Mary Kathryn Nagle

Join us for a conversation with playwright Mary Kathryn Nagle, who is part of the KC Rep American Crossroads Residency program.

Mary Kathryn Nagle is a playwright, lawyer, and citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She is a leading voice among indigenous theatre artists and the majority of her work utilizes drama and history to promote the rights and sovereignty of Native nations. Her plays include Manahatta, Sliver of a Full Moon, Sovereignty, Reclaiming One Star and Crossing Mnisose. Her work has been developed and produced, most notably at the Public Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Arena Stage, Denver Center Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre and the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center.

Suzi Elnaggar, Martine Kei Green-Rogers, Yasmin Zacaria Mikhaiel, Jenna K. Rodgers, Lynde Rosario, Melonnie Walker

In this session, we will have a guided conversation with members and supporters of the BIPOC Affinity Group. Each speaker will introduce their work -- creative work, scholarship, or dramaturgical work. This session is open to all and the discussion will cover questions of community building, cross-cultural dramaturgy and cultural consultant work, institutional support, education, advocating for yourself as a BIPOC dramaturg, and more.

Art Borreca, Sarah Johnson, Megen Lederman, Bo-Hua Lin, Sheriden Schreyer, Kelly Margaret Smith, Rebecca Weaver, Spencer Wilkes Fields

This panel discussion brings together current students and faculty of Dramaturgy MFA programs to discuss the state of the degree and landscape of this particular form of graduate training in dramaturgy. The goal is to end the session with a list of Dramaturgy MFA best practices to be used by MFA program heads to advocate for their students and programs within their institutions.

Davide Cioffrese

The session will focus on an analysis of Italy’s contemporary dramaturgical situation: one which includes several efficient professionals, but which has yet to properly welcome them in an official capacity within the reality of theatre-making and production. The feedback of LMDA members will be gladly accepted.

Lezlie Cross, Liz Engelman, Andrea Thome, Alex Vermillion

This panel will not only talk about a new method of translation using the Play On Method but to also have a conversation about the crossroads of translating Shakespeare’s plays and how the playwrights and dramaturgs approached the task. Our panel will consist of a Play On Shakespeare member who will moderate the conversation; a Play On Shakespeare playwright; and their collaborator and dramaturg on the project.

Shelley Graham, Belle Frahm, Emma Rollins, Thomas Jensen

We've found some commonalities in the process of working with dancers on devised projects, dance adaptations, dance theatre, and multicultural dance. Among the four presenters, we have discovered the role of a “dancewright” at the crossroads of playwriting, dramaturgy, and choreography. We will explore with the panelists and attendees the perceived boundaries of dance dramaturgy and where they continue to be challenged.

Liana Irvine

The dramaturgical job can include watching the audience; therefore, understanding an audience's relationship to the format of the material is necessary. This panel explores the intersections of theatre and other media in order to inform dramaturgs about how audiences receive entertainment forms. From this inquiry, we will ask how to use this knowledge to uplift universal-audienceship and put-down competition for "butts in seats".

Ile Haggins, Nicole Hodges Persley, Lewis Morrow, Melonnie Walker, Harvey Williams, Lynn Williams

"Black Directors Panel: Cultural Crossroads Illuminated" will be a panel discussion of theatre directors and artists who are committed to storytelling. They will be sharing their experiences on productions with and without access to dramaturg professionals.

Get to know your fellow conference attendees from your region! If you pre-purchased lunch, you can head to the main lobby to grab your food and then follow your region’s representatives to share in conversation with your colleagues.

If you did not pre-purchase lunch with your registration, you can do so at the check-in desk. The price for the lunch is $20.

Emmanuel Wilson

New work development and production is in crisis. Dramaturgs and literary managers stand at the crossroads of the new play development market: alongside theatres, arts organizations, and writers alike. As LMDA and the Dramatists Guild are the two organizations serving and protecting their respective best interests, we hope for a session of this nature to serve as a bridge for re-establishing collective efforts and discussing forward movement between all involved toward a future wherein we feel supported and in dialogue regarding future global protections.

Suzi Elnaggar and Yasmin Zacaria Mikhaiel

Whether it’s an educational packet, audience guide, or internal resources for the creative team -- having the basics of design elements and how to use them is a vital skill. This hybrid workshop is open for all skill levels and will have two project choices. Participants may bring their own projects to work on. Laptops are encouraged with at least a free Canva account set up.

LaRonika Thomas

How do theatre history archives preserve the work of dramaturgs? What place does a dramaturg’s work have in an archive? What might a dramaturgy archive look like? A dramaturg’s archive? What effects might an archive of a dramaturg’s body of work have on the profession, the discipline, and the scholarship, and the artistry of dramaturgy? How do these questions intersect? I, along with members of LMDA, ATAP, and archivists and librarians across the country, have begun diving into the project of digitizing, archiving, and preserving work. This panel will share lessons learned, future plans, and the many intertwined dramaturgical questions and insights this project has prompted.

Gwydion Suilebhan

The theater field is undergoing radical transformation. Artists in all disciplines are more marginalized than ever, and they need tools to be seen and discovered and to connect with one another. The New Play Exchange has proven to be the single most effective way to make that happen for playwrights, and with the new features you'll learn about in this session, it hopes to provide the same possibility for dramaturgs as well.

Jessica Watkin and Eden Middleton

A conversation between Eden Middleton and Dr. Jessica Watkin about recent collaborations in Toronto, Ontario and Calgary, Alberta supporting disabled and non-disabled artists by paying artistic attention to access for artists and audiences. An exploration of disability dramaturgy.

Heather Helinsky

Literary Offices for new play festivals were not originally constructed to receive the high volume of scripts they receive today. In this session Heather shares a case study the shifting dramaturgical practices at Playwrights Foundation, including transparency with the writing community while making intentional changes from within. Questions addressed may include: How does the dramaturgy of writers responding to the current moment demand new practices? What does a values-centered selection process look like? In a time of scarcity of resources, what opportunities are emerging to celebrate abundance?

Emceed by Jane Barnette

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. Speakers have just five minutes each to open a door onto their topic.

Presenters: Karen Jean Martinson, Ethan Persyko, Tiffani Hagan, Jocelyn Buckner, Sierra Rosetta, LaRonika Thomas, Marzi Ashrafian, Amanda Dawson, Suzi Elnaggar

Sponsored by the Dramatists Guild of America

Join us to meet with theatre writers, dramaturgs, and industry workers with a passion for uplifting new theatre writing! This event is open for all to attend. Light food and drinks will be provided. Representatives from the Dramatists Guild and LMDA will be in attendance.

Diane Brewer and Cat Gleason

In recent years KCACTF regional festivals have included new programs that respond to the dramaturgical needs of digital and long-distance production as well as include dramaturgs in new play development for a 10-minute play festival. This session will welcome anyone interested in finding out more about KCACTF, those who mentor student dramaturgs, as well as Regional and National Leadership. We will provide an overview of national and regional programs and then lead a discussion and brainstorming session.

Kate Mulley

This interactive workshop invites participants to engage in the question of intimacy on stage in a post-COVID world. Providing a framework for thinking about onstage intimacy in new work using consent-forward practices and creative intimacy direction, the workshop will invite participants to discuss case study plays.

Hannah Fennell Gellman

This presentation uses the case studies of the ripple, the wave that carried me home by Christina Anderson and Wish You Were Here by Sanaz Toossi, recently produced at Yale Repertory Theatre. It will discuss how strategies for cross-cultural collaboration informed the dramaturgy work for each production, highlighting both successes and the possibilities for continued growth in myself and the theater industry.

Hannah Il-Epstein, Kealiʻiwahine Hokoana, and Kevin Sparrow

By nurturing local playwrights, actors, and audiences, promoting indigenous narratives, and consulting cultural specialists, we cultivate authenticity and pride in local Hawai'i and Hawaiian culture.

Incorporating moʻolelo ensures a vibrant theatrical tradition, bridging the past and present for future generations, both within and outside Hawaiʻi.

Karen Jean Martinson and Dan Smith

The NPX Recommend-a-Thon (NPX RAT) was dreamed up at the Banff conference and implemented in Fall 2023. These quarterly working sessions provide a calendar slot during which dramaturgs can take some time to promote work that they love. We often find ourselves in a crossroads of urgency - doing work that addresses the most immediate issues that we have. The NPX RAT allows us to carve out co-working time to do the work that sustains us.

Ashley Chodat

How do we use speculative futures to inspire hope for the next generation? Join emerging Canadian playwright Ashley Chodat as she dives into three of her new TYA works.

Dr. Felicia Hardison Londré and Jane Barnette

For over four decades, Dr. Felicia Hardison Londré (Curators’ Distinguished Professor of Theatre Emerita,) taught theater history and dramaturgy at UMKC. Most recently, Dr. Londré was president of the nonprofit KC MOlière: 400 in 2022, a city-wide omni-arts initiative to celebrate Molière's 400th birthday and the 200th anniversary of Kansas City's French heritage. In this exclusive interview, moderated by your conference producer Melonnie Walker and conducted with Jane Barnette (University of Kansas), we will discuss Dr. Londré's research about the history of KC theater as well as the state of dramaturgy at the crossroads.

Jane Barnette, Shelley Graham, Karen Jean Martinson, and Suzi Elnaggar; Debuts: Na An, Liz Bazzoli, Juliet Chia, Aislin Dyer, Belle Frahm, Neah Lekan

This debut panel will offer an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate (or recently graduated) students new to conferencing to present a provocation about a dramaturgy project. Each of the selected student panelists will present for 5 min on their project. This will be followed by a short Q&A session to allow the audience to engage with the presenters

Jen Shook and Heidi Wiren Bartlett

If a crossroads is a liminal space, a space of encounter, exchange, and change–a place between and a place of convergence–then grief is a crossroads, a place both of pause and of passing through. This performance presentation offers rituals for navigating this passage, performing embodied research through film, puppetry, collective gesture, and reflective discussion

Lindsay L. Barr, Lydia Cochran, Arly Rubens, Agatha Woodbury

A dramaturgical brain is not something you can really turn-off. Despite our best efforts, even when engaging in "casual" content we find ourselves thinking through the structure, context, and larger societal implications of our consumption. In a time when theaters are struggling to bring audiences back post-covid, what can we learn from mass market consumption? What can we learn from meme-culture? And where does theater fit in to a well balanced media diet?

Lindsey R. Barr, Jenna K. Rodgers, Anne G. Morgan, Lynde Rosario

Join LMDA as the organization looks back on the past year of activity and achievement, and looks forward to the 2024/25 season of dramaturgical events and gatherings, including the announcement of the location of the 2025 conference. The AGM is a great opportunity to review all of LMDA's activities, hear from Board and Executive members, and celebrate the volunteers who make all of this possible.

Join us at the Rockhille Grille to close out our conference with a communal gathering! Awards presentations and highlights from previous award winners will add extra celebration to the night.

The venue is a little over one mile (~25 minute walk; ~10 minute drive) from the conference hotel and is two stops down on the KC Streetcar (~15 minutes).

There will be a buffet dinner and cash bar.

A banquet ticket is included in the full conference registration rate. If you didn’t purchase a full conference registration but would still like to join us at the banquet, you can purchase tickets for $50. See anyone at the check- Registration Desk if you’d like to join us!