Morgan Jenness (1952 -2024)
Beloved dramaturg Morgan Jenness has passed away. News of their passing was confirmed by their colleague, playwright Lynn Nottage. Jenness was one of the most respected dramaturgs in the industry, training hundreds of artists through their teaching efforts in addition to their work inside the rehearsal studio. For more than a decade, Jenness worked at The Public Theater, serving under both Artistic Director George C. Wolfe and founder Joseph Papp in roles ranging from literary manager to director of play development and associate producer of the New York Shakespeare Festival.
As a teacher, Jenness served as a visiting artist and adjunct in programs at the University of Iowa, Brown University, Bread Loaf, Columbia, and NYU. Jenness fully served on the faculty at Fordham University at Lincoln Center, Pace University, and Columbia University School of The Arts, where they taught theatre history and adaptation.
Jenness was also an associate artistic director at the New York Theatre Workshop, and an associate director at the Los Angeles Theater Center in charge of new projects. Developmentally, they worked with the Young Playwrights Festival, the Mark Taper Forum, the Playwrights Center/Playlabs, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Double Image/New York Stage and Film, CSC, Victory Gardens, Hartford Stage, and Center Stage as a dramaturg, workshop director, and artistic consultant.
Jenness served on peer panels for various funding institutions throughout their career as well, including NYSCA and the NEA, with whom they served as a site evaluator for almost a decade. In 1998, Jenness joined Helen Merrill Ltd., an agency representing writers, directors, composers, and designers, as creative director; and subsequently held a position in the Literary Department at Abrams Artists Agency. Jenness held the position of creative director at This Distracted Globe Consultancy until their death, and served as a member of the board of the Network of Ensemble Theaters.
Jenness was also a highly awarded industry member, receiving an Obie Award Special Citation for Longtime Support of Playwrights, the Doris Duke Impact Awardm and the G. E. Lessing Award for Career Achievement from the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas. The Lessing Award is LMDA's most prestigious award, given for lifetime achievement in the field of dramaturgy. Jenness was only the sixth recipient of the award in LMDA's 30-year history.
Information on a public memorial is forthcoming. Jenness's legacy lives on in the work of their countless students, who have gone forth extolling the dramatic tenets Jenness lived by.
Published by Playbill.com on November 14, 2024