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!