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THEA 4330: Dramaturgy

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Prepares program notes, study guides, and other outreach materials ... Create outreach materials (e.g., program note, study guide) for one play. ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: THEA 4330: Dramaturgy


1
THEA 4330 Dramaturgy
  • Sydney Cheek ODonnell, Ph.D.
  • Fall 2009
  • Tues. Thurs. 340-5pm
  • Marriott Library Room 2008

2
What is a dramaturg?
  • A collaborative artist who seeks out and presents
    pathways into the world of the play for all
    constituents of a theatrical production,
    including the director, actors, designers, and
    spectators.

3
No, seriously, what is a dramaturg?
  • A play doctor or script doctor
  • The information designer
  • The audience before the audience

4
So what does a dramaturg actually do?
  • Analyzes plays
  • Assists directors to develop concepts
  • Provides research materials to the production
    team
  • Selects translations, makes cuts to texts
  • Serves as an in-house critic
  • Prepares program notes, study guides, and other
    outreach materials
  • Facilitates events connected with a production,
    e.g. talk-backs or expert panels

5
What skills does dramaturgy develop?
  • Analytical skills
  • Critical thinking
  • Creative problem solving
  • Research skills
  • Organizational skills
  • Information management skills
  • Communication skills

6
Who benefits from dramaturgical training?
  • Directors
  • Actors
  • Designers
  • PR and Marketing Professionals
  • Spectators
  • Critics
  • Historians

7
Directors
  • Hone facilitation skills to more effectively lead
    your creative team.
  • Learn to envision more creative choices.
  • Develop communication skills.
  • Identify and connect with your audience.

8
Actors
  • Become close readers of plays.
  • Learn to identify key moments in order to prepare
    effectively for auditions.
  • Hone research skills for use in developing
    characters.

9
Designers
  • Hone close-reading skills.
  • Spark your imagination with a wide variety of
    source materials.
  • Develop research skills.
  • Learn to communicate with collaborators.

10
PR and Marketing
  • Locate information that will attract and serve
    audiences.
  • Learn to communicate key ideas and information to
    audiences.
  • Create outreach materials for audiences of adults
    or students.

11
Spectators
  • See more -- What is happening on the stage or
    page
  • Question more -- What is happening in this play
    and why?
  • Understand more -- Get more out of the experience
    of seeing or reading plays
  • Enjoy more -- With dramaturgical training, even a
    bad show becomes an interesting experience. And
    a good show becomes great because of what you
    bring to it!

12
Critics
  • Get a deeper understanding of the production
    process and the array of interpretive choices
    available in a single play text.
  • Learn to share that understanding with popular
    audiences -- become a mediator and a facilitator.

13
Historians
  • Learn to connect historical information to plays
    in production.
  • Learn to deliver historical information to
    theatre artists as well as popular audiences.

14
Who can be a dramaturg?
  • Everyone working on a production.
  • Anyone who asks what and how a play is meaningful
    to an audience today.
  • Anyone who works collaboratively in creative
    endeavors.
  • Anyone who loves to ask questions and work to
    discover possibilities

15
What will we do in class?
  • Read, see, write about, and discuss plays with an
    eye for structure.
  • Read about and discuss the theory and practice of
    dramaturgy.
  • Meet regional theatre professionals.
  • Conduct research on at least two plays.
  • Create outreach materials (e.g., program note,
    study guide) for one play.
  • Create a casebook for one play.
  • Do a dramaturgical presentation for the class.

16
What else do I need to know?
  • The prerequisite for this class is either THEA
    1713 or the permission of the instructor.
  • This class is designed as a workshop / seminar,
    which means that there will be little, if any,
    lecture. Class time will be spent on discussion
    and hands-on exercises. Thus, student preparation
    for class and curiosity are essential.

17
And finally
  • If you like ideas, this is the class for you
    Learn to juggle--without using your hands or
    feet--eight, nine, ten, twenty, a million ideas
    that offer mutually exclusive, potentially
    deadly, but absolutely marvelous authorless
    solutions!

18
For more information
  • Contact Dr. Sydney Cheek ODonnell at
    cheek.odonnell_at_utah.edu or 801-585-1080
  • Contact the Department of Theatre at 801-581-6448

19
THEA 4330
  • Meets Fall 2009, Tues. and Thurs. 340-5pm in
    Marriott Library, room 2008
  • Meets with THEA 4335, Honors Dramaturgy
  • Prerequisite THEA 1713 or instructors approval
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