NEW WORK DEVELOPMENT HISTORY
What has Ally worked on?
UPCOMING:
In addition to actively developing new works, I've encountered and fallen in love with many more of them through being an experienced script reader. Selected Script Reading includes: Amphibian Stage's SparkFest (TX), O’Neill Center New Play Conference (NY), Wild Imaginings Waco's Epiphanies (TX), Concord Theatricals' OOB Festival (NY), Playwrights Foundation's Bay Area Playwrights Festival (CA), the Digital Development Project (Phase 1 Consultations & Playshare Evolution), the Playwrights' Center, and the SHE DFW & LA Arts Festivals.
- 2 plays (to be announced) as part of DDP's fall program, The Match
- They Love Violence by Jacob York (29-Hour Development Festival Assistant Dramaturg, Working Title Playwrights' Ethel Woolson Lab)
- Public Wickedness by Jacob York (29-Hour Development Festival Assistant Dramaturg, Working Title Playwrights' Ethel Woolson Lab)
- Chuan & Eve by Lyra Nalan (Developmental Dramaturg, through the Digital Development Project's digital play lab, Playshare Evolution)
- How to Lose a Sleep Paralysis Demon in 10 Days by Parker Davis Gray (Developmental Dramaturg, through the Digital Development Project, Phase One)
- cry hard by Calder Meis (Developmental Dramaturg, both at Baylor University and through the Digital Development Project, Phase One)
- Ink & Paint with Book, Lyrics, & Music by Danielle E. Moore (Shadow Festival Dramaturg, through DDP in partnership with SHE LA Arts)
- Girl on the Moon with Book, Lyrics, and Music by Judy Pancoast (Musical Script Consultation through MusicalWriters.com)
- BitterStar Ranch with Book, Lyrics, and Music by the Starnes Family (Musical Script Consultation through MusicalWriters.com)
- Wolf Ballad with Book, Lyrics, and Music by Fiskars Cutting (Musical Script Consultation through MusicalWriters.com)
In addition to actively developing new works, I've encountered and fallen in love with many more of them through being an experienced script reader. Selected Script Reading includes: Amphibian Stage's SparkFest (TX), O’Neill Center New Play Conference (NY), Wild Imaginings Waco's Epiphanies (TX), Concord Theatricals' OOB Festival (NY), Playwrights Foundation's Bay Area Playwrights Festival (CA), the Digital Development Project (Phase 1 Consultations & Playshare Evolution), the Playwrights' Center, and the SHE DFW & LA Arts Festivals.
DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT: PHASE ONE
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As an Emerging Dramaturg, finding places to foster connections with Emerging Playwrights and also practice dramaturgy is difficult in today's dramaturgical landscape. The Digital Development Project is a new, process-based initiative with the goal of connecting emerging playwrights with emerging dramaturgs to collaborate on new play development. |
I participated in the inaugural phase of the Digital Development Project as a inaugural phase dramaturg in its collective. DDP consists of six emerging/establishing dramaturgs who are matched with fourteen emerging/establishing playwrights in its phase 1 iteration for new play development. This work involved reading multiple drafts of scripts, gathering thoughts, and holding meetings over Zoom to discuss questions, thoughts, and directions for new drafts. As part of the inaugural phase of DDP, I have had a space to work with playwrights and actually practice dramaturgy! In the fall of 2023, I worked with three playwrights on the development of their plays, all at different stages in their careers and plays at different stages of development. This initiative is playwright-focused, meaning I tailored each playwright's dramaturgical consultations to what their goals and needs were. One play resulted in a staged reading and finalized draft for performance, one in a more whole draft to submit to new play festivals and incubators, and one finally knew what questions she needed to ask to continue writing her draft. All of these feel like beautiful, collaborative acts of dramaturgy, and I am grateful to each playwright for allowing me to work closely with their plays and their own practice.
FEEDBACK:
"Ally was fantastic to work with and was such a champion of my work. I always felt like she had my best interest in mind and asked me the best questions to help get my play and my writing to a better place. I feel like I walked away from this experience with a fuller, more realized play and a better writer." - Parker Davis Gray, playwright
"Ally is dedicated, thorough, intelligent, and has a innate sense about what a play is, needs, and wants to be. I highly recommend her services as a dramaturg if you're looking to cross the bridge from good to great." - Calder Meis, actor & playwright, cry hard
"Ally is dedicated, thorough, intelligent, and has a innate sense about what a play is, needs, and wants to be. I highly recommend her services as a dramaturg if you're looking to cross the bridge from good to great." - Calder Meis, actor & playwright, cry hard
I'd love to continue to uplift these playwrights and their plays below!
How to Lose a Sleep Paralysis Demon in 10 Days by Parker Davis Gray
Where Horror meets Rom-Com... This play is funny and sad and horrific and beautiful. I always adore the coming-of-age of the secrets we are too afraid to say out loud. Parker Davis Gray’s deft slaloms between wit, boldness, and vulnerability provide playground for both actors and their audiences in this play. It only helps that he is artistically savvy and lovely to work with. I will forever be a fan of Parker Gray's plays. The dialectic and physical landscapes in this play are also rich & a designer's dream. I fell in love with the characters’ quirks, gasped at their mistakes, and cried at their endings. I cannot wait to see this produced!
cry hard by Calder Meis
"An anachronistic Alexander the Great returns from a liminal purgatory to correct a misquote from Die Hard and defend his legacy."
A delightfully raucous participatory play encounters theatricality and legacy, agency over one’s past and its recollection in the future, and Truth. I’ve seen this play in multiple iterations as its dramaturg and find each time Alexander permeates time, space, and even the stage directions in each to offer a hilariously heartbreaking conversation about identity and how authenticity necessitates vulnerability. Calder is wonderfully thoughtful to work with and intellectually playful, which comes out through the plays' themes in ways you can’t even fathom. You’re in for a sore belly and an aching conscience with this one!
A delightfully raucous participatory play encounters theatricality and legacy, agency over one’s past and its recollection in the future, and Truth. I’ve seen this play in multiple iterations as its dramaturg and find each time Alexander permeates time, space, and even the stage directions in each to offer a hilariously heartbreaking conversation about identity and how authenticity necessitates vulnerability. Calder is wonderfully thoughtful to work with and intellectually playful, which comes out through the plays' themes in ways you can’t even fathom. You’re in for a sore belly and an aching conscience with this one!
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The earliest iteration of cry hard was actually my first new works endeavor. My friend and dream creative collaborator Calder Meis invited me as a dramaturg into the process of writing this play for his undergraduate thesis. Since then, it's gone through puberty but retains its initial hilarity, vulnerability, and chaotic charm. This picture is from that iteration of the play! |