One thing a dramaturg may do is find counter text. Counter text is information that can parallel a play. A director may want to produce a play in such a way that he can make it relevant to the time, place, and/or culture where the performance will take place - depending on if doing such a thing is legal (copyright law, following contracts, etc.)
There are translations of the play Lysistrata that are in the public domain. A director may have a concept that the dramaturg researches or the dramaturg may research concepts and bring them to the director to then find out which concept to continue researching. Either way, let's assume that somehow the director and dramaturg have figured out that while the play is about women withholding sex from their husbands so they won't go off to war, they want to make it so it seems like it is about the culture of sit-ins and the authorities that deal with that. The dramaturg is then tasked with finding what is called counter text.
The dramaturg is going to look for both text about the play and text about sit-ins. She is going to write notes and show where parallels occur. She is going to work with the director and the costume designer to figure out of costumes can be updated to fit the concept. What did students who did sit-ins wear? What were the teachers wearing?
She is going to work with the director and the set designer to see if they want to make the set look like a school or a classroom - or something else. Maybe the protest is outside on a street. Or perhaps it is on a stairway in front of a building. She is going to help them figure out how to make the stage look like they want it.
All of the things she is going to do are going to originate from what is found in the text about the play and the counter text.
Thank you! This is one of the only definitions of counter-text which includes an example that actually makes sense. Gracias!
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