Dramaturgy is like pie.Pies have a multiplicity of flavors and a multiplicity of methods to create one flavor just as there are many types of dramaturgy and we each approach the practice of it differently. One baker may love to bake every kind of fruit pie, and another baker may have perfected a chocolate pie recipe, love to share it with others, or even found a way to make the recipe anew. One dramaturg may love all kinds of new play development, and another dramaturg may especially love to reimagine how to make Shakespeare accessible (looking at you, Play On Shakespeare).
I’m quite content that I got to share in the pie in Kansas City at this year’s LMDA conference, hosted by Kansas City Repertory Theatre. Thank you LMDA & Kansas City. I can’t wait for next year’s binational conference! (And a bit of #ispydramaturgy at the KC public library for their anniversary made my heart swoon!) I also want to uplift Mary Kathryn Nagle’s goal: to have every American theatre to produce a play by a native playwright. If you’re reading this, have you and yours produced a play by an indigenous playwright? Have you prioritized reading works by indigenous writers and witnessing work by indigenous devisers, actors, performance artists? MKN noted that theatres play a critical role in changing narratives just like this, by investing in people & connections. I’m starting by reading Nagle’s Sovereignty and then plan to go through the plays uploaded onto New Play Exchange alongside finally diving into Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Join me? I'd love some recommendations as well!
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 📸: @evanmichaelwoods
______________________ I spent my June in the presence of dozens of artists & community members & champions for the arts as part of Amphibian Stage's SparkFest again this year, and yet again have a just a singular photo to represent such a multi-faceted, vibrant experience. Within this photo are dozens of new play writers, directors, & actors whose care brought 3 plays to life at the developmental stage. There’s a mural on the far wall crafted beautifully, thoughtfully, and in community by Thu Anh Nguyen & Philippa Hughes. Performances by Arkai Music, Shafi Hossain, Umami Playground, local community storytellers, & our wonderful acting competition finalists filled this very space for 2 1/2 fantastic weeks. Hundreds of patrons came, invested, and engaged with artistic programming in a state that ranks #42 in state artistic funding. And yet, these weeks were filled with love and vibrant artistry. This photo also holds an arts admin team of Amphibian's staff & my superhero fellow apprentice Alex Voeller, from whom I learned so much and am excited to see go out and create more spaces for art in the world. All my love to each of you! 💚
These three plays and playwrights were selected from a pool of over 100 submissions. My team of readers (shoutout to Amanda Tafeen, Suzi Elnaggar, Caili Crow, Liana Irvine, Carman Lacivita, Illana Stein, Jihye Kim, Libby Nicolay, Lindsay L. Barr, Ryan Henry, Sloan Garner, Will Forrest, Yejia Sun & Amphibian's thoughtful staff) and I sifted through each story, falling in love with so many along the way. There are many more lovely stories than just these that I am slowly recommending on my NPX page, if you'd like to read some for yourself. I'd love to do a little spotlight on the plays selected for development and performance at this year's festival and encourage you to come join us at SparkFest!
You can explore all of these plays, SparkFest's approach to New Works, and purchase tickets at the SparkFest New Plays webpage.
I'm happy to announce that our Digital Development Project is teaming up with She NYC Arts to offer dramaturgy for their LA festival productions - digitally, of course! WHAT I'M WORKING ON:
 Time with dramaturgs is some of my favorite! At this year's LMDA Digital Conference, I will be a presenter on two sessions.
I've compiled anecdotal research and laid down a path to some further research needed about the experience of being an early career dramaturg in my very first!! solo conference session called Where We're At: The ECD Crossroads. Helping rebuild the education to employment path for dramaturgy is something I am eager to lend a hand in, so I curated this session's contents from the Early Career Dramaturgy Affinity Space as a way to create a common vocabulary and brainstorm next steps for dramaturgs at an early career crossroads. You can catch this session asynchronously on Day 1, Thursday, February 1, at the LMDA Digital Conference website.
The Digital Development Project is also making a conference appearance next weekend!Alongside my fellow DDP dramaturgs, we will be sharing our new initiative as an inspiration for creating spaces for early career dramaturgs and emerging playwrights to collaborate as well as overcoming physical location barriers to dramaturgy. You can catch our session, Digital Dramaturgy Project: A Process-oriented Crossroad for Emerging/Establishing Playwrights and Dramaturgs, on Digital Conference Day 3 from 1:45pm to 2:30pm EST in a synchronous Zoom session.
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. I'd love to uplift these playwrights and their plays below!
Here's the whole team; what fun!
OOB (Ally's Version):
I'd love to continue to uplift these lovely playwrights and artists involved in the 2023 iteration of OOB. See the graphic below for their names & be sure to check out their NPX profiles! 
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