Event Schedule

This panel celebrates the legacy of our hosts, the Yale Dramaturgy & Dramatic Criticism program, by featuring graduates who have developed and activated their dramaturgical skills across industry and professions. During this panel we will explore and celebrate the various pathways dramaturgs and leaders take to and through dramaturgy. As we consider the impact of Elinor Fuchs’ “E.F.’s Visit to a Small Planet,” we’ll explore the ways dramaturgs have shaped and remade their own small planets.

Join trivia host (and playwright with the dearest love for dramaturgs) Jayne d. for a dramatic night of theatre trivia! From backstage lore to epic flops, cult musicals to avant garde, uptown to downtown, we’ll mine the strange, brilliant, and delightfully obsessive world of theatre together. Come kick off the LMDA retreat by showing off your most random pieces of theatre knowledge and battling for trivia bragging rights!

What does it look like when dramaturgical ways of thinking and working move into leadership roles? How does a dramaturgical skill set impact the way leaders shape artistic vision, or guide an organization through unprecedented times? How do dramaturgs bring their skills to bear on the financial demands of an organization? What does it feel like to step into those responsibilities that take them far from the rehearsal room? Panelists will reflect on the surprises and learning curves of leadership and how the core competencies of the field – critical inquiry, contextual thinking, advocacy for the work and the artist – translate to the broader conversation about what good leadership looks like in the arts. 

Dramaturgs are artists that go by many names in many fields. What are the ways dramaturgs can share skills across mediums like film, audio, dance, non-traditional performance and more. What skills do you bring from theatrical dramaturgy into multi-media practice? What new skills are you developing? In addition to sharing experiences, challenges, tools, and tips, we will brainstorm opportunities for LMDA to support, connect, and advocate for dramaturgs in non-theatrical spaces.

Dramaturgs are equipped with diverse skillsets from translation, to research, to storytelling, journalism, directing, publishing and more. What does it take to make a career that blends dramaturgy across different skillsets? What are some places dramaturgs can make a multi-hyphenate career? This group will focus on the many hats dramaturgs wear, and ways of making a career while having dramaturgy as a guiding principle. 

A conversation with contracting experts across theater, film, television and other media. What does a dramaturg contract typically look like? What should dramaturgs look out for in contracting? How can a dramaturg protect themselves when they often do not have representation like designers, directors, and playwrights have? What are ways to advocate for dramaturgy in contracting? 

How do dramaturgs teach dramaturgy – as a philosophy and as a practice? This session examines how dramaturgical thinking shapes curriculum, mentorship, and collaborative learning. Activities may include: syllabi and activity sharing, discussions of the integration of production assignments & classroom work, and conversations about pedagogy that link research, rehearsal, and the classroom.

From work in museums and cultural organizations, to public policy, civic organizing and journalism, there is a clear connection between dramaturgy and community connection. This conversation will focus on the ways dramaturgy can cultivate community, inform public discourse and inform policy -and how dramaturgs are uniquely equipped to be on the front lines of change. Together, we will share examples, build connections and identify tangible ways to apply dramaturgical practices across sectors.

As a producer, dramaturg and artistic leader, Oskar Eustis embodies the intersections at the core of this retreat, bridging art and advocacy, pedagogy and practice. He champions new work through innovative programming, while mentoring generations of dramaturgs and writers now working across theater, television, and beyond.In this keynote address, Oskar brings his vision of dramaturgy as a medium for social change to bear on a pivotal moment for LMDA and the field at large. What have we built? What do we owe the next generation? What does it mean to do this work right now, and 40 years from now?

More dramaturgs than ever have found their way into the world of tv and film – but the specifics of that work remain largely mysterious. This conversation pulls back the curtain on what the work of a dramaturg looks like in tv and film, from the earliest stages of story development through production and even into the editing room. Panelists will speak to the day-to-day realities of the role: how they collaborate with writers, directors, producers, and studio executives; where their expertise is sought and where it’s challenged; and how the dramaturgical skill set translates – and transforms – in a filmed media context.

How do you make a sustainable living as a dramaturg? This conversation focuses on advocacy of dramaturgs in workshop, production, consultation settings. What can dramaturgs do to advocate for the field? How can dramaturgs advocate for each other, especially as guests in an artistic space? How does one navigate the initial conversations of Intellectual Property with collaborators, institutions, and contracts? In addition to sharing collaborative best practices and personal experiences with these topics, we’ll also investigate contractual methods we can use to define and support ourselves throughout a process, regardless of its duration.

What do the next 40 years of dramaturgy look like? This conversation will focus on LMDA’s role in the field as a member service organization that innovates dramaturgy, shares knowledge, and advances the wider field. How do we do that sustainably? What do our members need now? Where are our biggest opportunities for innovation? The goal of this working group is developing a multi-generational conversation that thinks about capacity, structures, and knowledge sharing for the future.

What happens to dramaturgy when academic structures disappear, shrink, or become hostile to the arts and humanities? How are AI tools affecting pedagogical goals and learning outcomes? This track gathers strategies for maintaining dramaturgical practice outside—or in spite of—traditional departments and institutions. Participants may share models for independent work, dramaturgy in other programs (including playwriting programs), community networks, and keeping critical inquiry alive in precarious conditions. This group also provides space for those with historical perspective to offer context for solutions that have been attempted in the past as structures were created/revised.

Hot Topics speakers present a provocative question, assertion, issue, or project with which they are currently (passionately) engaged to initiate conversations and collaborations, or to address pressing issues for our community. In addition to this year’s spiciest takes, we’ll also hear the Spark Notes from the day’s working groups. Speak your piece around the central retreat questions or others you might have at Hot Topics! Join us for a lively Saturday happy hour session to wrap up our collaborative sessions!