In 1988, Michael Devine and DD Kugler became the first Canadian members of LMDA, and Kugler would later become the first Canadian officer (Vice-President, Communication and later LMDA President). LMDA Canada (established 1997), under the long-term leadership of Brian Quirt (later LMDA President) and currently Vicki Stroich (also 2010 Conference Chair), has achieved the distinct status of existing as both a strong national unit and a vital and integral partner in the umbrella organization Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas.

LMDA in the late 1980s was fueled by the passions of many people who worked collectively to move the organization forward through organizational leadership and conference hosting: Alexis Greene, Cynthia Jenner, David Copelin, Rick Davis, Steven Hart, Lynn M. Thomson, Mark Bly, Morgan Jenness, Susan Jonas, and a host of others.

The third annual conference, in June of 1988, was titled “Dramaturgy and the Creative Process” and was held at the O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut. Joe Chaikin gave a reading of his play Struck Dumb, co-authored with Jean-Claude van Itallie and commissioned by the Mark Taper Forum. At this conference, James Leverett was given an award for “Excellence in Dramaturgy.” Here is Leverett writing in the mid-80s in an article entitled “After the Revolution.”

Theatre can less and less afford to look like film and television, though it may always make creative use of them, along with everything else the world has to offer. It must, instead, look like exactly what it is: a finite space for infinite imagination.

The following year, LMDA hosted its first conference on the West coast. It was held at San Francisco State University with keynote speaker Anne Bogart, who spoke about connections among theatre, film, and television.