University of Puget Sound Sound Ideas LMDA Review Other Publications Winter 2009 Review: The ewN sletter and Journal of Dramaturgy, volume 19, issue 1 Shelley Orr Haviva Avirom Carrie Kaplan Joanne Zipay Lauren Beck See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: http://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/lmdareview Recommended Citation Orr, Shelley; Avirom, Haviva; Kaplan, Carrie; Zipay, Joanne; Beck, Lauren; and Arndt, Neena, "Review: The eN wsletter and Journal of Dramaturgy, volume 19, issue 1" (2009). LMDA Review. 39. http://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/lmdareview/39 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Other Publications at Sound Ideas. It has been accepted for inclusion in LMDA Review by an authorized administrator of Sound Ideas. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authors Shelley Orr, Haviva Avirom, Carrie Kaplan, Joanne Zipay, Lauren Beck, and Neena Arndt This book is available at Sound Ideas: http://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/lmdareview/39 The Newsletter and Journal of Dramaturgy Published by the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas Volume 19, Issue 1 Review Winter 2009 2009 CONFERENCE: DATES AND DETAILS 1 Save the Date! 2 Conference Committee and Participating Institutions 3 “Out of Bounds”: Plans and themes for the 2009 Conference DRAMATURGY AND TECHNOLOGY 4 Developing Digiturgy by Haviva Avirom DRAMATURGICAL MANIFESTA 8 I’d Rather Shove a Bodkin in My Nowl or Wear a Bona Roba’s Merkin Than Be That Kind of Dramaturg by Carrie Kaplan RESIDENCY REPORT: Richmond Shakespeare Festival 10 The Better Part of Valour by Joanne Zipay edited by Lauren Beck DRAMATURGY DEBUT ARTICLE 13 Theatre, Tears, and Rock: Dramaturging The Onion Cellar at ART by Neena Arndt I hope the new year finds you healthy and happy. In the U.S. at this moment, all eyes are on Washington, D.C., as the country anticipates SAVE THE DATE! the inauguration of President Obama later this month. Dramaturgs and theatre people of all political persuasions have another reason to look toward the nation's capital later this year: the 2009 LMDA Annual Conference. Please mark your calendars and make plans to join us! Shelley Orr LMDA President 2009 LMDA Annual Conference “Out of Bounds” Washington, D.C. July 16 –19, 200 SAVE THE DATE! 2009 LMDA Annual Conference Washington, D.C. July 16-19, 2009 Conference Planner: Danielle Mages Amato, Freelance Dramaturg Conference Committee: Gavin Witt, Centerstage; Miriam Weisfeld and Elissa Goetschius, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; Erin O'Malley, Freelance Dramaturg. Supporting Theatres: Kennedy Center, Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Arena Stage, Centerstage, Active Cultures, Inkwell, Shakespeare Theatre Company University-based suport: University of Maryland, Phaedra Carpenter; Washington College, Michele Volansky; Morgan University, David Mitchell; Towson University, Robyn Quick; Georgetown University, Derek Goldman Review Visit Review online: www.lmda.org Editor Review is published twice yearly by Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the D.J. Hopkins, San Diego State University Americas. Submissions should conform to MLA format, but I’m not picky. Spelling differences between Canadian and US English will be preserved. As per the name Associate Editor of our organization, “dramaturg” will be the default spelling of this contentious Lauren Beck, San Diego State University word, but we will preserve the spelling of any submitter who prefers “dra - maturge.” The same will hold for “theatre” and “theater,” “colour” and “color,” “chesterfield” and “couch,” or “rubbish skip” and “garbage dumpster.” LMDA LMDA Canada P.O. Box 728 36 St. Paul Street Inquiries from prospective contributors are welcome. All inquiries should be Village Station Toronto, ON directed to D.J. Hopkins: [email protected]. Review gratefully acknowl - New York, NY 10014 M5A3H3 Canada edges the support of the School of Theatre, Television, and Film and the College 800-680-2148 416-214-1992 of Professional Studies and Fine Arts at San Diego State University. Review Volume 19 number 1, Winter 2009. Copyright © 2009 Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas. All rights reserved. Review 2 OUT OF BOUNDS Conference planner Danielle Mages Amato and LMDA President Shelley Orr share ideas in development for the next conference. The diverse interests of our members have inspired planning for Conference Sessions in development the 2009 conference. We hope to forge personal connections The “Out of Bounds” Sessions: among artists in our field and the people who write our nation’s stories—stories of our history (archivists), our culture (curators), • Science Stories. Science journalists and the head of one of DC’s and our political machinery (campaign managers and speechwrit - major science foundations welcome the opportunities for cross- ers). In practice, the conference theme will reflect the role that a pollination between the arts and sciences. dramaturg can play at the heart of helping to develop the theatre • Conference attendees visit selected museums and cultural institu - artists and practitioners of tomorrow, while also serving as a liai - tions, learn how research conducted by those institutions is shared son between theatre and its allied arts, and between the arts and a with visitors. Representatives of the museums will also present. wider negotiation of public discourse. Washington is the perfect place to explore how we as dramaturgs can extend our talents onto • Dramaturging Politics. How theatre plays a part in the political the national and international scene. process, and who is doing the work of the dramaturg in this field. We want to explore dramaturgy in action in arenas as diverse as • Breaking Down Our Four(th) Walls. This session will explore the museums, scientific institutions, and the political system. Because ways in which a variety of fields can inform and be informed by dra - the conference will be held in US’s capital city, we will explore the maturgical methods. Lee Devin will be a featured speaker. challenges and opportunities raised in the highly charged national The “In-Bounds” Sessions: discussions following the 2008 election. The US’s attention has been focused on how we define ourselves, on questions of who is • New Play Development in DC. A lively roundtable discussion an American, and on who will represent us to the world. The among DC dramaturgs and artistic directors. LMDA conference will explore these questions with a special • Digital Dramaturgy. The impacts of technology on our work. Possible focus on how we dramaturgs (of all countries) might define and topics include: Teaching Theatre Online; Using Online Technology to redefine ourselves. communicate, compile, and distribute research; Database Technology The Kennedy Center and George Washington University are set up for the Literary Office. to help host the 2009 LMDA conference. Conference chair Danielle Mages Amato and her committee are exploring the con - ference theme of dramaturgy Out of Bounds: how we function in other fields and how other fields impact us — especially museum culture and politics, because this is DC! Most theaters and univer - The Capitol building, sities in the DC area are invested in participating. GWU and Washington, DC. Kennedy Center are located close to each other, and the conference hotel will be located in the downtown area. GWU dorms will be available for housing conference attendees as well. A conference brochure with full details on the conference program and logistics will be available soon. Review 3 Developing Digiturgy An early career dramaturg explores the uses of wikimedia while working on a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream . by Haviva Avirom Audiences and production staff alike, especially those of the younger generations, are moving online for their information and entertainment. It behooves us as dramaturgs to appeal to them by adding to our physical resources with a web presence, entering the realm of digiturgy. Whether in the form of private, long-distance script collaborations amongst the production staff, resources pro - vided online for actors, a digital archive of a production, or audi - ence outreach and extra-performative web enrichment, the internet is a communication tool and an asset that dramaturgs are in the par - ticular position to utilize. Two years ago, at the Minneapolis conference of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA), Geoff Proehl and I presented about the project we were working on at the time, a digital dramaturgical collaboration for a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream . We were interested in using the existing wiki tech - nology, the basis of the popular and perpetually editable Wikipedia, to attempt to create a sustainable, shareable encapsulation of our upcoming production: an archive, encompassing the play text with our edits and our glossary, prop and sound plots, costume and set Haviva Avirom is a graduate of the BA Theatre Arts sketches, and a compendium of dramaturgical research specific to program at University of Puget Sound and former our production. The wonderful IT department of the university allot - student of Geoff Proehl, looking for a way to get paid ted us server space and a domain (http://oberon.ups.edu), installed for this crazy little thing called dramaturgy. Her focus the appropriate software and input our text into the program. The rest is in Shakespeare and classical theatre, as well as was up to us. ways to get more plugged into her computer, so this From an editing standpoint, the project worked very smoothly: Geoff project was perfect for her. Sheʼs experimenting with and I were each able, from our respective homes and offices, both in ways to modify the traditional lobby display into a and out of Washington state, to make cuts and edits to spelling, word gateway experience for audiences. Her past credits choice, and punctuation. The wiki format is distinctly well suited to include over 20 high school and university produc - furthering a conversation on the alterations that bring a script from tions, Lillian Hellmanʼs The Autumn Garden at page to production.