Events’ Archive
Past Dramaturgs’ Network events:
2010
1 - 31 September - Dramaturgs’ Network Survey
The aim of this survey was to monitor the current situation of the Dramaturgs’ Network (the background of its members), see what they expect from the network, and what direction the DN should take for its next decade.
5. October - Post Show Talk: On Ageing
Venue: Young Vic Theatre, The Maria
Directors/designers David Harradine and Sam Butler and dramaturg Synne Behrndt will be leading a post show discussion exploring the process of creating their latest show, On Ageing. For the last 18 months they have been working with a company of young people and expert advisors, elders and other artists to create the show.
As an empty room fills with memories, a group of extraordinary performers create a portrait of a lifetime over the course of a show. With the playful energy, wry humour and brutal honesty that come only from children, On Ageing builds a landscape of words and images, to explore living as a journey of endless change. Performed by children for an audience of adults, On Ageing is the latest in a series of acclaimed performances by Fevered Sleep that unravel and reimagine the fabric of everyday life.
With a valid ticket to any On Ageing show during its run at the Young Vic, Dramatugs’ Network members have an opportunity to see the post show talk on 5th October FREE.
23. October - Dramaturgs’ Network’s Annual General Meeting 2010
Date: Sat. 23rd October, 2010
Time: 4 pm - 6 pm
Venue: Startford Circus, (Room 4)
At this AGM we’re going to adjust the structure of the Network, plan events for our anniversary year, and decide how the DN should move forward into our next decade.
10. November - The Dramaturgs’ Café
6pm (6.30pm kick off) - 9pm (including informal networking at the end)
Venue: Arts Bar & Cafe, Toynbee Studios (28 Commercial Street, London E1 6AB)
NOVEMBER TOPIC: AT THE BEGINNING: “DEFINING THE AREA OF EXPLORATION”
Facilitator: Katalin Trencsényi, freelance dramaturg
Every journey starts with a first step. But what’s your first step at the beginning of the devising process? Where do you start from? How do you establish the beginning points? What conversations do you engage in? How do you do and present your research? What sort of exercises do you do to help the group? Do you work methodically, or intuitively try to tap into the group’s collective subconscious? How do you help the director you work with? How do you share your findings with your group? What questions do you ask at the beginning? - Obviously, each and every work is different. With my help as a Facilitator of the evening we’ll be sharing with each other our ways of finding a way into the material.
What is The Dramaturgs’ Café?
The Dramaturgs’ Café is a monthly networking evening and discussion supported by the Dramaturgs’ Network and Arts Admin, and it is designed to support freelance dramaturgs who are working primarily within devised performance practices, as well as theatre practitioners who may be interested in devising with the help of a dramaturg.
There are an increasing number of dramaturgs who are now working within Live Art, Devised Theatre, Experimental Performance and Dance Contexts; and there is a very exciting discourse surrounding the transforming role of the dramaturg in the UK in recent times. This sociable networking event aims to tap into some of this discourse and support the further development of the role in the UK. It would also like to explore the field of these new dramaturgies by encouraging conversations about particular issues that concern practitioners.
How does it work?
The network offers dramaturgs the opportunity to address and discuss various hot topics or key concerns with other fellow performance practitioners. Each month, part of the evening will involve a guest speaker (from the group) facilitating a group discussion around a previously chosen theme within the above framework.
Who is it for?
The Dramaturgs’ Café is open to all professional and student practitioners who are interested to take part in discussions surrounding dramaturgical practices. It is also open for directors, choreographers, designers and academics who would like to engage in discussions focusing on these new dramaturgies. We also welcome professionals who are looking for dramaturgs for their projects.
Do I need to RSVP?
There is a limited number of seats available for the group discussion therefore it is essential to RSVP if you would like to attend.
Please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with your full name and occupation. First come, first serve.
10. December - The Dramaturgs’ Café
6pm - 9pm (including informal networking at the end)
Venue: Circus Eats Bar & Cafe, Stratford Circus
(Stratford Circus, Theatre Square, Stratford, E15 1BX)
Theme: FINDING YOUR VOICE
Discussion Facilitator: Beccy Smith, Dramaturg & Arts Manager
When dramaturging the development of new performance work, we are also often midwives to the birth of idiosyncratic performance languages. What strategies can we employ to support the emergence of those conventions and idioms that make a newly created show unique? And how can we support the growth of shared languages of collaboration that can allow a team of artists most fully to meet through the work of making? In this second Dramaturgs Cafe we will share experiences and ideas that explore the developing languages and conventions in collaboration.
What is The Dramaturgs’ Café?
The Dramaturgs’ Café is a monthly networking evening and discussion supported by the Dramaturgs’ Network and Arts Admin, and it is designed to support freelance dramaturgs who are working primarily within devised performance practices, as well as theatre practitioners who may be interested in devising with the help of a dramaturg.
There are an increasing number of dramaturgs who are now working within Live Art, Devised Theatre, Experimental Performance and Dance Contexts; and there is a very exciting discourse surrounding the transforming role of the dramaturg in the UK in recent times. This sociable networking event aims to tap into some of this discourse and support the further development of the role in the UK. It would also like to explore the field of these new dramaturgies by encouraging conversations about particular issues that concern practitioners.
How does it work?
The network offers dramaturgs the opportunity to address and discuss various hot topics or key concerns with other fellow performance practitioners. Each month, part of the evening will involve a guest speaker (from the group) facilitating a group discussion around a previously chosen theme within the above framework.
Who is it for?
The Dramaturgs’ Café is open to all professional and student practitioners who are interested to take part in discussions surrounding dramaturgical practices. It is also open for directors, choreographers, designers and academics who would like to engage in discussions focusing on these new dramaturgies. We also welcome professionals who are looking for dramaturgs for their projects.
Do I need to RSVP?
There is a limited number of seats available for the group discussion therefore it is essential to RSVP if you would like to attend. Please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with your full name and occupation. First come, first serve.
17. December - Christmas drinks
7-10 p.m.
Venue: The Elk in the Woods pub (39 Camden Passage, Islington, London, N1 8EA)
2011
10 January 2011 - The Dramaturgs’ Café
Circus Eats Bar & Cafe, Stratford Circus
Stratford Circus, Theatre Square, Stratford, E15 1BX
6pm (6.30pm kick off) - 9pm (including informal networking at the end)
‘A Sharing of Sensibilities I.’
Host: Emma Purvis
At the next Dramaturgs’ Café we are going to compare and contrast various dramaturgical practices and techniques through casual group discussion. We are inviting both highly experienced and early careers dramaturgs to talk about a past or current project, and provide us with a collage of approaches and perspectives.
What is The Dramaturgs’ Café?
The Dramaturgs’ Café is a monthly networking evening and discussion supported by the Dramaturgs’ Network, Stratford Circus and Arts Admin, and it is designed to support freelance dramaturgs who are working primarily within devised performance practices, as well as theatre practitioners who may be interested in devising with the help of a dramaturg.
There are an increasing number of dramaturgs who are now working within Live Art, Devised Theatre, Experimental Performance and Dance Contexts; and there is a very exciting discourse surrounding the transforming role of the dramaturg in the UK in recent times. This sociable networking event aims to tap into some of this discourse and support the further development of the role in the UK. It would also like to explore the field of these new dramaturgies by encouraging conversations about particular issues that concern practitioners.
How does it work?
The network offers dramaturgs the opportunity to address and discuss various hot topics or key concerns with other fellow performance practitioners. Each month, part of the evening will involve a guest speaker (from the group) facilitating a group discussion around a previously chosen theme within the above framework.
Who is it for?
The Dramaturgs’ Café is open to all professional and student practitioners who are interested to take part in discussions surrounding dramaturgical practices. It is also open for directors, choreographers, designers and academics who would like to engage in discussions focusing on these new dramaturgies. We also welcome professionals who are looking for dramaturgs for their projects.
1 February 2011 - CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS - A BOOK ON NEW DRAMATURGIES - Closes on 31st March 2011
The Dramaturgs’ Network is looking for previously unpublished contributions of 3000 – 6000 words for their planned book: New dramaturgies – a fresh perspective (working title). Methuen publishers have expressed interest in this book - the publication is subject to a final approval by the publishers.
Aims and scope of the book:
There is an increasing number of dramaturgs who are now working within a Live Art, Devised Theatre, Experimental Theatre and Dance context – all relatively new strands of dramaturgy. A new discourse is emerging surrounding the changing role of the dramaturg in the United Kingdom. This book sets out to take a fresh look at the role of the dramaturg in the area of these “new dramaturgies”.
The Dramaturgs’ Network is looking for contributions that would give an insider’s view of this work, and help the readers to build their skills in the field of new dramaturgies. The aim of the book is to create a “masterclass-style” compilation for theatre professionals: without being prescriptive, it seeks to explore and depict the richness of this field as well as to be a useful tool to professionals.
Submission Details:
This compilation seeks a mixture of long and short articles (approximately 6000 words and 3000 words respectively).
Relevant topics may include:
- Studies on the history of new dramaturgies (dance dramaturgy, for instance) in the UK or elsewhere in the world.
- Essays or studies on new dramaturgies (from the point of view of: research / the language of the production / structure / space / physicality / audience – in relation to dramaturgy).
- Essays or studies about the dramaturg’s role in new dramaturgies.
- Documentations, case studies or rehearsal diaries of performance art / dance / devised/ or experimental theatre productions – from a dramaturgical perspective.
- Other practitioner’s perspectives on the working processes of new dramaturgies.
- Interviews with practitioners and/or scholars working in the field of new dramaturgies.
- Workshop descriptions, collections of exercises and games and other stimuli used during a particular creative process.
Other suggestions relating to the subject of new dramaturgies may be considered as well.
The call is open for Dramaturgs’ Network members only.
Please note the Dramaturgs’ Network will accept new members’ applications prior to the submission deadline. It accepts applications from practitioners, academics and students engaged in the field of dramaturgy, regardless of their job title.
Membership forms can be obtained from:
http://www.dramaturgy.co.uk/index.php/site/comments/become_a_member/
Submissions:
Potential contributors are asked to submit an abstract (max. one A4 page) indicating the planned length of the article, along with a CV (approximately 200 words).
The Editors will select 10 – 15 articles to commission, and will notify the authors.
The submitted, commissioned articles will be forwarded to the Editorial Board for a peer-review process.
Deadline:
Abstracts should be submitted by Thursday, 31st March, 6 PM GMT
Successful candidates will be notified by 30th June 2011.
Send your abstracts and short CV-s to both the editors:
Katalin Trencsényi: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Emma Purvis: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
10 February 2011 - The Dramaturgs’ Café
Arts Bar & Cafe, Toynbee Studios
28 Commercial Street, London E1 6AB
6pm (6.30pm kick off) - 9pm (including informal networking at the end)
‘A Sharing of Sensibilities II’
Host: Emma Purvis
Due to popular demand & huge success, we will be repeating last months format at the next Dramaturgs’ Café. We are once again going to compare and contrast various dramaturgical practices and techniques through casual group discussion, with a new set of dramaturgs and practitioners, along with those who have attended in previous months. We are inviting both highly experienced and early careers dramaturgs to talk about a past or current project, and provide us with a collage of approaches and perspectives.
10 March 2011 - The Dramaturgs’ Café
Arts Bar & Cafe, Toynbee Studios
28 Commercial Street, London E1 6AB
(Nearest tube: Aldgate East, Aldgate, and Liverpool Street)
6pm (6.30pm kick off) - 9pm (including informal networking at the end)
MARCH TOPIC: ‘Protocols and Communication’
Facilitator: John Keefe, dramaturg, lecturer
Guest Host: Ray Malone
In an article titled A dramaturg’s deduction, (DN newsletter, winter 2005) reference is made to an image coined by Liz Engelman whereby the initial match of director to dramaturg is akin to ‘date me and perhaps we’ll marry’. That is, an enterprise initiated in hope but only validated in process.
Is this the beginning of a professional relationship grounded in protocols that may be sensed as well as discussed initially? In more or less successful communication, beginning with the tentative that then evolves into the more confident and complex? In other words an ethos of practice?
The foundation of such communication is what I call ‘looking with knowledge’. That knowledge is put at the service of the project, to be spread as mulch, to be interjected, to be part of a creative agon.
We might think of this process and ethos as one of the ‘performance ensemble’. So some questions concerning the protocols of such an ensemble:
How do you make suggestions to the writer or director?
How do you point out things that might not be working in the script or on the floor?
How do you say to writer or director ‘this needs improving and these are my ideas’?
But the notion of ethos extends beyond the edge of the stage. By this I mean that the dramaturg’s commitment is not only to the production ensemble, but also to the theatre ensemble.
So perhaps the question is not only one of the protocols and communications that feed the ethos of the performance ensemble but also those that feed the ethos of the theatre ensemble?
Discuss.
11 April 2011 - The Dramaturgs’ Café
7 pm (7.30 pm kick off) - 10 pm (including informal networking at the end)
Southwark Playhouse, Bar area
Shipwright Yard
(Corner of Tooley St. & Bermondsey St.)
London SE1 2TF
Facilitator: Duška Radosavljevic, dramaturg, lecturer
Host: Emma Purvis
APRIL TOPIC: The Dramaturg and the Ensemble Way of Working
In this month’s Dramaturgs’ Café, Duška Radosavljevic will share some of her current research on the ensemble way of working, based partly on interviewing ensemble members (not always dramaturgs) from various kinds of companies.
Drawing from her background of working as a Dramaturg at Northern Stage, where she worked with a selection of local, national and international writers and theatre artists on devised and new writing projects, and her experience of working as the Higher Education Programme Manager at the RSC, engaging with the issues of kinaesthetic learning and teaching innovation at university level, she presents us with the question:
Does the work of a dramaturg require immersion in a company ensemble, or is it sufficient to work on a freelance basis?
Duška Radosavljevic works at the University of Kent in the department for Theatre and Drama Studies where her current research interests include contemporary British and European theatre practice as well as more specifically, ensemble theatre and dramaturgy.
17-20 April 2011 - Invisible Presences: Translation, Dramaturgy, and Performance
International conference
Drama and Film Centre Queen’s University Belfast
‘Invisible Presences’ is presented under the aegis of Out of the Wings, an AHRC-funded project exploring Spanish theatre in English translation, in association with the Melbourne Dramaturgies Project, the Translation, Adaptation, and Dramaturgy Working Group of the International Federation for Theatre Research, and the Dramaturgs’ Network.
This international conference will explore the dramaturgical processes of translation in performance practice, whether across language and culture or the translation of ideas into material production.
Rather than seeing the processes of writing (whether collaborative or single-authored), translation, rehearsal, production, and audience reception as separate and discrete, the conference will engage approaches that view the process as more of a continuum, one that is perpetually at work.
In this way the conference offers the opportunity for dialogue between contemporary practitioners, both translators and theatre makers, and for new insights into dramaturgy and translation that seek to map the growing convergence between theatre practice and translation.
Areas for discussion include, but are not limited to:
• Translation and its metaphorical apprehension of text
• Translation and its audiences
• Translation and the contingency of performance
• Collaborative translation processes
• The limits of translation
• Dramaturgy as translation/ translational process
• Visual theatre: dramaturgies and translations of light, sound, space
• Technology: new relationships with audiences in online productions
• The dramaturgical process in different contexts: Case studies from practitioners and scholars exploring the issues and particularities of each context, such as community arts, theatre for young people, cross-art collaboration processes and facilitation, ‘postdramatic’ dramaturgies, queer dramaturgies, disability arts, collaborative writing processes, etc.
The conference will feature:
• A range of eminent speakers, including Susan Bassnett, Peter Eckersall, Mary Luckhurst, Paul Monaghan and Lawrence Venuti.
• Practical workshops exploring issues of dramaturgy and translation
• Performances
• Panel sessions
• Round table discussions
10 May 2011 - The Dramaturgs’ Café
Rehearsal Room ‘Circus 6’
Stratford Circus
Theatre Square, Stratford, London E15 1BX
6-9pm
Theme: PROCESSES OF PERCEPTION
Facilitator: Jackie Smart, principal lecturer in drama (Kingston University)
Host: Duška Radosavljevic
In a review of current psychological research into the relationship between emotion and cognition, Isabelle Blanchette and Anne Richards explain that:
‘The traditional distinction between “hot” and “cold” functions, referring to emotion and cognition respectively, is being replaced with a dynamic interplay between the two, with an acknowledgement that many brain structures are both “cognitive” and “emotional”.’
In May’s Dramaturg’s Café, Jackie Smart will discuss how this insight can help us understand processes of perception, interpretation, reasoning and judgment and the implications this has for dramaturgical work in collaborative creative contexts.
Jackie Smart specializes in Devising and is co-author with Alex Mermikides of Devising in Process, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
14 May 2011 - Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Dramaturgy* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)
A discussion on dramaturgy in the United Kingdom, as part of the Brave and The Bold Festival.
The discussion is led by Katalin Trencsényi, dramaturg.
5.30pm - 6.30pm
The Cockpit Theatre
Gateford Street
London NW8 8EH
In the past fifteen years there has been a growing use of dramaturgs in the UK theatre scene. We’ll discuss the role of the dramaturg in British theatre, and look at how to make the most of your collaboration with a dramaturg.
Tickets £10 (valid for all the festival events): http://www.wegottickets.com/event/116896
BRAVE AND THE BOLD FESTIVAL
Sat, 14th May, 3pm - 11pm
The Cockpit Theatre
Made From Scratch and The Cockpit Theatre present a one day festival event celebrating the work of new theatre makers. With the recent arts cuts creating an increasingly difficult climate for young theatre companies and artists, it has never been more important that we work together in order to thrive and survive. Putting collaboration, support and new realtionships as its core values, we aim to entertain and look toward a brighter future.
New theatre, comedy, poetry, music and talks.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=126801770727353
9 June 2011 - The Dramaturgs’ Cafe
6.30-9.30pm
Venue: Cameron Macintosh Rehearsal Room
Tricycle Theatre
269 Kilburn High Road
London NW6 7JR
June theme: THE DRAMATURGY OF VERBATIM THEATRE
Facilitator: Lloyd Trott, academy dramaturg (RADA)
With special guests:
Alecky Blythe (Come Out Eli, Cruising, The Girlfriend Experience and currently playing at the NT London Road);
Chipo Chung (as an actor in Talking to Terrorists, and now creating her own Verbatim piece from interviews in her native Zimbabwe);
Nicolas Kent (a succession of dramatic re-enactments of public enquiry and courtroom transcripts staged at the Tricycle Theatre including Justifying War (the Hutton inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly) 2003; and Tactical Questioning (Scenes from the Baha Mousa Inquiry) 2 June-2 July 2011;
and Robin Soans (A State Affair, The Arab Israeli Cookbook, Life after Scandal, and Mixed Up North).
Host: Duska Radosavljevic
The event is free but booking is essential. To secure your place, please RSVP to: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with ‘June Café’ in the subject line.
Initial aspects of Verbatim Theatre to be discussed and for members to consider beforehand are:
(a) What subjective factors may be at play in the choice of subjects in interview based verbatim theatre, as well as in the structure, setting and relative lengths of the interviews themselves?
(b) There are a variety of dramaturgical choices in editing and moulding interviews into play scripts. What different stories could be/have been told from the same source material?
(c) What is the relationship of the collector/editor/writer/dramaturg of interview based verbatim theatre with the director of the production? What conflicting objectives can arise?
(d) What is the actor’s relationship with verbatim “characters”? How are actors able to create a more lasting impression of hearings and trials than their originators? What is lost or gained in rehearsing with learnt text, as opposed to Alecky Blythe’s “channelling” subjects through actors repeating source interview heard through earphones during performances, and never seeking to memorise the lines?
10 July 2011 - The Dramaturgs’ Café
4pm - 7pm
Location: the Bandstand near Parliament Cafe at Hampstead Heath,
Camden Town, London NW5 1QR
(nearest London overground station: Gospel Oak)
July theme:“WHO THE HELL DO WE THINK WE ARE?”
Facilitator: Paul Sirett, award-winning playwright, dramaturg, teacher and musician.
Host: Katalin Trencsényi
Please note that this month’s café has an earlier start than usual!
Free event but booking is essential! (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address))
This month’s event will be held as a picnic at Hampstead Heath, and we therefore ask the participants to bring along blankets and food to share. We will all meet at the Bandstand, near the Parliament Hill Café at 4pm, and choose our specific location from there.
What skills and attributes do you need to be a dramaturg? Do you need an encyclopedic knowledge of world theatre? Do you need a degree? Do you need years of production experience in different roles? What is more important: being pragmatic or being creative? Being diplomatic or assertive? Having great communication skills or great ideas? Do you need to be a therapist? Should you only speak when spoken to? Are you an artist or an academic?
This will be an open and frank exploration of what it means to be a dramaturg today, led by Paul Sirett.
Paul Sirett was literary manager at Soho Theatre (1994-2001), dramaturg at the Royal Shakespeare Company (2001-2005), and has worked as a freelance dramaturg on a wide variety of projects from West End productions to numerous other companies, including the Royal Court and National Theatre. He has taught playwriting and dramaturgy at several universities and conservatories in the UK and abroad, including (among others): Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, RADA and Birkbeck College, London.
18 July 2011 - 3D Theatre ! Forum
For Dramaturgs, Designers and Directors
6pm - 9pm
RADA Bar and Café
Malet Street, London WC1E 7JN
Organiser: Mev Bertrand
Host: Katalin Trencsényi
The 3D Theatre! Forum is the first of an exciting series of events aimed at creating possibilities of partnerships between theatre dramaturgs, directors and designers. The evening is aimed at giving theatre practitioners of these different specialties a chance to meet and exchange their professional experiences. Every participant has 3 minutes to describe his/her work in relation to the chosen topic of the forum before ‘the bell rings’...entertainment guaranteed!
If you would like to know more about the event, or would like to register, please contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
This forum’s topic will be ‘My Dream Project’.
This can be a project you have previously done or one that you would love to work on. The aim is for each participant to prepare a 3 minute ‘technology free’ mini-presentation on that project. The talk should explain a) a little bit about the project (what is specific about it, why is it your dream project) and b) depict your approach.
**During the breaks there will be an opportunity to get a drink, have a chat, see participants’ visual briefs on the wall, and write an answer on the ‘Burning question’ cardboard.**
You will need to send an outline of your presentation by 1st July - but please don’t send this in until we have confirmed your place. In addition, you will be required to prepare a visual brief of your presentation, to bring on July 18th: this can be in the form of pictures, drawings, schemas, or any other visual element that can fit in the A2 size slot which will be allotted on a paper board for each applicant.
We aim to ensure that there is a variety of approaches and concerns covered, and will form the panels according to possible connections that could be made between topics discussed by practitioners.
All directors, dramaturgs and designers participants should be professional practitioners with at least one professional production behind them.
The schedule of the event is as follows:
6:00-6:30 - Registration - building the board of visual briefs
6:30-6:50pm - Panel 1: 2x3D
6:50pm-7pm - Questions from other participants + panel change
7pm-7:20pm - Panel 2: 2x3D
7:20pm-7:30pm - Questions from other participants
7:30pm-7:45pm - BREAK 1: Have a chat!
7:45-8:05pm - Panel 3: 2x3D
8:05pm-8:15 pm - Questions from other participants + panel change
8:15pm-8:35pm - Panel 4: 2x3D
8:35pm-8:45pm - Questions from other participants
8:45pm-9pm - BREAK 2: Have a chat!
9pm -9:20pm - Panel 5: 2x3D
9:20pm - 9:30pm - Questions from other participants
9:30pm: FINAL DRINKS!
25th August 2011 - The Dramaturgs’ Café Edinburgh
Current Practice in Scottish Dramaturgy
This month’s Dramaturgs’ Café is supported by the Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland.
11am – 1pm
Lecture Theatre 2, Fringe Central,
Appleton Tower, Crichton Street, Edinburgh EH8 9LE
The event is FREE but TICKETED.
Tickets can be booked at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or by calling 0131 240 1902.
There will be tickets available at the door but there is a limited capacity, and it will be first come first served.
Meet in the Fringe Central Café at 11am for an informal chat before moving into Lecture Theatre 2.
Discussion panel:
Pamela McQueen, associate dramaturg, Tron Theatre & HiArts,
Stef Smith - writer of Roadkill,
Judith Doherty - producer & co-artistic director of Grid Iron,
Ben Harrisson - co-artistic director of Grid Iron.
Chair: Amanda Fromell, dramaturg
The Dramaturgs Café moves to Edinburgh for August to discuss the new developments in Scottish theatre, dramaturgical practice and the role of the dramaturg in the devising process. Stef Smith, writer of Roadkill will discuss the experience of working with dramaturg Pamela McQueen in creating the show, while Ben Harrison and Judith Doherty will address the convergence of the dramaturg and the devising process in the work of their company, Grid Iron. This unique event offers Scottish theatre makers a chance to reflect on current practice in a unique informal ‘in conversation with’ format.
7 September 2011 - The Dramaturgs’ Café (at TaPRA)
As part of the proceedings of the Directing and Dramaturgy working group of the Theatre and Performance Research
Association’s annual conference.
Time: 7pm (including 15 min. informal networking at the beginning) - 8.30 pm
Venue: Reg Bailey Building, Room 7, Surrey Club Hall, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston Upon Thames, KT1 2EE
Topic: Intermediality
Chair: Jackie Smart, principal lecturer, Drama, Kingston University
Guest speakers:
Frauke Franz - dramaturg, artistic director of gobbledegook Company
Cecile Brommer - dramaturg, producer
Mark Swetz - dramaturg, director, co-director of Compañía Y
This event is FREE.
If you would like to take part in the rest of the conference as well, you need to register (and pay) here.
Frauke Franz will be discussing gobbledegook’s interactive video installation Planet of the Beetlebuns and the challenges it provided during the development process. The focus of the presentation will be on the creation of an interactive experience that is wholly inclusive, accessible and entirely in the hands of the user/audience. Additionally she will outline the challenge of creating an artwork for an age group of 0-5 years, taking into account the huge developmental difference in that age group (i.e. perception, movement and social skills).
Cecile Brommer will talk about Victory Boogie Woogie, an interdisciplinary performance about the painter Mondrian, on which she has worked in The Netherlands. She is going to address questions such as: how to let all theatrical means contribute to the theme and how to let the audience experience the urgency of Mondrian’s search for abstraction?
Mark Swetz will pose some questions arising from his reading of Mapping Intermediality in Performance (Bai-Cheng, Kattenbelt, Lavender and Nelson (eds) 2010). Jackie Smart will then chair a discussion in response to these presentations.
This is a great opportunity for professional dramaturgs and academics interested in dramaturgy to exchange perspectives, ideas and experiences.
Frauke Franz studied dramaturgy in Berlin. She was the dramaturg for Primitive Science (developing ‘Invisible College’ for the Salzburg Festival) and the in-house dramaturg for Polka Theatre from 2003-2007 (developing their new writing scheme Playgrounding). Other dramaturgy work includes Out/Exit (The Gate, Cardiff), Tony and Pat (Leikin Loppu, national tour), Zam Zam Room (Jake Broder, BAC), No, It Was You (Arcola Theatre), National Alien Office (Fabric-a-Brac, Riverside Studios) and Carried Away (Out of Inc, Jackson Lane).
Cecile Brommer is a theatre dramaturg, specialised in contemporary theatre: devised theatre, music theatre and new writing. In the past fourteen years she has been supporting upcoming and experienced directors in The Netherlands, before relocating to London in 2010. Upcoming projects of Cecile include providing dramaturgical feedback for acrobatic company Mimbre at the production ‘Falling Up’, supporting director Tamsin Clarke on an adaptation of ‘Knowledge of Angels’ for the stage and working with choreographer Zoi Dimitriou.
Mark Swetz is the co-director of Compañía Y in Madrid and London (http://www.yeca.org). His AHRC funded, practice based research at the Central School of Speech and Drama is on Blind Spectatorship. He is a member of the Director’s Guild (UK), the Society of Disability Studies, Performance as Research Working Group of IFTR and the Director and Dramaturg’s Working Group of TaPRA.
Mark is a director, dramaturg, producer and educator based in London. He has collaborated on over fifty original works for the stage and other media and most enjoys collaborative performance creation and new work. His professional credits include work at the American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Theatre Artaud and Shotgun Players in the US, Círculo Bellas Artes, Teatro Pradillo and Sala Mirador in Spain, the Olympia, Project Arts and Andrew’s Lane in Ireland and Camden People’s Theatre, Tristan Bates, Pleasance and the White Bear in the UK. He has taught at the university level in China, Spain, the UK and the US and has facilitated classes and workshops throughout Europe.
Jackie Smart is a principal lecturer in Drama, in the School of Media, Music and Performance at Kingston University. From September 2011, she will be joint director of studies for Dance and Drama. Her main area of focus is devising, which she teaches at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, but she also teaches acting, directing, dramaturgy, postmodernism and performance theory and analysis. Jackie has published academic articles and chapters on a range of companies, including Forced Entertainment, Gecko, Optic and Random Dance company and is co-editor, with Alex Mermikides, of Devising in Process (Palgrave Macmillan, June 2010). She is currently working on the interplay between emotion and cognition in creative process, an area she hopes to develop further through a creative collaboration with Kingston Psychology lecturer Fatima Felisberti.
Jackie has directed and devised numerous productions, both professionally and with undergraduate and postgraduate students, including adaptations of stories by Sylvia Plath and Elizabeth Smart, pieces inspired by the diaries of yachtsman Donald Crowhurst and those of John Perceval, an inmate of a 19th century lunatic asylum, and a project based around the ‘Dog Women’ paintings of Portuguese artist, Paula Rego (with Alex Mermikides and dramaturg, Marin Blazevic).
Travel: trains from Waterloo run frequently to Kingston or Surbiton and the journey takes between 20 and 30 minutes, with a 10 minute walk to the University from either station. The building is opposite the main University campus on Penrhyn Road. It is a separate building with steps going up to the front door. There will be directions posted as to how to find it.
16 October 2011 - DN10 A Celebration of Dramaturgy
Sunday, 16 October
2pm - midnight
Southwark Playhouse
Shipwright Yard (Corner of Tooley St & Bermondsey St)
London SE1 2TF
(nearest tube: London Bridge)
On the occasion of its 10th anniversary, the Dramaturgs’ Network would like to invite you to a celebration and fundraiser for the Dramaturgs’ Network with discussion, skills sharing, networking, a ticket for The Factory’s acclaimed production of The Seagull and the launch of the Kenneth Tynan Award for Dramaturgy
PROGRAMME
2pm – 4pm Dramaturgs’ Café
Hosted by Duška Radosavljević (dramaturg, lecturer – University of Kent)
Theme: Dramaturgy and Politics
Facilitated by Pauline Peyrade (dramaturg, PhD student – Sorbonne, Paris)
Panel: Joseph Danan (dramaturg, lecturer, Sorbonne, Paris), Rachel Ditor (resident dramaturg, Banff Playwrights’ Colony, and literary manager, Arts Club Theatre Company, Vancouver), Christopher Campbell (literary manager, Royal Court Theatre, London), and Lloyd Trott (academy dramaturg, RADA, London).
How far is dramaturgy political? The Café panel will talk about how dramaturgy can define the artist’s point of view and the place of theatre in the world today. If traditionally dramaturgy is a point of view, the discourse of one or several artists on the world that they observe, what happens when the dramaturgy of a piece is created collectively? What does this new dramaturgy say about the status of theatre in today’s society?
4.15 – 5.15 Devising and Dramaturgy: Reports from the Field
DN members’ presentations of their work in progress
Hosted by: Hanna Slättne (dramaturg, Tinderbox Theatre, Belfast)
Titania Krimpas (dramaturg, director, writer, UK) & Rachel Parish (director, Firehouse Creative Productions)
Superjohn - Devising a piece for children
Titania & Rachel will present their approach taken in creating a semi- devised piece for children. Superjohn, about a boy with Leukemia, is created using interviews with hospital staff and workshops with families at the Whittington Hospital, as inspiration.
Maryjane Stevens (dramaturg, performer. Red Threaders Dramaturgy)
Devising Dramaturgy - a navigation between inside and out
Within the fluid context of devised theatre processes, the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved can be blurred. The dramaturg navigates between inside and outside, making choices about when and how to respond. Using her experiences as a performer with The Factory and as a dramaturg with several devising theatre companies MaryJane will talk about the tools she use to move from the inside into a more reflective and analytical space.
5.15pm The Dramaturgs’ Network 10th birthday party begins
with live jazz by the Nick Tomalin Duo
6pm Kenneth Tynan Award Ceremony
Hosted by: Katalin Trencsényi (dramaturg, President of the Dramaturgs’ Network) and Mark Swetz (dramaturg, director)
Introductory speech by: Michael Billington (theatre critic, The Guardian)
6.40pm Birthday cake and dramaturgs’ goodie bags
7.30pm The Seagull by Anton Chekhov and the Factory (directed by: Tim Carroll)
‘as unforgettable and moving as any theatre I’ve seen’
The Guardian
‘a never-to-be-repeated unique moment of magic’
Time Out
‘not just verging on but actually accomplishing genius’
Spoonfed
Witness The Factory create a detailed and dynamic, never to be heard again, improvised translation of Chekhov’s masterpiece. The Factory tell their version of this great story in the words that arrive in their heads at each moment, relating the dialogue to what they are being thrown by each other and the environment they find themselves in at each performance. The Seagull is performed without the use of any pre-planned blocking, staging or interpretive decisions, focusing instead on what spontaneity, the audience, and their imaginations bring to bear within each moment.
NOTE: As The Factory bring nothing with them to help play The Seagull, including sets, costume or props, audience will be asked to lend some personal possessions for use in the show.
Alongside what one may already have about one’s person, the company will be looking for: a romantic novel, a literary magazine, fishing gear, an addictive substance, breakfast, a game for six people, and a seagull.
~9pm (during the break) theatre book raffle with Amanda Fromell
10.30 – 11pm Q&A with The Factory Theatre Company
Facilitator: Katalin Trencsényi (President, Dramaturgs’ Network)
11pm – Midnight Post-show drinks in the bar
Midnight The event ends and we start the clock on the next ten years…
Acknowledgements
The Dramaturgs’ Network gratefully acknowledges the support of the French Institute, the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, Julian Lloyd, the National Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, Tracy Tynan and the Tynan family, and L’Université Paris-Sorbonne to make the DN10 Anniversary possible. Thank you.
PARTICIPANTS’ FEES:
Day pass for DN members (including a ticket for The Seagull): £12.50
Day pass non members (including a ticket for The Seagull): £17.50
Day ticket (valid from 2pm – 7pm, not including a ticket for The Seagull): £7.50
DN Memberships can be secured at the door for only £10.
As well as purchasing your day pass, we ask you to help the evening with three contributions:
1. Some party food to share.
We welcome nibbles, snack food, home-made cakes or any party food you would like to share with the participants. (Drinks will be available through the bar.)
Please note that it is a long day and to keep costs down we have not included a meal, so make sure you bring enough to share for the day.
2. A Dramaturg’s Goodie Bag:
There is no party without goodie bags! So, we’d like you to bring one secret gift to a fellow dramaturg. Bring one of the following or something of similar interest to a colleague:
• A particularly good exercise you use
• A particularly good tool you use
• A tip or a trade secret you can’t practice without
• You can also include a small present (max. value £5) you’d like to give to a colleague
We will gather the secret dramaturgical goodie bags from you all as you arrive and when we start the anniversary celebrations you will get a Dramaturgs’ Goodie Bag from a colleague to celebrate 10 years of Dramaturgs’ Networking and sharing skills and tips with each other.
3. A theatre book or DVD to donate to our theatre raffle.
To help raise funds for the next ten years and support DN initiatives like the Dramaturgs’ Café, workshops, guest speakers, the redevelopment of our website and other professional development events, we will be holding a raffle to help fundraise. If you have a theatre book, DVD you can spare, please bring it along for our raffle, and place it on the collection desk by the door when you arrive.
10 November 2011 - Dramaturgs’ Network AGM
Time: 5pm - 6.30pm
Venue: 5th View
Waterstone’s Piccadilly
203-206 Piccadilly
London W1J 9LE
We have had a very exciting year and are moving towards what will hopefully be a bright future for the network! The AGM is your chance to receive reports on our development, vote on important issues and help supply us with your ideas and suggestions for the network in the future.
Agenda:
1. Confirm the minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting.
2. Receive the accounts for the year from the President
3. Receive the annual report of the Executive Committee from the Secretary.
4. Review and reach an agreement regarding subscription rates.
5. Make small adjustments to the Constitution
6. Suggestions for short term and longer term plans with the DN.
7. AOB
Please note that the AGM will be followed by The Dramaturgs’ Café (starting at 7pm), hosted by the dramaturg and literary manger of Tinderbox Theatre, Hanna Slättne. The focus will be on the challenges for dramaturgs that lie ahead, and she will discuss how the network can focus its scarce resources to speak with a strong and clear voice in order to become an influential body for practitioners, a guardian of best practice and a shaper of the future.
10 November 2011 - The Dramaturgs’ Café - November
KEEPING IT REAL. The next 10 years
Time: 7pm - 9pm
Venue: 5th View
Waterstone’s Piccadilly
203-206 Piccadilly
London W1J 9LE
(Nearest tube: Piccadilly Circus)
Facilitator: Hanna Slättne, dramaturg, Tinderbox Theatre
Host: Duška Radosavljević, dramaturg, theatre critic and academic (University of Kent)
KEEPING IT REAL – The next 10 years.
The first anniversary of the Dramaturgs’ Café gives us an opportunity to recap on the journey the Dramaturgs’ Network has taken over the last 10 years and to look towards the future. What are the main issues for practicing dramaturgs today? How can a network of professionals help address those issues, support each other and effect change? How can we ensure the quality of practice in a growing profession? How do we keep going as professionals through the different fads and trends of the industry and its commentators?
Hanna Slättne, one of the founders of The Dramaturgs’ Network will reflect on the challenges which lie ahead and facilitate a discussion about how the network can focus its scarce resources to speak with a strong and clear voice to become an influential body for practitioners, a guardian of best practice and a shaper of the future.
The discussion will cover issues such as:
• Continual Professional Development
• The Dramaturg and the Industry
• Going beyond Definitions
• The role of the Network
Please join us whether you are a member of the network or not to contribute to the ideas of the future.
HANNA SLATTNE is the Dramaturg at Tinderbox Theatre Company, Belfast where she runs the dramaturgy strand of the company’s activities: working with writers under commission, production dramaturgy, writer’s development programmes such as The Writers Lab and Fireworks; Tinderbox’s annual Young Writers Programme.
She is working with many of the leading theatre companies in Northern Ireland as part of the Joint Sectoral Dramaturgy Project. She is dramaturg at the Space Programme an annual interdisciplinary arts residency run by the Performance Corporation. Other recent productions include The Lady of Burma by Richard Shannon (The Old Vic) and Julie by Zinnie Harris (National Theatre of Scotland), The Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo (Borderline Theatre Company)
Hanna is a co-founding member of The Dramaturgs’ Network and is closely involved in the development and exploration of dramaturgical practice in the UK and Ireland. She is on the board of Assault Events Dance Company.
DR. DUSKA RADOSAVLJEVIC is a dramaturg, theatre critic and academic based at the University of Kent. She has worked at Northern Stage in Newcastle and at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and as a freelanceer for Dance City, New Writing North, NSDF and Circomedia. As a theatre critic, she has published over 800 reviews at The Stage Newspaper. She is currently researching ‘the ensemble way of working’ and preparing a monograph on the relationship between text and performance in contemporary theatre.
10 December 2011 - The Dramaturgs’ Café - December
Time: 3pm - 5pm
(Please note the earlier than usual starting time!)
Venue: RADA Bar and Cafe
Malet Street,
Bloomsbury,
London,
WC1E 7HZ
(Nearest tube: Goodge Street)
Theme: Dance dramaturgy: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s dramaturgies
Facilitator: Lise Uytterhoeven, lecturer (London Studio Centre)
Host: Katalin Trencsényi, dramaturg
Theme: Flanders played a key role in the emergence of new dramaturgies since the 1980s. This term refers to dramaturgical practices which included art forms other than text-based theatre, most notably dance. Choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui has worked with a number of Flemish dramaturgs in this context. In this session, we will explore Cherkaoui’s collaborative dramaturgical approaches to choreography, through analysis of sample scenes from zero degrees (2005), Myth (2007) and Apocrifu (2008). Participants will be invited to share their views and evaluate these dramaturgical approaches.
The event is FREE, but donations are welcome. (Suggested donations: DN members: £1 / non-members: £2)
There is a limited number of seats available for the group discussion therefore it is essential to RSVP if you would like to attend. Please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with ‘December Café’ in the subject line. First come, first served.
Capacity: 40.
LISE UYTTERHOEVEN is an AHRC-funded PhD candidate at the University of Surrey, writing about Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s fractured dramaturgies and issues of language, religion and identity in his work. In April 2011 she won the award of Postgraduate Researcher of the Year in the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences at Surrey. Her article ‘Dreams, Myth, History’ was published in Contemporary Theatre Review in August 2011. She lectures at Surrey and London Studio Centre and is part of the Executive Committee of the Society for Dance Research. She is also part of the editorial board of Platform: Postgraduate eJournal of Theatre and Performing Arts.
KATALIN TRENCSÉNYI is a London-based dramaturg. She studied at the Janus Pannonius University, Pécs, the Academy of Drama and Film, Budapest, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, and is currently completing her PhD at the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. As a freelance dramaturg she has worked for the National Theatre (Channels Project and various literal translations), read scripts for the Royal Court Theatre, and worked as a production dramaturg or dance dramaturg for many other independent companies. Currently she is serving as president of the Dramaturgs’ Network.
For her research on contemporary dramaturgical practices, Katalin was a recipient of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas’ Dramaturg Driven Grant 2010.
2012
20 - 22 January Executive Committee Away Weekend,
Coleraine
Thursday, 23 February - dn café
5.30 - 7.30 pm
Central School of Speech and Drama
62-64 Eton Avenue, London, NW3 3HY
cssd.ac.uk
(nearest tube: Swiss Cottage)
Disabling Dramaturgy & Opening Performance
Host: Mark Swetz
Guests: Luke Pell & Carissa Hope Lynch
the event is FREE.
Limited availability: 20 places only!
How do you open performance to a broader audience? Why don’t we see more diverse sensory and physical abilities on stage?
In conversation with two of London’s most innovative dramaturgs, this discussion will explore some of the way performance makers are opening theatre and dance to underserved audiences and underused performers.
This event is a co-production between the Central School of Speech and Drama and the Dramaturgs’ Network. The open exchange will be focused on the practical solutions, diverse experiences and the reflections of artists who have dedicated themselves to making performance more inclusive. The title of the session ‘Disabling Dramaturgy’ refers to the ways that performance makers inadvertently disable patrons and performers, and limit access to their work. The first part of the event will be a facilitated conversation, followed by an extended Q&A with the audience.
Panellists include:
Carissa Hope Lynch (http://carissahope.com/home.html) is an interdisciplinary theatre artist from Manila by way of San Francisco specialising in dramaturgy, direction and drama facilitation. Her photo essay The Bal Basera Project was recently published in RiDE, and she is co-writing a book chapter with Jenny Sealey for Identity, Performance and Technology. Carissa is currently the New Works and Literary Officer for Graeae Theatre Company.
Luke Pell (http://www.lukepell.org/) has been given assorted names to wear over the years - producer, director, manager, strategist, educator, lecturer, tutor, teacher, dramaturg, designer, poet, artist - what remains distinct for me with each encounter has to do with noticing patterns and threads that weave between people and place, communities and environment. Luke is the Head of Learning and Development at CandoCo.
Mark Swetz is the co-director of Compañía Y (http://y1y.org/) in Madrid and London and is currently investigating Blind Spectatorship as part of a practice based PhD at Central.
If you would like to attend the event, please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with ‘February Café’ in the subject line. First come, first served.
When reserving your place, please indicate if you have any access requirements the organisers should be aware of.
This event will be filmed and publicly posted on the web. Please be advised that by reserving your attendance, you will be agreeing to be filmed.
What is the d’n café?
The DN Café is a monthly open forum discussion and professional development event organised by the Dramaturgs’ Network.
What is new at the d’n café in 2012?
From 2012 on the Café is becoming more closely allied with the work of the Dramaturgs’ Network itself, hence the name change. This year’s Cafés will encompass a new, broader area of dramaturgy, rather than focusing solely on new dramaturgy.
From time to time, however, we’ll stop being ‘talking heads’ and instead of a discussion, we’ll learn about dramaturgy through workshops. The first workshop in 2012 is planned to be held in May.
From March onwards the events will be ticketed at £3 but will be free for DN members.
This year’s d’n café team is: Roe Lane, Yolanda Ferrato, Amanda Fromell, Eva Daníčková and Katalin Trencsényi.
The Cafés will still be a place for networking, and are open to professionals as well as anybody else with an interest in dramaturgy.
How does it work?
The network offers dramaturgs the opportunity to address and discuss various hot topics or key concerns with other fellow performance practitioners and researchers. Each month, part of the evening will involve a guest speaker facilitating a group discussion around a previously chosen theme within the framework of dramaturgy.
Who is it for?
The d’n café is open to all professional and student practitioners who are interested to take part in discussions surrounding dramaturgical practices. It is also open for directors, choreographers, designers and academics who would like to engage in discussions on dramaturgy. We also welcome professionals who are looking for dramaturgs for their projects.
Do I need to RSVP?
There is a limited number of seats available, therefore it is essential to RSVP if you would like to attend.
Please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with ‘February Café’ in the subject line.
First come, first served.
20 March - dn café
A staged reading from Václav Havel: The Garden Party
In conversation with Sam Walters
Artistic Director, Orange Tree Theatre
Hosted by: Eva Daníčková and Lloyd Trott
Actors: Boii Theatre and RADA graduates
Time:18:00-20:00
Date: Tuesday, 20th March 2012
Venue:The Club Theatre
RADA Studios,
16 Chenies Street,
London
WC1E 7PA
(Nearest tube: Goodge Street)
DN members & RADA free/non-members £3
RSVP: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
“Who are these so-called ‘dissidents’? Where does their point of view come from, and what importance does it have? What is the significance of the ‘independent initiatives’ in which ‘dissidents’ collaborate, and what real chances do such initiatives have of success? Is it appropriate to refer to ‘dissidents’ as opposition? If so, what exactly is such an opposition within the framework of this system? What does it do? What role does it play in society? What are its hopes and on what are they based? Is it within the power of the ‘dissidents’-as a category of sub-citizen outside the power establishment-to have any influence at all on society and the social system? Can they actually change anything?”
(Václav Havel, Power of the Powerless, 1978)
“If there are any theatres left that base work entirely on the writer’s text, theatres that value the development of poetry in drama, then Havel’s plays will never be out of the repertoire.”
(Milan Kundera)
The dn café in March is dedicated to the memory of Václav Havel dissident playwright, philosopher and former president of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic.
In conversation with Sam Walters, the Artistic Director of Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, we will look back at over three decades of staging Havel’s plays at the Orange Tree. We will discuss to what extent plays written in dissent or exile influence the thinking of the society. What makes us care about what goes on in communist Czechoslovakia, Palestine, Belarus or Iran? Why do theatre companies and playwrights feel the responsibility to work tirelessly, so we can sit in a darkened auditorium and for an hour or two get transported to the places and lives of people for whom living in freedom is a distant dream? Václav Havel, Belarus Free Theatre, Amir Nizar Zuabi, Iranian Voices and many others use the magic and poetry of theatre to tell a very important story.
Lloyd Trott is the academy dramaturg at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London and the winner of 2011 Kenneth Tynan Award for lifetime achievement and service to dramaturgy, awarded by Dramaturgs’ Network. He has taught actors at RADA for 35 years. He plans the Academy’s public repertoire with the Academy’s Director. He develops play scripts and screenplays both within the main Acting Course and RADA’s New Theatre Writing Workshops bringing together RADA graduates from over five decades and dozens of bright young directors. Alongside his RADA commitments Lloyd has worked as an Arts researcher, lobbyist and been an elected politician. Representing Dulwich in the last years of the Inner London Education Authority, he set up and chaired a Cultural Review of Inner London. In the mid-nineties he was Dramaturg at Theatr Clwyd. For seven years he taught dramaturgy on the MA Writing for Performance at Goldsmiths College. His current external activities are as a freelance casting director and dramaturg. Lloyd is an Associate of the Wrestling School – the theatre company devoted to producing the plays of Howard Barker.
Eva Daníčková is a Czech dramaturg, translator and librettist living in the UK. Eva established Boii Theatre Company in 2010; a collective of international artists from a number of backgrounds such as theatre, opera, contemporary music, physical theatre and circus. She completed Theatre Studies at London Metropolitan University and MA Advanced Theatre Practice (Dramaturgy strand) at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Eva collaborated with Sam Walters at the Orange Tree Theatre during rehearsals of Václav Havel’s last play “Leaving” and the subsequent “Havel Season” (2008). Other work includes the Royal Court Theatre International Residency (2010), translating a play by Marek Horoščák from Czech to English.
30 March - 2 April Tynan Anniversary Bake Fundraiser
On 2nd April Kenneth Tynan, the first British literary manager/dramaturg would have been 85 years old. We believe that this anniversary is a great occasion to make delicious cakes.
We ask every DN member and supporter here and abroad to put down the fountain pen/iPad etc. the weekend before, take out your aprons and rolling pins, and let the Tynan Anniversary Bake Fundraiser begin! Make your favourite cake, pie or biscuit, create an irresistible treat, and sell them to your friends, colleagues and neighbours between Friday 30th March and Monday 2nd April.
Send your donation to the DN (see the details below) with your name in the reference section, so we know whom to thank.
All money raised will be spent on the Kenneth Tynan Award 2012, to acknowledge a colleague’s achievement in the field of dramaturgy, so you are helping us to put a big smile on this year’s award winner’s face.
Don’t forget to take a picture of your cakes and your happy customers. You can publish them on our Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dramaturgs-Network/134247336628
You can pay the money you raised into the DN’s bank account. (Please make sure you put your name in the reference section, so we know whom to say thank you):
Co-operative Bank
Dramaturgs’ Network
Sort Code: 08-92-99
Account Number: 65274091
Alternatively, you can send a cheque to:
Dramaturgs’ Network
16 Warner Rd
London
E17 7DZ
Thank you for your support!
Wednesday, 11 April - dn café
Theme: Slings and Arrows: New drama development in the USA with special guests from the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas
Guests: Harriet Power (dramaturg, director - USA) and Robert Hedley (dramaturg, director - USA)
Host: Katalin Trencsényi, dramaturg
Time: 7.30 pm - 9.30pm
(Please note the later than usual starting time!)
Venue: RADA Bar and Cafe
Malet Street,
Bloomsbury
London
WC1E 7HZ
(Nearest tube: Goodge Street)
“Americans solve all problems in their way, even minor linguistic ones.” (Kingsley Amis)
How do our colleagues develop plays in the USA? What are the differences and what are the similarities between the British and the American ways? Our special guests from the LMDA are going to share their favourite processes with us during an evening dedicated to new drama. During the evening RADA actors will read excerpts from Liverpudlian Sleeve by David Stratton-White and Any Given Monday by Bruce Graham.
We are going to discuss:
1. Has “development” become a curse word among playwrights? Some US writers confess to submitting unfinished drafts because they know that theaters like to “develop” their own plays.
2. Is a submitted new play automatically considered “broken?” Do theaters think that all new plays need fixing?
3. In a “developmental” process is the playwright’s voice lost?
4. What is our biggest priority as play-development dramaturgs – the playwright or the story?
5. The scenes that will be read at this event represent writers at two distinct stages of development – a mature writer and an emerging writer. How does the dramaturg work differently to help each writer most fully realize his/her play?
There are a limited number of seats available for the group discussion, therefore it is essential to RSVP if you would like to attend. Please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with ‘April Café’ in the subject line.
First come, first served.
Capacity: 40
DN members: free / non-members: £3
HARRIET POWER, a Philadelphia-based director and dramaturg, has focused much of her career on play development, working as both director and dramaturg for New Dramatists (NYC), Bay Area Playwrights Festival, West Coast Playwrights, the International Women Playwrights Conference, the Iowa Playwrights Festival, and Philadelphia’s PlayPenn. Her recent world-premiere directing and dramaturgy includes Bruce Graham’s Any Given Monday (originally produced in Philadelphia in an Act II Playhouse/Theatre Exile coproduction; then Off-Broadway at 59East 59 Theatre, Oct. 2011); Michael Hollinger’s A Wonderful Noise and Ghost-Writer at New Dramatists, and the one-woman show Why I’m Scared of Dance by Jen Childs (Jen was one of the six featured comic actors in American Theatre, Oct. 2010) for 1812 Productions, remounted at Pittsburgh’s City Theatre (Feb. 2012). Power has been a member of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas since 1994, where she served on the first Elliot Hayes Award committee and co-chaired the 1997 international conference in Toronto. Since 2008, she has served as Associate Artistic Director of Act II Playhouse, a midsize professional theatre near Philadelphia, where she directed the first American production of Sebastian Barry’s The Pride of Parnell Street and her 7-actor adaptation of The Tempest. Also a professor of theatre at Villanova University, she headed the graduate dramaturgy program from 1994-2006 and currently heads the graduate directing program. International directing includes Donald Margulies’ Dinner with Friends at Rome’s Teatro L’Arciliuto (winner of Trova Roma’s “Best of Rome” citation) and Dorothy Louise’s LoveKnot in Galway (International Women Playwrights Festival). She has been a featured speaker /panelist/moderator for the Pew Charitable Trusts theatre initiatives, The William Penn Foundation, the New Jersey Arts Council, and the Pennsylvania Bar Association
Posted by Katalin at 08:50 AM in dramaturgs'network
