Table Of Content“Dramaturgy: The Basics is a profoundly engaging, accessible
guide for dramaturgs. It’s packed on every page with useful
suggestions and brilliant points of guidance on what to look for
and how to research, sift, prepare and present information: in
short, how to serve a production with depth, range and flexi-
bility. This book should be on every list of essential texts in
Theater Studies. And, for the theater-lover sitting in the stalls,
it also provides a deeply absorbing look ‘behind the scenes.’”
— Dr Philippa Kelly, Resident Dramaturg, California Shakespeare
Theater, USA
“What a find! Dramaturgy: The Basics defines what dramaturgy
is and shows how it’s done with concrete examples. The authors
have put a lifetime of experience into one concise resource that
should be required reading for all theater undergraduates. If
you want to understand how to create and develop new work,
here are the trade secrets of professional dramaturgs.” — Cate
Cammarata, Off-Broadway producer and CUNY Baruch College
Associate Professor, USA
DRAMATURGY
THE BASICS
Dramaturgy: The Basics introduces the art of dramaturgy, explaining
how dramaturgy works, what a dramaturg is, and how to appreci-
ate their unique contribution to theatre-making. A wide-ranging
account of the role of this vital element of theatre helps students
and aspiring performance makers to apply dramaturgy to a full
spectrum of theatrical disciplines.
This guidebook teaches dramatic theories and script analysis as
essential skills for aspiring dramaturgs and illustrates the various
methods of reading for specific functions of dramaturgy. Dramaturgy:
The Basics offers practical step-by-step instructions on how to prac-
tice production dramaturgy, dramaturgy of new work, translation,
adaptation, devised theatre, site-specific theatre, literary manage-
ment, criticism, editing, producing, and dramaturgical innovation,
with detailed questions to consider at each stage of the process.
This book aims to help students develop a dramaturgical mindset,
enabling them to build a critical, inquisitive, and socially conscious
perspective that is beneficial in all professions and relationships.
Resource lists, further reading guides, and chapter summaries
make this an outstanding guidebook.
An essential read for anyone hoping to make, understand, or
discuss theatre, Dramaturgy: The Basics provides a clear, accessible
resource for approaching this integral but often misunderstood
facet of theatre-making.
Anne M. Hamilton is a freelance dramaturg and Founder of
Hamilton Dramaturgy, an international dramaturgy consultancy.
Walter Byongsok Chon is Associate Professor of Dramaturgy and
Theatre Studies at Ithaca College.
THE BASICS SERIES
The Basics is a highly successful series of accessible guidebooks which provide an
overview of the fundamental principles of a subject area in a jargon-free and
undaunting format.
Intended for students approaching a subject for the first time, the books both
introduce the essentials of a subject and provide an ideal springboard for further
study. With over 50 titles spanning subjects from artificial intelligence (AI) to wom-
en’s studies, The Basics are an ideal starting point for students seeking to understand
a subject area.
Each text comes with recommendations for further study and gradually intro-
duces the complexities and nuances within a subject.
CHOREOGRAPHY
JENNY ROCHE AND STEPHANIE BURRIDGE
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
PAUL IBBOTSON
AIR POLLUTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE
JOHN PEARSON AND RICHARD DERWENT
INFANCY
MARC H. BORNSTEIN AND MARTHA E. ARTERBERRY
EDUCATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE
CATHY ROGERS AND MICHAEL S. C. THOMAS
CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY (SECOND EDITION)
RICHARD MARTIN
PLAY DIRECTING
DAMON KIELY
ARCHAEOLOGICAL THEORY
ROBERT CHAPMAN
INFORMATION SCIENCE
JUDITH PINTAR AND DAVID HOPPING
DEATH AND RELIGION
CANDI K. CANN
DIGITAL RELIGION
HEIDI A. CAMPBELL AND WENDI BELLAR
DRAMATURGY
ANNE M. HAMILTON AND WALTER BYONGSOK CHON
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit https://www.routledge.com/The-Basics/
book-series/B
DRAMATURGY
THE BASICS
Anne M. Hamilton and Walter Byongsok Chon
Designed cover image: Set for the Listening Session for Friedrich
Dürrenmatt’s radio play “The Doppelgänger” at the Be Electric Studios,
produced by Play for Voices on May 18, 2019. Set Design: Copyright (c)
2019 by Asa Wember. Image: Copyright © 2019 by Walter Byongsok Chon.
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Anne M. Hamilton and Walter Byongsok Chon
The right of Anne M. Hamilton and Walter Byongsok Chon to be
identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-0-367-25375-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-25378-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-28746-6 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9780429287466
Typeset in Bembo
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
COVER PAGE PHOTO
Set for the Listening Session for Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s radio play “The
Doppelgänger” at the Be Electric Studios, produced by Play for Voices on
May 18, 2019. Set Design: Copyright © 2019 by Asa Wember. Image:
Copyright © 2019 by Walter Byongsok Chon.
CHAPTER 1
Elinor Fuchs, “EF’s Visit to a Small Planet: Some Questions to Ask a Play” in
Theater, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 5–9. Copyright 2004, Yale University School of
Drama. All rights reserved. Republished by permission of the copyright
holder, and the Publisher. www.dukeupress.edu.
From The Three Theban Plays: Angione, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at
Colonus by Sophocles, translated by Robert Fagles. Copyright © 1984 by
Penguin Random House. Published by Penguin Random House. Used by
permission of Penguin Random House.
From Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks. Copyright © 1999, 2001,
2002 by Suzan-Lori Parks. Published by Theatre Communications Group.
Used by permission of Theatre Communications Group.
Summaries of the Book: Backwards and Forwards, by David Ball;
Copyright © 1983 by the Board of Trustees, Southern Illinois University;
summarized with permission of the publisher.
CHAPTER 2
From Angels in America by Tony Kushner. Copyright © 1992, 1994, 1996,
2013 by Tony Kushner. Used by permission of Theatre Communications
Group and Nick Hern Books.
CHAPTER 4
From The French Play by Gonzalo Rodríguez Risco. Copyright © 2008, 2009
by Gonzalo Rodríguez Risco.
From Bee Trapped Inside the Window by Saviana Stanescu. Copyright ©
2018 by Saviana Stanescu.
Copyright © 2015 From “A Method for Musical Theatre Dramaturgy” by
Brian D. Valencia in The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy edited by
Magda Romanska. Reproduced by permission of Taylor and Francis Group,
LLC, a division of Informa plc.
Excerpt from interview with Craig Clyde regarding A Wall Apart,
libretto by Sam Goldstein and Craig Clyde and music and lyrics by Lord
Graham Russell. Copyright © 2017 by Sam Goldstein, Craig Clyde, and Lord
Graham Russell.
CHAPTER 5
From The Other Shore: Plays by Gao Xingjian, translated by Gilbert C. F.
Fong. Copyright © 1999 by Gao Xingjian. Published by The Chinese
University of Hong Kong Press. Used by permission of The Chinese
University of Hong Kong Press.
Lipkin, Joan. “On the Case for Devising Theatre for Social Justice on
College Campuses.” Theatre Topics 26:2 (2016), 255; 258–259. © 2016 Johns
Hopkins University Press. Reprinted with permission of Johns Hopkins
University Press.
CHAPTER 8
Copyright © 2015 From “Dramaturgical Leadership and the Politics of
Appeal in Commercial Theatre” by Ken Cerniglia in The Routledge
Companion to Dramaturgy edited by Magda Romanska. Reproduced by
permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.
CONTENTS
Foreword by Susan Jonas xi
Acknowledgments xvi
Introduction 1
Dramaturgy: Origins and History 2
Dramaturgy in Action 4
Experience as Pedagogy 6
Academic Dramaturgy? Professional
Dramaturgy? 7
Dramaturging Through the Pandemic 8
Dramaturgy: Here, Now, and Beyond 8
1 Dramatic Theory and Script Analysis 12
Key Theories and Methodologies 13
Elements of Script Analysis 25
Constructive Critical Inquiry 26
Summary 27
2 Reading as a Dramaturg 29
Reading for Production Dramaturgy 29
Reading for New Play Development 32
Reading for Script Evaluation 37
Reading for New Voices 39
Reading for Advocacy 42
Reading for Scholarship 44
Summary 47
