Lessing and Dramaturgy Lesson

For 35 years, I have been repeatedly asked the obvious question - " What is a dramaturg?" It's the obvious question because in this country, when you tell someone that you are a dramaturg, they have no idea what you are talking about. 

And it's a strange word; definitely suspect. Sounds communist. 

There is one country, however, where almost any 15 year old could tell you what a dramaturg is. That's Germany. 

Germany is the homeland of the ur-dramarturg, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. 

Honestly, dramaturgy has been around as long as theatre has been around. It took dramaturgy to get Oedipus Rex on it's feet because what dramaturgy is is the process of getting the script ready. Ready for the actors, ready for the audience, ready for the critics. The two primary divisions of dramaturgy - script development and production research - are inevitable. But in Lessing they jelled and became a profession - in Germany, a very honored profession. (I can think of worse things to be referred to than Herr Dramaturg. And over here, I have heard some of those "worse things" beginning with dramaturkey - and you can take it from there.) 

Here's what happened. 

In Lessing's day, Paris ruled when it came to theatre, much like the influence that Broadway and NYC have on theatre in this country today. If theatre wasn't "frenchified" back in 18th century Europe then it wasn't valid. 

This did not sit well with Herrn Lessing, who saw perhaps a deeper purpose to the theatre than his colleagues. Lessing wanted to see a theatre which was rooted in the German language, and so, among other steps, he wrote some very interesting plays of his own in a style that had it's rhythm, meter and syntax taken from the German pallet. Soon Schiller and Goethe would follow. 

Lessing also generated what has come to be known as The Hamburg Dramaturgy. As a German major at Chapel Hill, I read excerpts in German when I took a course on Lessing, but it's not the kind of thing you'd find on the New York Times bestseller list. 

Or is it? Because now, thanks to Dr. Wendy Arons of Carnegie Melon and Dr. Sara Figal of Vanderbilt University, there is about to be an annotated, English translation - and before the book, these two scholars are, thanks to this marvelous age of the internet, sharing their project with the rest of us as it evolves, via this link: http://mcpress.media-commons.org/hamburg/ 

Highly recommended reading for anyone who wants to ask that question - 

"What is a dramaturg?" 

Jaz Dorsey 

Director of Education 

The Actors' Reading Room 

Nashville, Tennessee 

Come to Nashville and Go to the Theatre! (I'm pretty sure that's what Lessing would say.)

Adventures in Dramaturgy: Lessing & Consequences

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Dramaturgy. Strange word.

For over 30 years, people have been asking me what dramaturgy is and what a dramaturg does. Every now and then, I think I have an answer, but mostly I find I am just as baffled as everyone else. What I do know is that dramaturgy has become a major force in the American theatre over the past three decades and it would be nice if the American public could get comfortable with this word and familiar with the role that it plays in the evolution of our national drama and in forging the history of our times.

In order to grasp "dramaturgy" you have to be up for a short course in theatre/literary history; you have to check out Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.

Lessing is the dude to whom we tend to attribute the establishment of the field of dramaturgy.

In his day - the middle of the 18th century, more or less - France dominated European culture, especially when it came to theatre. This got on Lessing's nerves, so he suggested that the Germans come up with their own take on things, and to demonstrate what he meant, he wrote some plays in the "german" style (which actually didn't exist until he wrote those plays.) His best play is a little tragedy called EMILIA GALOTTI.

Lessing is my hero.

In contemporary parlance, Lessing's annoyance with France has it's parallel with the American obsession with NYC and Broadway. But "when I'm dancing on Peachtree Street, I'm still dancing on my Broadway feet." That's all I'm saying.

For anyone who is interested in finding out more about dramaturgs and dramaturgy, there is a very fine organization, the LMDA, which has more information on their website.

Jaz Dorsey
AAPEX Dramaturg
The Nashville Dramaturgy Project