Editing Dramaturgy

{{Short description|Art of dramatic composition}}
{{for|the sociological term|Dramaturgy (sociology)}}
'''Dramaturgy''' is the study of [[drama]]tic composition and the [[Representation (arts)|representation]] of the main elements of drama on the stage. The role of a [[Dramaturge|dramaturg]] in the field of modern dramaturgy is to help realize the multifaceted world of the play for a production using information from the script, playwright, and the context in which the play was written.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cattaneo |first=Anne |title=The art of dramaturgy |date=2021 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-26238-4 |location=New Haven}}</ref> It is a dramaturg's job to assist the director and sometimes the playwright, especially if the culture of the play is not fully experience by these people.

The term first appears in the eponymous work ''[[Hamburg Dramaturgy]]'' (1767–69) by [[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing]]. Lessing composed this collection of essays on the principles of drama while working as the world's first [[dramaturge]] at the [[Hamburg National Theatre]] of [[Abel Seyler]]. Dramaturgy is distinct from play writing and directing, although the three may be practiced by one individual.<ref name = dramatist>{{cite book| last= Cardullo| first= Bert| title= What is Dramaturgy?| place= New York| publisher= Peter Lang Publishing| year= 2005| page= 4}}</ref> Some [[dramatist]]s combine writing and dramaturgy when creating a drama. Others work with a specialist, called a [[dramaturge]], to adapt a work for the stage.

Dramaturgy may also be broadly defined as "adapting a story to actable form."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jael |first=Ilana |date=2022-12-02 |title=Wait, What The Heck Is A Dramaturg |url=https://southfloridatheater.com/2022/12/02/wait-what-the-heck-is-a-dramaturg/ |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=South Florida Theater |language=en-US}}</ref> Dramaturgy gives a performance work foundation and [[Dramatic structure|structure]]. Often the dramaturge's strategy is to manipulate a narrative to reflect the current [[Zeitgeist]] through cross-cultural signs, theater- and film-historical references to genre, ideology, questions of gender and racial representation, etc., in the dramatization.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Clare |first=Natalie |date=2023-06-06 |title=What is Dramaturgy? |url=https://dramatics.org/what-is-dramaturgy/ |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=Dramatics Magazine Online}}</ref>

== History ==
[[File:Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.PNG|thumb|Gotthold Ephraim Lessing]]
The role of dramaturgy as a practice-based as well as practice-led discipline was first held by [[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing]], in the 18th century.<ref name=":2">{{Citation |title=Dramaturgy in nineteenth-century England |date=2006-01-19 |work=Dramaturgy |pages=45–77 |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511486050.003 |access-date=2025-05-05 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-84963-0}}</ref> The Theater of Hamburg engaged him for some years for a position today known as a "dramaturge". He was the first to occupy this role in European theater and described his task as that of a "dramatic judge" ("dramatischer Richter"), one who must assess the most compelling and appropriate means of staging a particular theatrical work.<ref name=LB81>{{cite book| last1= Lessing| first1= G. E.| last2= Berghahn| first2= K. L.| year= 1981| title= Hamburgische Dramaturgie| place= Stuttgart, Reclam.}}</ref> At the time, Germany was less of a nation and more of a collection of principalities. Lessing was hired at the newly created national theatre to promote a distinctly German artistic culture. Although he only spent two years in the position, Lessing's laid the foundations for future dramaturgical work.<ref name=":2" /> From 1767 to 1770, Lessing published a series of critical commentaries, ''Hamburg Dramaturgy (Hamburgische Dramaturgie)''. These works analyzed, criticized and theorized the current state of German theater, making Lessing the father of modern dramaturgy.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/171026/dramaturgy?anchor=ref666078 |title= Dramaturgy | website= Britannica.com | access-date= October 31, 2020}}</ref>

Following Lessing's ''Hamburgische Dramaturgie''<ref name= LB81 /> and ''Laokoon''<ref>{{cite book| last1= Lessing| first1= G. E.| year= 1766| title= Laokoon| place= Berlin| publisher= C. F. Vosst}}</ref> and [[Hegel]]'s ''Aesthetics'' (1835–38),<ref>{{cite book| last1= Hegel| first1= G. W. F. | last2= Knox| first2= T. M. |year= 1835–38| edition= 1975| title= Aesthetics : lectures on fine art| place= Oxford| publisher= Clarendon Press}}</ref> many subsequent authors, including [[Friedrich Hölderlin]], [[Johann von Goethe]], [[Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling]], [[Thornton Wilder]], [[Arthur Miller]], and [[Tennessee Williams]], reflected on the stage language of plays as a distinctive art form.<ref>{{cite book| editor-last= Hammer |editor-first= K. | language= de| title= Dramaturgische Schriften des 18. Jahrhunderts| place= Berlin| publisher= Henschelverlag Berlin| year= 1968}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| editor-last= Hammer |editor-first= K. | language= de| title= Dramaturgische Schriften des 19. Jahrhunderts| place= Berlin| publisher= Henschel Verlag| year= 1987}}</ref>

German playwright [[Gustav Freytag]] attempted to synthesize the components of modern dramaturgy in his 1863 book ''The Technique of the Drama'',<ref>{{cite book| last= Freytag| first= Gustav| title= Technique of the drama: an exposition of dramatic composition and art| edition= translation of 6th German| translator= Elias J. MacEwan| place= New York}}</ref> published in English in 1894. Known for its outline of the principles of [[dramatic structure]], including the arc of dramatic tension and resolution referred to as [[Freytag's Pyramid]], ''The Technique of the Drama'' is often considered the blueprint for the first Hollywood screenwriting manuals. ''The Technique of Play Writing'' (1915) by [[Charlton Andrews]],<ref>{{cite book| last= Andrews| first= Charles| year= 1915| title= The Technique of Play Writing| place= Springfield, Massachusetts |publisher= The Home Correspondence School}}</ref> refers to European and German traditions of dramaturgy and understanding dramatic composition.

=== Historical works ===
These are examples that define theatrical tradition throughout history. 

==== Poetics ====
[[File:Aristotle poetics.jpg|thumb|1780 edition of the Poetics]]
A foundational work in the Western theatrical tradition is ''[[Poetics (Aristotle)|Poetics]]'' by [[Aristotle]] (written c. 335 BCE), which analyzes the genre of [[tragedy]]. Aristotle considers ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'' (c. 429 BCE) as the quintessential dramatic work. He analyzes the relations among [[Character (arts)|character]], action, and speech, gives examples of good plots, and considers the role of audience response as an aspect of theatrical form. His "rules" are referred to today as "Aristotelian drama". In ''Poetics'', Aristotle discusses many key concepts of Greek drama, including the moment of tragic recognition ([[anagnorisis]]) and the purgation of audience feelings of pity and fear ([[catharsis]]).

==== Sanskrit ====
[[File:Natya Shastra (1898).jpg|thumb|1898 copy of the Nāṭya Shāstra]]
''Poetics'' is the earliest surviving [[Western culture|Western]] work of [[dramatic theory]]. The earliest non-Western dramaturgic work is probably the [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]] work ''[[Natya Shastra|Nātya Shāstra]]'' (''The Art of Theatre''), written around [[Anno Dommini|500 BCE to 500 CE]]. It is thought to have been written by  a number of people, the core of which was compiled by the dramatist [[Bharata (sage)|Bharata]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Encyclopedia of India |date=2006 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=978-0-684-31512-6 |editor-last=Wolpert |editor-first=Stanley A. |series=Gale eBooks |location=Detroit, MI}}</ref> This work describes the elements, forms, and narrative elements of the ten major types of ancient Indian drama.<ref>{{cite book |last=Eckersley |first=M. |title=Soundings in the Dramaturgy of the Australian Theatre Director |publisher=University of Melbourne |year=1997 |place=Melbourne |page=37}}</ref> One of the concepts expressed in the ''Nāṭya Shāstra'' is the idea of bhaavas, or the emotions expressed by the actors. <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pandey |first=Rajendra Prasad |date=2012 |title=Western Reception: A Study of Ramchandra Shukla |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23345939 |journal=Indian Literature |volume=56 |issue=4 (270) |pages=207–218 |issn=0019-5804}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Sengupta |first=Poile |date=2014 |title=THEATRE: A Playwright's Illusion |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24390754 |journal=India International Centre Quarterly |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=113–120 |issn=0376-9771}}</ref> There are 33 bhaavas mentioned, including love, horror, excitement, etc. <ref name=":0" /> These are intended to evoke [[Rasa (aesthetics)|rasa]] for the audience. <ref name=":0" /> Rasa is hard to define in English, since there is not an English equivalent for this word, but it the emotions felt by the audience, which is separate from emotions experienced through real life.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Dace |first=Wallace |date=1963 |title=The Concept of "Rasa" in Sanskrit Dramatic Theory |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3204783 |journal=Educational Theatre Journal |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=249–254 |doi=10.2307/3204783 |issn=0013-1989}}</ref> The term rasa first appeared in the ''Nāṭya Shāstra''. <ref name=":1" />

==== Epic Theatre ====
Perhaps the most significant successor to Aristotelian dramaturgy is the [[Epic theatre]] developed by the twentieth century German playwright [[Bertolt Brecht]]. Many of the innovations associated with Brecht as a theorist and writer for the stage, including the concept of the "estrangement effect" (or [[Verfremdungseffekt]]) and the acting technique known as [[gestus]], were intended as deliberate revisions of the values upheld by Aristotle.<ref>{{cite web| via= community.dur.ac.uk| url= https://community.dur.ac.uk/m.p.thompson/brecht.htm| first= Bertolt |last= Brecht| title= Brecht on Theatre| date= 1964}}</ref>

==Practice==

Dramaturgy is a comprehensive exploration of the context in which the play resides. The dramaturge is tasked to obtain expertise on: the physical, social, political, and economic environment in which the action takes place; the psychological underpinnings of the characters; the various metaphorical expressions in the play of thematic concerns; as well as the technical consideration of the play as a piece of writing (structure, rhythm, flow, and even individual word choices).<ref>{{cite book| first= Terry |last= McCabe| title= Mis-Directing the Play: An Argument Against Contemporary Theatre| page= 64}}</ref>

Institutional dramaturges may participate in many phases of play production including: casting of the play; offering in-house criticism of productions-in-progress; and informing the director, the cast, and the audience about a play’s history and its current importance. In America, this type of dramaturgy is sometimes known as Production Dramaturgy.<ref>{{cite book| last= Eckersley| first= M. |year= 1997| title= Soundings in the Dramaturgy of the Australian Theatre Director | publisher= University of Melbourne| place= Melbourne| page= 9}}</ref> Institutional or production dramaturges may make files of materials about a play's history or social context, prepare program notes, lead post-production discussions, or write study guides for schools and groups. These actions can assist a  director in integrating textual and acting criticism, performance theory, and historical research into a production before it opens.<ref name = dramatist/>

In the early 21st century, the field of dramaturgy has been enriched by the emergence of [[drametrics]], a quantitative approach introduced by dramaturg and theatre scholar, Magda Romanska in 2014.<ref>{{cite book|last=Romanska|first= M. |date=2014|chapter=Drametrics: What Dramaturgs Should Learn From Mathematicians.|chapter-url= https://www.academia.edu/8071548/Drametrics_What_Dramaturgs_Should_Learn_From_Mathematicians |title=The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy|location= New York|publisher= Routledge |pages= 438–447 }}</ref> Drametrics, or computational dramaturgy, applies mathematical and computational methods to analyze dramatic texts, combining traditional dramaturgical analysis with digital humanities techniques. This methodology allows dramaturgs to discover structural patterns, character relationships, and dramatic rhythms through computational tools like configuration matrices and network analysis.<ref>Andresen, M. and Reiter, N. eds.(2024) ''Computational Drama Analysis: Reflecting on Methods and Interpretations''. Berlin/Boston: DeGruyter. [https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/92150]</ref> While traditional dramaturgy relies on close reading and interpretation, drametrics complements this approach by revealing patterns and structures that might not be apparent through conventional analysis, particularly when examining large bodies of dramatic work or comparing multiple texts systematically.<ref>Campos, L. (2020). "Mathematics and Dramaturgy in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries." In ''The Palgrave Handbook of Literature and Mathematics'', eds. R. Tubbs et al., 243-262. [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-55478-1_14]</ref>

==Copyright==
Since dramaturgy is defined in a general way and the function of a dramaturge may vary from production to production, the copyright issues regarding it in the United States have very vague borders.

In 1996, there was debate on the question of the extent to which a dramaturge can claim ownership of a production, as in the case involving the estate of [[Jonathan Larson]], author of the musical ''[[Rent (musical)|Rent]]'' and Lynn Thomson, the dramaturge on the production.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lefkowitz |first=David |date=July 23, 1996 |title=Rent Dramaturg Suit Dismissed |url=https://playbill.com/article/rent-dramaturg-suit-dismissed-com-71067 |url-status=live |access-date=May 4, 2025 |website=Playbill}}</ref> Thomson claimed that she was a co-author of the work and that she never assigned, licensed or otherwise transferred her rights. She asked that the court declare her a co-author of ''Rent'' and grant her 16 per cent of the author's share of the royalties. Although she made her claim only after the show became a [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] hit, the case is not without precedent. For instance, 15 per cent of the royalties of ''[[Angels in America]]'' go to playwright [[Tony Kushner]]'s dramaturge. On June 19, 1998, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the original court's ruling that Thomson was not entitled to be credited with co-authorship of ''Rent'' and that she was not entitled to royalties.<ref>{{cite web| via= angelfire.com| url= https://www.angelfire.com/in2/everythingisrent/articles/americantheatre5.html| first= Scott T. |last= Cummings| title= American Theatre| date= October 1997}}</ref> The case was ultimately settled out of court with Thomson receiving an undisclosed sum after she threatened to remove her material from the production.

==See also==
*[[Dramatic structure]]
*''[[Writing Drama]]'', whose original title is "La Dramaturgie"

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal| last= Castagno| first= Paul| title= Varieties of Monologic Strategy: the Dramaturgy of Len Jenkin and Mac Wellman| journal= New Theatre Quarterly| volume= 9| number= 34 | date= May 1993| pages= 134–46| doi=10.1017/S0266464X00007727| s2cid= 193248105}}
*{{cite journal| last= Castagno| first= Paul| title= Informing the New Dramaturgy: Critical Theory to Creative Process| journal= Theatre Topics | volume= 3| number= 1 | date= March 1993| pages= 29–42| doi=10.1353/tt.2010.0065| s2cid= 144354169}}
*{{cite book| last= Castagno| first= Paul| title= New Playwriting Strategies: A Language Based Approach to Playwriting| place= New York, London| publisher= Routledge | year= 2001}}
*{{cite book| last1= Trencsényi| first1= Katalin | first2= Bernadette |last2= Cochrane| title= New Dramaturgy: International Perspectives on Theory and Practice| place= London| publisher= Bloomsbury | year= 2014}}
*Tuchmann, Kai (ed.) Postdramatic Dramaturgies - Resonances between Asia and Europe. transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2022. ISBN 978-3-8376-5997-9
*Jael, Ilana (2022-12-02). "Wait, What The Heck Is A Dramaturg". ''South Florida Theater''. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
*Clare, Natalie (2023-06-06). "What is Dramaturgy?". ''Dramatics Magazine Online''. Retrieved 2025-05-02.

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060505102121/http://zakka.dk/euroscreenwriters/articles/history_of_dramaturgy_539.htm A Brief History of Hollywood Dramaturgy and Modern Screenplay Structure]
*[https://www.captitles.com/dramaturgy Hub for modern dramaturgy]
*[http://www2.ups.edu/professionalorgs/dramaturgy/ Dramaturgy Northwest]
*[http://www.lmda.org/ Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas]
*[http://www.dramaturgy.co.uk/ Dramaturgs' network, dramaturgy in the UK]

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[[Category:Theatre]]
[[Category:Drama]]