Dramaturgs function as a kind of “in-house academic” for a production. They can provide expertise in performance history. They have broad knowledge of dramatic literature. They help playwrights develop new work. They ask critical questions.

What can a performance scholar do for you?

Gotthold Erphaim Lessings Hamburg Dramaturgy (Hamburgische Dramaturgie), containing essays he wrote for the Hamburg National Theater from 1767-69 establish literary dramaturgy as a formal part of theatrical practice.

George Pierce Baker established production dramatury with his legendary 47 Workshop, a pair of graduate playwriting classes at Harvard University in the first decade of 20th century. The class had an associated company of undergraduate actors who would perform fully produced showings of works-in-progress for feedback. In this way, Baker trained American voices like Eugene O’Neill, Philip Barry, and future WPA Federal Theater Project director Hallie Flanagan—and for that matter an entire generation of theatrical professionals across disciplines.