The Dramaturgical Presentation: Modernizing Shakespeare

INTRO: A drama-what? A “Dramaturg” is a scholar who works with a theater company to understand the textual, historical, and political ideas behind a given play. This is particularly important for older plays, like Shakespeare’s, since the audience (and the actors) often don’t know very much about this world: who lived there, what life was like, what they cared about and found funny, etc. Daniel Mesta, in his article “Theatre’s Secret Weapon: A Closer Look at Dramaturgy,” writes: “Curiosity is one of a dramaturg’s most crucial traits. Sometimes, both with new plays and familiar ones, asking the right questions can make or break a production. Dramaturgs ask, “What are the rules of the world? What are the relationships between characters? How does time work in the world of this play?” As the source of limitless questions, dramaturgs allow playwrights, directors, designers, and actors to expand their understanding of the script and create a world that is cohesive and accessible” (dramatics.org).

PROMPT: For your final project, I want you to be the Dramaturg for an ECU production of the play you wrote about in your Proposal assignment (Paper #3). To do this, you will put together a short PP presentation (or similar) of no more than 10 minutes, which you should record yourself narrating. This presentation should be aimed at the director/actors, explaining how you propose to make the play more accessible and interesting to the audience with a little adaptation. Ideally, you should draw from your Proposal assignment: why this play, where will you stage it, what basic theme or idea does the play need to communicate, and what are some of the problem scenes, etc.? So be CURIOUS, ask the RIGHT QUESTIONS, and give PROVOCATIVE ANSWERS to your actors and audience. Make these plays FEEL NEW and EXCITING and not just “warmed over Shakespeare.”

Your presentation should include MOST or ALL of the following:

• Why stage this play? Why not just keep doing the more popular ones?
• Visual examples of what your setting would look like, of what certain characters should look like, or other aspects that help us ‘see’ your vision
• Why this setting? What theme or idea are you trying to put across? What do you want the audience and actors to essentially understand about this play?
• A passage or two from Bevis’s Comedy to show how some of his ideas might have influenced you, or helped you understand Shakespeare’s intentions
• Brief summaries of 1-2 recent productions that staged this play, and how this influenced your own staging
• Brief discussion of at least ONE problem scene, and how you might address it: include brief but focused CLOSE READING (don’t just summarize)
• Discussion of some common misconceptions of the play, or misconceptions about Shakespeare that you can address in your staging

REQUIREMENTS: Remember, this is a presentation, not a paper. So I want you to RECORD the presentation with you narrating it, like a real presentation. Imagine that you’re addressing the director and the actors, and letting them know the WHAT, the HOW, and the WHY of the play. I’m going to set up a Flipgrid account for our class, so you can either record and upload it there, OR you can simply send me a video file and I can do it for you. But remember, make sure you base your presentation on a PP, Prezi, or other format so we can SEE the visuals and the words, as well as hear your narration. Due on the last day of Finals, date TBA! (May something or other).

NOTE: I will post a video soon showing my take on this assignment, and how you might go about creating your presentation. And if you have questions, please ask!