Wednesday, July 3, 2013

The Complete Critic's Qualifications

by Harold Clurman

Besides having culitvated taste, feeling and a talent for clear observation of people:

1. the critic should know the greater part of classic and contemporary drama as written and played. Added to this, he must be conversant with general literature: novels, poetry, essays of wide scope.

2. He should know the history of the theatre form its origins to the present.

3. He should have a long and broad playgoing experience - of native and foreign productions.

4. He should possess an interest in and a familiarity with the arts: painting, music, architecture and the dance.

5. He should have worked in the theatre in some capacity (apart from criticism).

6. He should know the history of his country and world history: the social thinking of past and present.

7. He should have something like a philosophy, an attitude toward life.

8. He should write lucidly, and, if possible, gracefully. CLARITY.

9. He should respect his readers by upholding high standards and encourage his readers to cultivate the same.

10.  He should be aware of his prejudices and blind spots.

11. He should err on the side of generosity rather than an opposite zeal.

12. He should seek to enlighten rather than carp or puff. (Mindless raving puffery is just as damaging to the theatre and drama as a thoughtless snarky pan.)


  • Avoid non-specific adjectives such as BRILLIANT and WONDERFUL; we want to know WHY they are great.
  • DISCERNMENT: Determining the value and quality of a certain subject or event, particularly the going past the mere perception of something and making detailed judgments about that thing. As a virtue, a discerning individual is considered to possess wisdom, and be of good judgment; especially so with regard to subject matter often overlooked by others. Discern between direction, design, script and acting.
  • PERSONALITY: Develop you unique voice.
  • Read the work of other critics.
  • Are you at the theater to analyze or be entertained?
  • Critique what is in front of you. Beware of being a show doctor and telling the artists what they should have done instead.
  • True or False: the job of a critic is to destroy the bad to make way for the good.
  • Three questions for your review: what are they going for? Did they achieve it? Does it work?
  • Take notes: Write down a line, an emotion, or when you have an instinctive judgment.
  • Fall in love with theater.
  • Be prepared to take criticism yourself.

New Play Dramaturgy

Taking notes on a new play, make specific notes about:
- things you don't understand
- Character arch
- things you loved
- inconsistencies

*This is a list of notes that are strictly for you, you NEVER give them to the writer, except maybe "things you loved".

The 1st Meeting
Your 1st meeting with the playwright should be done in person. With this meeting you want to:
1. Get a personality reading. Do your personalities clash or work well with each other.
2. Build a relationship. In this meeting you need to build trust, or how can you expect the playwright to have confidence that you want what's good their script. You should find a an informal, comfortable, meeting place.
3. Don't give notes

The 1st meeting is to establish trust, to get the writers vision, and to build a working friendship. A great question to start off with could be something like:

"Imagine that it's opening night. You have the perfect everything - script, cast, venue, set, lights...ect- everything you wanted has been realized. if you go out into the lobby and listen to the audience criticism:

1. what is the one thing that if no one mentioned you would be heartbroken?
2. What was your original impulse when you started writing the play? Do you feel it still when you read through it now.

Dramaturgical Credo

The Dramaturgical Guide For Set Texts
  1. First, do no harm.
  2. Do not direct, rewrite, or redesign the text, doing so does harm and ignores rule #1.
  3. Listen to the play's rule, wants and needs.
  4. Listen to your collaborators' wants, and needs.
  5. Identify when #3 and #4 work against one another.
  6. Consider and discern whether that pull enhances of distracts.
  7. Pose Ope Questions.
  8. Listen to your collaborators' responses.
  9. Listen to the play's responses.
  10. Keep the play's rules, needs and wants at the center of all you do.
  11. Help you collaborators remain connected to their passion.
Remember, you're there to help grow a production, you are not there to save it from the critics.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Qualities of a Good Turg?


what makes a good dramaturg?
                curiosity- at the heart of everything you do your asking question.
                sense of humor
                passion – you need to love what you do. You need to love the work as a dramaturg and the play              you are working with.
                Respect – for the yourself and the project you’re working on
                open mind/flexibility

Key essentials for a good working relationship?
                value- you need to give yourself value, if you don’t believe you and your work is important no one else will either.
                negotiation-
                Active Listening
                butterfly
                conversation and communication.
                keep others working and you will be working too

Possibilities of the dramaturgy role?
                encourage dialogue
                think outside the box – our field exist because of this
                be a cheerleader
                community tie
                start a new play festival
                solve problems
                encourage new playwrights 

Dramaturg - as A Literary Agent


Two things to make a good Literary Agent:
(1)    What makes a good script
       (2) and your personal bias
*Know that it can be a good script even if you don’t personality like it.
 
Your theater submission policy…Who can submit and how they can do it
                agents
                Theater artists that can submit – from partnering theaters
                open submission
                ten page sample – for playwrights who don’t have agents
                                *resume
                                *cover letter
                                *ten pages of a script to convince the playhouse they want your script

Script Log:
an excel doc that contains
1.       the script number
2.       date received
3.       the author
4.       title
5.       agent
6.       submitters contact info
7.       who it was submitted to
8.       3 reader – signed in when first received and dated when finished


script report criteria – be brutly honest, precise, well and crafted
Know your theaters mission statement
Know your theater space
Why are you considering this script?
Recommendation

the 1st read – a script report
one – one ½ page

What makes a script good?
-          transitions from the page to the stage
-          keeping the audience in mind

Monday, July 9, 2012

Letters to a professional turg (part 4)

My final interview was sent to Elizabeth Williamson

ELIZABETH WILLIAMSON (Dramaturg) is Pioneer Theatre Company’s Literary Manager and Associate Artistic Director. Regionally, she’s also worked at the American Conservatory Theater, Alter Theater, Aurora Theatre, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Berkeley Rep’s School of Theatre, Cal Shakes, Court Theatre, the La Jolla Playhouse, Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Festival, Magic Theatre, PlayGround, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Education: BA, Bennington College; Master’s, Oxford University; trained at the École Jacques Lecoq & with Complicite. Williamson received a 2007 NEA Fellowship in Literary Translation and is a member of LMDA and the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab.


Sent to Elizabeth Williamson

My name is Amber Cummings and I am studying dramaturgy, at Utah Valley University. I have an assignment to find a professional dramaturg and ask them about five question I feel would be important to my work as an up and coming dramaturg.

I got a hold of Amy Jensen who suggested that I contact you, and your brain for some valuable information. I would very much like to email you a few questions and just have you help enlighten the process. If this is at all possible please send me an email back.


1. After reading the script how did you decide where to start your research?

2.  Did you come up with a process that you used for every script?

3. How did you interact with director, actors and designers?

4. What was your job during the rehearsal process?

5. What would be the one piece of advice you would give to someone, like me, looking to be a professional dramatrug?


 Thank you again,

Amber N. Cummings



from:  Elizabeth Williamson elizabeth.williamson
to:  Amber Cummings 

Hi Amber,

Here are some quick answers. 

My job start a little earlier than your questions do – when I first read a script, it’s in light of whether it’s something the theatre should develop or produce.  So I think about what it is, what its structure is, what it would have to say to our audience, how it’ll play, whether its finished, etc.  Then if we decide to develop or produce it, I think about what needs to happen for the script to become a well and fully realized play.  I work with the director on what our goals are, and what we see as challenges, and what choices we want to make for the production.  That may involve a lot of research in various area to help the cast and designers flesh out the world of the play – it usually does.  But that’s about the fourth or fifth stage of my work. 

  1. I think about the needs of the script – what can I help the writer -- with first.  If it’s not a new play or new adaptation, I skip to my second research question: where is it set, what research can I do to help the director and designers make the world of it. I work with the director and designers on conceptualizing the production, and am a resource for the designers, and often the sounding board/editor for the director. Then I think what will the actors need to know to fill out their parts, what will help them in terms of the concrete things about their characters and world they’ll need to know.
  2. The process is different for every script.
  3. It depends on the needs of the show. My answer to #1 is probably the best answer I can give you.
  4. Ditto the above: in some shows I come in on the first day, talk about the research packets I’ve given them, stay to help with table work, and then don’t come in again til the first run-through.  With other shows I’m in rehearsal all the time, and consult on every choice made.  Depends on the needs of the show, playwright, and director.  In any case, I attend run-throughs, dress, and previews and give the director my notes.
  5. If you want to be a professional dramaturg in the rehearsal room (as opposed to an academic dramaturg, who’s more involved in research, writing, and teaching), learn about every other job involved in making theatre.  You’ll need to understand the practical considerations as well as the theoretical questions if you want to be able to give useful feedback.

So what year are you?  Is this your first dramaturgy class?  I hope some of the above is helpful.

Letters to a professional turg (part 3)


I also interviewed Dr. Meron Langsner

Meron Langsner, MFA, PhD, is an award-winning playwright, theatre & performance scholar, and educator as well as a critically acclaimed fight director & movement specialist for theatre, film, & opera.  He is also a stage director, dramaturg, and author.



Sent to Meron Langsner

My name is Amber Cummings and I am studying dramaturgy, at Utah Valley
University. I have an assignment to find a professional dramaturg and ask them about five question I feel would be important to my work as an up and coming dramaturg.

I have been doing some research on whom to talk and I came across your pages and blog, and I think you may have some very valuable information to help me through my journey. I would very much like to email you a few questions and just have you help enlighten the process. If this is at all possible please send me an email back.


1. After reading the script how did you decide where to start your research?

2.  Did you come up with a process that you used for every script?

3. How did you interact with director, actors and designers?

4. What was your job during the rehearsal process?

5. What would be the one piece of advice you would give to someone, like me, looking to be a professional dramatrug?


 Thank you again,

Amber N. Cummings


from:  Meron Langsner meronlangsner

to:  Amber Cummings 

Hi Amber,

I tried to answer your questions in order, and went on some tangents that I hope are useful (I may end up adapting my answers into a blog post sooner or later):

1. After reading the script how did you decide where to start your research?
2.  Did you come up with a process that you used for every script?

I'll try to do these two together:

I've come to the belief that dramaturgy is at once both a way of thinking and a job description, and that the way of thinking is more important than the job itself and can be applied to any other discipline.  I was at an LMDA conference a few years back where it was said that in an ideal situation, everyone on a production is a dramaturg.

I always work on a case by case basis with the regulating factors often having more to do with the situation I'm working in than with the script itself.  These days my dramaturgical contribution to a production is most likely to come through my work as a fight director.

In the case of using dramaturgy in a stage combat context (I've started calling this "fightaturgy" as a joke and then it sort of stuck), I'm always looking for how the violence and the work surrounding it supports the story.  I need to say that my first concern in that area is always safety, but I'll proceed with the assumption that that's being taken care of.

I always read the script and take notes as to any incident of scripted violence, as well as where I feel violence might add to the story, and where the rest of the production staff and the cast might need to know information relating to the violence.  As I've studied this stuff for a while much of it I can relate off the top of my head, but if certain aspects need to be researched I make notes of that for myself.

If the actors are wearing weapons I try to give them instructions on the etiquette & customs of whatever they're wearing. Usually this is modified for the production to some extent but I've come to believe that consistency is more important than historical accuracy.  By way
of example: a Japanese sword worn on the right side means that the wearer comes in peace, whereas on the left it means that they are prepared to draw the sword at any moment.  There may be scenes that do not contain a fight where the tension can be escalated simply by
switching the position of the sheathed sword.  This would be applied fighturgy outside of the context of choreography.

In an ideal situation I would send this list to the director and we would have a meeting based on it and go over it point by point.  We might discuss the intensity of various fights and what the characters want and need, as well as scripted repercussions that should be addressed.  If there are things that would benefit from a presentation (customs around dueling for example) we might set a time that I can give one before choreographing, or if an actor only wears/carries a weapon but does not fight I will find a time to pull them aside and instruct them.

If this is a situation where I am writing a program note or blogging, it depends on deadlines and company procedures.

Outside of violence, it depends on what I do and don't know about the script/period/subject/whatever.  I once turg'd (and FD'd) a show that used blackface.  As the details of blackface performance aren't really taught anymore I helped educate the actors on the stock characters from the 1800s that their characters were based on.

3. How did you interact with director, actors and designers?

Again, this is all context.  The last time I was a production dramaturg I was also fight directing the same show so there were a lot of gray areas.

If the session was dedicated to me, I instructed the actors directly. The director may or may not be in the room but I would bring them in to ask questions about how things were fitting into the larger picture.  Ideally no one should know where their work ended and mine
began and vice-versa.  If I was watching a run I might give the director notes that would go to the actors through him/her or I might get a moment to give notes directly.  Other times my notes go only to the director.

With designers it depends on overlap.  We discuss options and availability of resources and make choices from there.

4. What was your job during the rehearsal process?

Again, all context.  This very much depends on the relationship with the director and/or the writer in the case of new work.  One of the things about dramaturgy as a discipline as opposed to a methodology is that there is influence but not necessarily power.  As different
people have different styles of diplomacy and facilitation it becomes all about the chemistry of different working relationships.  Asking the right questions is one of the most important skills.  Learning when to pick the right moments to ask those questions is just as important.

It's important to learn to prioritize.  You will find yourself in situations where you are working with a director who does not know how to use you.  Or one old enough to be your grandparent who lived in the era the play is set in.  In the first case, there is an element of
teaching them how to benefit from you without appearing invasive.  In the second, you might think about how to make their knowledge more accessible to the audience and/or cast in ways they might not be aware of.

5. What would be the one piece of advice you would give to someone,
like me, looking to be a professional dramatrug?

Thing one: Cultivate multidisciplinarity in yourself and others.  The broader your range of competencies the better you will be.  That said, don't become the cliched "Jack of All Trades Master of One."  Ideally think of mastering 2 -3 disciplines (including dramaturgy if that's
your thing), and develop reasonable competency in other stuff as it comes up.  One of my best friends is a prop & costume designer as well as a dramaturg.  I sometimes think that she gets to apply more dramaturgical thought as a designer than when she is strictly working
as a dramaturg.  Multidisciplinarity is hard, and you may find that you aren't taken seriously until you've accomplished enough in each of your main disciplines to be taken seriously in them separately as if they were your only focus.  That takes time but can pay off very well.

Thing two bonus advice: Get to know playwrights, and to be especially gentle with the early career ones.  You'll find as you transition out of academic contexts that investing in good collaborators pays off in the long run.  Be good to work with, be good to work for.

Thing three: become aware of job prospects as early in your studies a possible.  The money tends to be pretty bleak, moreso than other disciplines.  That is not a reason not to do it, but it is a reason to cultivate multidisciplinarity (see Thing One).  Multidisciplinarity might extend outside of theatre, and if that's the case figure out what else you can do that enriches your theatre work if that's your first priority.

Also, just FYI: in theatre contexts I go by my first name, but in formal/academic contexts where first names aren't appropriate I go by "Dr" (I'm not offended by "Mr," but you'll want to be aware of protocol as many people do stand on ceremony).  When dealing with
academics default to the higher title (if it's wrong, you're flattering).

I hope that was useful.  Let me know if you want me to clarify anything.

Good luck on your assignment!