Professional Dramaturgy

Degrees in dramaturgy are available at many colleges and universities, including (but not limited to) the University of Iowa, the Yale School of Drama, and Aarhus University. Each of these offer graduate degrees with a focus on dramaturgy and/or theatre management.

Dramaturgs are able to acquire resident positions within theatre companies and communities. Such groups are the Yale Repertory Theatre, the TimeLine Theatre Company, and Centerstage Baltimore.

Online Treasure Hunt

Results for Dave's Online Treasure Hunt:
1. http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/6971
Buy a copy of the script online from Samuel French, from the Play Publishers' and Authors'
Representatives
http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/?id=5&xid=3046&kapitel=2&cHash=78606268bc2#gb_found
Read the full text of the play in the original German via public domain, courtesy of Spiegel
and Project Gutenberg

2. http://www.glopad.org/pi/en/image/299
Karl Walser's set design for the 1906 German production from the Global Performing Arts
Database

3. "Above is a photo from the 1917 New York production of Spring Awakening, the first to be performed in English. However, it closed after only one night due to audience reactions; viewers cited the play as 'pornographic'. (Barnes and Noble Booksellers Online)

4. "For some 21st-century Americans, teenage pregnancy may not have precisely the same scandalous — or sorrowful — significance it did just a couple of weeks ago. But in provincial 19th-century Germany, the prospect of an unmarried adolescent giving birth was definitely a family calamity." -Charles Isherwood for the New York Times, 9/15/08

5.

6. The national tour will be at the Music Hall in Kansas City, MO from October 15th to 18th. Tickets prices range from .....

..... tbc.....

The Play: Synopsis

"Spring Awakening" (or "Frühlings Erwachen" in the original German) was written by Frank Wedekind between 1890 and 1891. The play deals with sexual repression in the young people of a provincial German town.

The children of the town have reached the general age range of thirteen to fifteen and begin to wonder about reproduction and sexuality. The adults of the town, under a Puritanistic view of sex, are dismayed by their children's curiosity and discourage their thoughts; however, they prove to be unsuccessful as Melchior Gabor sleeps with fourteen-year-old Wendla Bergmann, both fumbling through their first sensual experience during the fourth scene of Act Two.

The play has many dark characteristics and tones. Wendla becomes pregnant with Melchior's child and later dies from a botched abortion attempt arranged by her mother. One character, Moritz Stiefel, shoots himself under the belief that he has failed school. Because of these two occurrences, Melchior is sent to a reformatory, which was opposed by his mother on the grounds that it will "make a criminal of him." Melchior escapes from the reformatory to meet the ghost of his friend Moritz and a mysterious Masked Man near Moritz's grave. throughout this final scene, Moritz attempts to persuade Melchior to follow his footsteps and commit suicide, telling him how well the dead have things. the Masked Man, however, downplays this argument saying that he will forget about this trouble after he's had a warm meal. After much banter between the three men, Melchior exits the stage arm-in-arm with the Masked Man, leaving Moritz to a final monologue about the return to his stoic death.

The play is riddled with social commentary. The subtitle of the play is "A Children's Tragedy." Most of the adults in the play are conservative, sexually afraid, bumbling characters with very little depth or clarity. The fact that they use their authority to "Lord over" the children makes for a very frustrating atmosphere. The adults, under pretense of keeping the children's best interests at heart while being practical, preach Puritanistic views of sex and strict morality and always fail a certain number of students from secondary school for no other reason than that the high school only holds sixty. Wedekind used great irony and literary technique in writing "spring Awakening," and it shows as audiences are empathizing with and being mesmerized by the work today.

What is Dramaturgy?

The Miriam-Webster Dictionary defines 'dramaturgy' as "the art or technique of dramatic composition and theatrical representation." However, there are many other definitions available.

The American Heritage dictionary cites the definition of dramaturgy as "The art of the theater, especially the writing of plays."

The Literary Managers & Dramaturgs of the Americas (or LMDA) supply no dictionary-style definition, but the association does list many characteristics of dramaturgy and the roles that dramaturgs play in a production. Dramaturgs work with others involved in a production, helping with research and development, technical aspects of the production (sound, lighting, etc.), advocating the theatre and the production, and exploring the script for details and subtext.

For more information:
Homepage for the Literary Managers & Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA):
http://www.lmda.org/