Revamping

Hi friends. I'm taking a break to revamp and redirect the blog. Stay tuned!

Book Covers

CNN contributor Bob Greene suggests that book jackets are a dying art. In this article, he spotlights nine great covers. Which ones are your favorites?

I am a sucker for great packaging. Although I try to never judge books by their cover, I admit that there have been a few I've picked up simply because the jacket caught my eye. Two recent attractions yielded drastically different results.

The woven blue notebook of Paul Auster's Oracle Night lured me in much the same way that the possibly supernatural journal ensnares the protagonist. Oracle Night was my first foray into Auster's work. I loved the mysteries and complexities on every page and now I can't get enough Auster. I scour the library and bookstore shelves for his books and since I discovered we are almost neighbors, keep my eyes peeled for him when I'm walking around Brooklyn.

I expected to read something fascinating or scientific after opening the cover of Galt Niederhoffer's A Taxonomy of Barnacles. I find this book polarizing. Some critics call it a contrived vanity project and others find its zaniness charming. I agree with with the former. I will steer clear of the author's future endeavors, but I must admit a desire to talk to her agent or editor about how structuring the novel more like the science project-like cover could have improved the writing and, ultimately, sales.





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Daily Consumption 4-20-10

Song of the day - NYC, Interpol

Still reading unpublished work, so no passage of the day.

Literary inspiration

Want to show off your favorite book? There are so many great t-shirts here! In addition to the Streetcar shirt, I love the 1984 and Hester Prynne shirts.

image found here

Daily Consumption 4-19-10

Song of the day - Hurt, Johnny Cash

Just a song for now. I'm reading unpublished plays today.

Daily Consumption 4-15-10

Song of the day - Lazy Eye, Silversun Pickups

Passage of the day - Do you know the feeling when you start reading a new book before the membrane of the last one has had time to close behind you? You leave the previous book with ideas and themes--characters even--caught in the fibers of your clothes, and when you open the new book, they are still with you. - The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield

Sorry for the delay! It's been a busy week.

Pulitzer Prizes

The Pulitzer Prizes were announced at Columbia University yesterday. Congratulations to all of the winners and finalists!

The press release for the prize in Drama is as follows (from the Pulitzer Prize site): Awarded to “Next to Normal,” music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, a powerful rock musical that grapples with mental illness in a suburban family and expands the scope of subject matter for musicals. (Moved into contention by the Board within the Drama category.)

Nominated as finalists in this category were: “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity,” by Kristoffer Diaz, a play invoking the exaggerated role-playing of professional wrestling to explore themes from globalization to ethnic stereotyping, as the audience becomes both intimate insider and ringside spectator; “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” by Rajiv Joseph, a play about the chaotic Iraq war that uses a network of characters, including a caged tiger, to ponder violent, senseless death, blending social commentary with tragicomic mayhem, and “In the Next Room or the vibrator play,” by Sarah Ruhl, an inventive work that mixes comedy and drama as it examines the medical practice of a 19th century American doctor and confronts questions of female sexuality and emancipation.


The Prizes are never without controversy. According to Charles McNulty, member of the Pulitzer Prize drama jury, critic for the LA Times, and my former professor, the board disregarded the recommendation of the jury and awarded a visible and commercially viable piece of theatre rather than a riskier play by an emerging playwright. McNulty's insightful article can be found here.

I have questions about the awards process. How subjective are these awards? How much weight does the board give the jury? How long do they deliberate about the finalists before adding their sentimental favorites?

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Daily Consumption 4-8-10

Song of the day - Letters From the Sky, Civil Twilight

Passage of the day - When I walk into town, I see a shriveled, pasty man who, clearly, is dying. He has been propped in the doorway with the sun fully on him, his last chance for revival. He spreads out his fingers on his chest, warming everything he can. - Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances Mayes

Daily Consumption 4-7-10

Song of the day - Anywhere I Lay My Head, Tom Waits

Passage of the day - Standing in the dim crypt in a country church where a handful of dust has been venerated for several hundred years, I see that even today, toward the end of the the century, the case is remembered with fresh carnations. I uncover my second realization: This is where they put their memories and wants. Besides functioning as vast cultural repositories, these churches map intimate human needs. - Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances Mayes

Daily Consumption 4-6-10

Song of the day - Maps, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Passage of the day - Means of life ... In certain times and places, we find it. We can run full out, if not fly. - Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances Mayes

Daily Consumption 4-5-10

Song of the day - To All of You, Syd Matters

Passage of the day - This three-story house rooted to the ground restores some levels in my waking and sleeping hours. Or is it the house? A glimmer: Choice is restorative when it reaches toward an instinctive recognition of the earliest self. As Dante recognized at the beginning of The Inferno: What must we do in order to grow? - Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances Mayes

Daily Consumption 4-2-10

Song of the day - Phantom Limb, The Shins

Passage of the day - Think: What if the sky doesn't fall? What if it's glorious? - Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances Mayes

What is a dramaturg? - an ongoing discussion

When I meet new friends, one of the first things they ask me concerns my profession. Most people struggle even pronouncing the word dramaturg*, much less understanding what the job entails. Most dramaturgs I know cultivate a quick "cocktail party" answer in addition to a longer explanation.

My cocktail party answer changes according to what aspect of the work I'm focused on at the time and what projects are on the horizon. Right now, I like to call what I do "theatre anthropology." Sometimes I say that I work with playwrights to develop new work, other times I talk more about research, program notes, and lobby displays. It is difficult to narrow what a dramaturg does into a soundbite because the job changes due to the particular demands and challenges of the play, project, theatre, or organization.

Defining what a dramaturg is and does is an ongoing project for many. Since the performing arts are alive and constantly changing, the role of the dramaturg will continue to grow and change along with its supporting institutions.

A couple of supporting institutions worth mentioning:

CENTERSTAGE: CENTERSTAGE in Baltimore received a $2 million challenge grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to establish the nation's first dramaturgy endowment. CENTERSTAGE currently boasts one of the larger dramaturgy departments in the nation. They do incredible work.

LMDA: A conversation about defining dramaturgy would be incomplete without mentioning Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas. When I initially discovered the existence of dramaturgy, my search led me to LMDA and their unbelievably selfless members. On their site, they list numerous "acts of dramaturgy." Scroll down!

What is Dramaturgy?
(a few possibilities)

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Help develop the mission
Help plan the season
Help look for scripts

NEW PLAYS
Solicit scripts from writers and agents
Read and evaluate new scripts
Track and file those scripts
Write kindly letters to writers whose script
we won’t be producing
Negotiate with agents
Prepare adaptations and translations
Commission new work
Organize the in-house play reading program
Organize the new play reading program
for subscribers
Help bring new plays into full production
Support those writers whose vision captures our minds and hearts

PRODUCTION DRAMATURGY
Locate drafts and versions
Collate, cut, track, edit, rewrite, construct,
and arrange
Secure permissions to use
copyrighted material
Find songs, pictures, stories, videos
Help the designer do the research
Help the director do casting
Help the marketeers and developers
Seek and present pathways into
the world of the play
Gather and arrange images, sounds, and ideas for rehearsal
Explore and present: the world of the play
the author of the play,
the script’s production history,
the relevant criticism
Conceive the forms of the script as a script
Conceive the forms of the play as it grows
Stay on course when all goes well
Maintain the calm when all goes ill
(as it will)
Create the lobby display
Love the work

ARTS IN EDUCATION
Establish relationships with local educators
Help them use theatre to support their curricula
Prepare study guides
Develop production web sites
Write and edit program materials
Organize and lead pre- and post-show discussions
Plan and lead seminars and symposia

ADVOCACY
Affirm the function,
Explore the practice, and
Promote the profession of
dramaturgy and literary management.
Nourish the arts wherever we find them:
in schools,
in communities,
and around the world.

(all information can be found at www.lmda.org)


Any questions about dramaturgy so far? Please ask!


*Dramaturgy is pronounced with a soft g, like the g in the word gel. Dramaturg has a hard g, like the word hamburger. It is sometimes spelled with an e on the end, but since dramaturge means playwright in French, most U.S.-based dramaturgs try to discourage that spelling to avoid further confusion.

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