While having the recent tutor session with Hestia Peppe, She identified one of my role in a group project as a "dramaturg". Curious to know more about this, I decided to look into what exactly dramaturg does and whether it is relatable to the work I am doing.
Depending on the situation, a dramaturg can take on a number of roles.
In a production capacity, they often take on research and advisory role. They become an expert and advocate for the play. As a member of a company, they may be the person who reads and responds to new submissions. They may also work with playwrights developing a new script. A dramaturg facilitates, through the supportive challenge, the fuller realisation of the artist’s conscious creative process, questioning to help the artist discover and fulfil the demands of an intuitive vision.
Apparently one of the questions a dramaturg bring up is "I want to know what your intention is with the work, and whether the play meets your intention. " This relates a lot to me, when I excitedly pitched in the idea to look into the identity within a cult, it was very relevant to ask myself why we as a group of six all focusing on this? is there a purpose, what are we trying to achieve from looking into such a topic.
Dramaturg at Washington DC’s Eureka Theatre, identifies a “basic underlying principle that you must challenge everything; that any time you are working on form and content you are constantly trying to re-explore and redefine their relationship to each other in a way that would express them more perfectly, more appropriately, more beautifully, especially for the specific time or place in which you are working.”
This role is highly fascinating for me because two years ago I started off as a Graphic design /Illustrator, eventually, my role became a project manager then finally an assistant art director. This new definition of my role as a dramaturg has put a spotlight into what I been recently trying to explore within my skill unintentionally, I took a step back from wanting to make the design, editing and being obsessed about the small details and wanting perfection - to a role of seeing a bigger picture to make sure everything we do come together, to create the vision we have as a group and bring consistency.