Dramaturgy Initiatives
the role of the dramaturg is the most collaborative of the roles in theatre, the most collaborative of arts. As such, dramaturgs work closely with all theatre makers. The Dramaturgy Initiatives of KCACTF Region 5 include opportunities to showcase your work from you home institutions as well as engage at the festival with fellow artists to create new work. We encourage all dramaturgs to initiate artistic relationships across disciplinary and institutional lines. The connection between playwrighting and dramaturgy is vital and close, and we encourage dramaturgs to also explore the playwrighting opportunities with Region 5 CLICK HERE.
Questions? Contact Dramaturgy Coordinator Cat Gleason: dramaturgy@kcactf5.org
Returning This Year! Dramaturgy Fellowships
This program is intended for students interested in the practice of new play dramaturgy. The role of the dramaturgy in new work is unique and challenging, demanding the best of our collaborative work in supporting playwrights in bringing their plays to life. Dramaturgs accepted as one of the four fellows will become a part of two teams that will each include a student playwright and a student director that will work throughout the week of the festival to produce a concert reading of each of the assigned 10-minute plays.
OVERVIEW:
Dramaturgy Fellows will serve as dramaturg for a concert reading of two new ten-minute plays (in some cases only one) chosen from among the finalists for the National Playwriting Program Ten-Minute Play Region 5 Festival.
"Concert reading" will be defined as having no sets, props or costumes; actors will stand-up and sit-down only to indicate entrances and exits, and one actor will be cast to read stage directions, if necessary.
The concert reading format will allow the director and actors to focus on character development, language, subtext, rhythm, and pacing to bring the text alive for the playwright and for the audience. Further, the dramaturg and playwright will have the opportunity to concentrate on the structure, language and context of the play as the week progresses.
PROCESS:
- List your dramaturgical and playwrighting experience.
- Explain why you would like to participate in this program.
Expectations about dramaturgical relationships:
POTENTIAL meeting and rehearsal schedule:
Sunday 10-Minute Play Orientation
Monday 10-Minute Play Auditions and Casting
Tuesday - Thursday One hour rehearsals each day for each play
Friday 10-Minute Play Festival Performance
Friday Response Sessions
To submit your letter of intent or to ask about the Dramaturgy Fellowship process or awards, contact Cat Gleason, Region 5 Dramaturgy Initiatives Coordinator at dramaturgy@kcactf5.org
This program is intended for students interested in the practice of new play dramaturgy. The role of the dramaturgy in new work is unique and challenging, demanding the best of our collaborative work in supporting playwrights in bringing their plays to life. Dramaturgs accepted as one of the four fellows will become a part of two teams that will each include a student playwright and a student director that will work throughout the week of the festival to produce a concert reading of each of the assigned 10-minute plays.
OVERVIEW:
Dramaturgy Fellows will serve as dramaturg for a concert reading of two new ten-minute plays (in some cases only one) chosen from among the finalists for the National Playwriting Program Ten-Minute Play Region 5 Festival.
"Concert reading" will be defined as having no sets, props or costumes; actors will stand-up and sit-down only to indicate entrances and exits, and one actor will be cast to read stage directions, if necessary.
The concert reading format will allow the director and actors to focus on character development, language, subtext, rhythm, and pacing to bring the text alive for the playwright and for the audience. Further, the dramaturg and playwright will have the opportunity to concentrate on the structure, language and context of the play as the week progresses.
PROCESS:
- Review the “National Guidelines for Working on New Plays” and the “NPP Ten-Minute Play-reading Guidelines” at http://www.kcactf.org/kanin-playwriting/kcactf-10-min.html .
- Prepare an analysis and research packet for each play prior to the festival (details about this placket will be supplied when fellows are accepted into the program).
- Take part in the casting process working collaboratively with the playwright and the director.
- Rehearse the play in the assigned space and specified hours with each team.
- Work collaboratively with the student playwrights and maintain a focus on text analysis.
- Submit a brief letter of intent to the Dramaturgy Coordinator, Cat Gleason dramaturgy@kcactf5.org by December 16, 2019 expressing your interest in the Dramaturgy Fellowship program as the dramaturg for two concert readings for the Ten-Minute Play Festival. This letter should:
- List your dramaturgical and playwrighting experience.
- Explain why you would like to participate in this program.
Expectations about dramaturgical relationships:
- The role of the dramaturg is to be an advocate for the play. In the process of advocating for the play a dramaturg must know the play extremely well as well as what the playwright wants for the play.
- While dramaturgs can and do perform research regarding the context of the play for the director, actors and playwright, it is not their only responsibility.
- As a dramaturg of new plays your role is that of a first audience for the play. Your feedback to the playwright and director is vital and helps them to understand how the play is and is not communicating to the audience.
- Generally, dramaturgs do not communicate directly with actors. Ideas about performance should be filtered through the playwright and director so that actors can focus their work.
- Remember that asking questions is often the best way to understand more about what the playwright wants for her or his play. Dramaturgs should refrain from telling any team member what they need to do with or for the play, rather they should become a mirror reflecting what they see and hear as clearly and usefully as possible.
- Finally, the research and analysis that you do for these plays should help build bridges of understanding between the entire team: actors, director, and playwright.
POTENTIAL meeting and rehearsal schedule:
Sunday 10-Minute Play Orientation
Monday 10-Minute Play Auditions and Casting
Tuesday - Thursday One hour rehearsals each day for each play
Friday 10-Minute Play Festival Performance
Friday Response Sessions
To submit your letter of intent or to ask about the Dramaturgy Fellowship process or awards, contact Cat Gleason, Region 5 Dramaturgy Initiatives Coordinator at dramaturgy@kcactf5.org
Student Dramaturgy Award
The LMDA/KCACTF Student Dramaturgy Award is designed to recognize contributions by student dramaturgs to the conception, development and production of theatre with dramaturgical work that participates fully and uniquely in the collaborative act of making theatre and in promoting social discourse around the theatrical event.
The Student Dramaturgy Award is divided into two general categories:
Each project you bring to the festival may be entered in only ONE category - either National or Regional.
The LMDA/KCACTF Student Dramaturgy Award is designed to recognize contributions by student dramaturgs to the conception, development and production of theatre with dramaturgical work that participates fully and uniquely in the collaborative act of making theatre and in promoting social discourse around the theatrical event.
The Student Dramaturgy Award is divided into two general categories:
- The LMDA/KCACTF Student Dramaturgy Award (also referred to as the National Award)
- The Region 5 ATHE Student Dramaturgy Award (also referred to as the Regional Award).
Each project you bring to the festival may be entered in only ONE category - either National or Regional.
The National Award
Eligibility:
You are eligible for the National Award if you served as the dramaturg for a production or workshop during Festival 52 (January through December of 2019) and your school participates in KCACTF (the production does not have to be a participating or associate entry).
Eligibility:
You are eligible for the National Award if you served as the dramaturg for a production or workshop during Festival 52 (January through December of 2019) and your school participates in KCACTF (the production does not have to be a participating or associate entry).
- To enter, you must be either an undergraduate or graduate student enrolled at least part-time (6 semester hours) at the time of the creation/completion of the project that is being submitted for the award.
- A faculty mentor (preferably the director of the production you dramaturged) at your school must be able to vouch for your work on the project and must provide a letter of nomination on your behalf (please include this letter in your Digital Protocol).
Moving on to the National Festival:
If you are selected as the recipient of the Region 5 National Award during our regional festival in January 2019, your work will be evaluated alongside the other seven National Award recipients. As the result of that evaluation, four of the eight National Awardees will be invited to participate in the National Festival in April at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. If you are passed on to the National Festival you will be required to submit a PDF version of your protocol.
If you are selected as the recipient of the Region 5 National Award during our regional festival in January 2019, your work will be evaluated alongside the other seven National Award recipients. As the result of that evaluation, four of the eight National Awardees will be invited to participate in the National Festival in April at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. If you are passed on to the National Festival you will be required to submit a PDF version of your protocol.
The Regional Award
Eligibility:
You are eligible for the Regional Award if you served as the dramaturg for a realized or unrealized production or created a class project and your school participates in KCACTF (i.e. your school has entered at least one show as a participating or associate entry in Festival 52, January – December 2019). The Regional Award winner will receive regional recognition during the Awards Ceremony, January 2020.
Eligibility:
You are eligible for the Regional Award if you served as the dramaturg for a realized or unrealized production or created a class project and your school participates in KCACTF (i.e. your school has entered at least one show as a participating or associate entry in Festival 52, January – December 2019). The Regional Award winner will receive regional recognition during the Awards Ceremony, January 2020.
- To enter, you must be either an undergraduate or graduate student enrolled at least part-time (6 semester hours) at the time of the creation/completion of the project that is being submitted for the award.
- A faculty mentor (preferably the professor for the class if it is a class project) at your school must be able to vouch for your work on the project and must provide a letter of nomination on your behalf (please include this letter in your Digital Protocol).
Entering your Project:
To enter the festival dramaturgy event: Fill out an online entry form by December 13, 2019
To submit your completed project ['submittable.com']: Submit your Digital Protocol by January 6, 2020
To enter the festival dramaturgy event: Fill out an online entry form by December 13, 2019
To submit your completed project ['submittable.com']: Submit your Digital Protocol by January 6, 2020
The Digital Protocol Includes:
- A title page, identifying the dramaturg, the project, and the school. Include your address, phone number, email address, and date of the project.
- Two statements written by the dramaturg, one describing the breadth and scope of the project and its challenges, the other detailing the process from start to finish.
- A letter of nomination from a faculty member.
- As much documentation of process as possible. Unrealized projects should reflect thoroughness in forethought and planning rather than documentation of the production process (since these projects are usually unrealized). Realized projects should reflect thoroughness in forethought and planning as well as documentation of the production process.
- All materials that seem relevant, but do not exceed 100 pages. This may include information from websites created; questions asked during the process; and information gathered for individual packets. We are not interested in you scanning everything that you researched, but in you analysis and compilation of materials researched.
- All materials must be in .pdf, .doc, and .docx format only.
At the Festival:
- You must hand-deliver your project at the regional festival on Sunday or Monday of the festival. Your projects will be displayed in the Design-Technologies-Management Expo area of the festival. Check-in times are subject to change. Consult the coordinator if you have any questions.
- The exhibition space for each project at the Region 5 Festival will be a vertical format of 48 inches by 48 inches, which equates to the minimum allocation suggested by the Kennedy Center of 16 square feet.
- Stands for the display of protocol binders are available on a first come/first serve basis.
- All dramaturgical displays must be labeled with the play title, playwright, and the student dramaturg’s name.
- Wherever possible the name of the designer's college or university should NOT be visible on the front of any materials. The entrant is responsible for setting up and hanging his/her materials, and for arranging for materials to get to the festival and be returned.
- The regional festival, its hosts and volunteers are not responsible for items lost or stolen from the display area or its environs.
- You are required to attend any workshops dealing specifically with dramaturgy. Consult the festival schedule for information on times and locations.
- All entries will receive an oral response from one or more Festival Special Guest Respondent(s) with expertise in Dramaturgy based on the criteria found on the national website (see: “Award Criteria” at http://www.kcactf.org/dramaturgy/index.html.) You MUST be physically present during the respondents’ oral feedback. The response session is tentatively scheduled for Festival Tuesday, and is subject to change based on the festival schedule.
READY TO SUBMIT YOUR COMPLETED PROJECT?
Please remember, in order to participate in this event you must register for the festival
Please remember, in order to participate in this event you must register for the festival
