DRAMATURGY
About
Dramaturgs are artistic thought partners across multiple disciplines, nimble thinkers, researchers and empathetic listeners, informed audience members in the creative and production process. Dramaturgs curate and develop new work – from devised to dance to literary creations, support the production process with thoughtful questions, meaningful, relevant research, and insightful conversation, create audience-facing experiences through lobby displays, community engagement, program notes, and production talk backs and forums, embrace diversity, empathy, collaboration, respect, factual knowledge, creative enterprise and expansive thinking about what the theater arts world produces AND how that work is produced.
Region 8 welcomes dramaturgs who have participated in school productions or class projects in the calendar year prior to each year’s Conference and Dramaturgically-curious artists who want to know more about this essential artform. The Region 8 dramaturgs will experience hands on learning opportunities with new play development and devising, workshops, community, mentorship and professional feedback.
Dramaturgy Process & Guidelines
The LMDA/KCACTF Student Dramaturgy Award is designed to recognize student dramaturgs who show promise as participants in the diverse landscape of professional dramaturgy. Because dramaturgical work is so often intangible, the application process aims to create space for students to demonstrate how they have tuned their contributions to the needs of a college- or university-sponsored workshop, production, or dramaturgy course. The philosophical foundation of this program rests in the belief that the most effective professional dramaturgs develop an ever-evolving sensibility rather than a rigid set of practices. Such dramaturgs embrace the importance of self-reflection and learning in ways that allow them to tailor their creative work to the needs of each play, production team, and/or audience.
This initiative is the result of a unique collaboration between Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA), the professional association of dramaturgs and literary managers working in North America and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF), a national program dedicated to improving the quality of college and university theater in the United States. Additional support is provided by the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE).
All undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to participate, as long as they have completed one of the following at a college or university during the calendar year prior to the Region 8 Festival:
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Work as a credited dramaturg on a full production or new-play workshop
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A class assignment with an explicitly dramaturgical focus
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On the application you will:
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provide contact and eligibility details,
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send a Collaborator Form to a faculty member or other professional collaborator who has agreed to speak about your work on the project,
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select from a variety of prompts to write brief statements that explain and reflect upon your work
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select, organize and upload materials that best represent your process and/or dramaturgical sensibility
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In person, you will attend the Region 8 Festival in Mesa, AZ to display, present, and receive feedback about your work. At each Regional Festival, students will participate in conversations with professional dramaturgs and qualified respondents about the following aspects of your work:
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Creativity: What is unique or innovative about your approach to the work? Where is your dramaturgical sensibility visible?
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Collaboration: How did the perspectives of your collaborators affect the choices you made throughout the process?
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Contextualization: How did the play itself guide your research and analysis?
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Self-Awareness: How does your ability to self-reflect help position you for continued dramaturgical work?
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