looks at the way that various arts institutions, practitioners and cultural agents have been working to change the way that art and performance have developed and experienced by spectators in the last decade. Curating Dramaturgies argues that cultural producers and scholars are becoming more cognizant of this overlapping and transforming field. The introductory essay by the editors explores the rise of interdisciplinary live arts and its ramifications in cultural and political terms. This is further elaborated in the interviews with 15 diversely placed arts professionals who are at the forefront of rethinking and consolidatingthe ever-evolving field of the visual arts and performance.