Dramaturgy - What is it?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines dramaturgy as a noun that means "Dramatic composition, the dramatic art" or "Dramatic of theatrical acting." Merriam-Webster defines dramaturgy as "the art or technique of dramatic composition and theatrical representation." The best small definition given by a dictionary is probably found at Dictionary.com which defines dramaturgy as "the craft or the techniques of dramatic composition." Jokingly, TDF Theatre Dictionary defines dramaturgy as theatre's most misunderstood field in terms of what we do and how we do it." While the definition is a joke, it is completely true.

Many people, including many directors, think that dramaturgy is only looking into the history of performances of the play. They will ask about ones that are significant and why. While this can be a small part of what a dramaturg (or dramaturge) does, it is not the only part.

Dramaturgs research plays. They look into many different aspects and report on many different things to the theatrical cast and crew, usually first to the director, but a dramaturg may report to others if that is the way a theatre has the organization set up. A dramaturg can help with many things such as lesson plans, play announcements, set design, costume design, and more. What is odd is that the more anybody tries to pin down a definition of dramaturgy, the more wide it becomes as one definition cannot encapsulate everything.

A dry and boring overview of dramaturgy is found in the following video (it is reading the wikipedia article).



I have been busy all day long, so this post does count as my Sunday, February 25 post.