Working with playwrights to develop and refine their new play for the stage is a process filled with everything we crave in a quality adventure: unexpected discovery, new vistas and perspectives, new friends and collaborators, courageous dives into unknown waters, and the elation of losing your way and finding a new path. This adventure is the essence of new play dramaturgy, and this unique class invites students on the journey as a new play makes its journey from the page to the stage. 

During the class, students will work with professional and graduate playwrights, actors, and directors during the ArkType New Work Festival and the Arkansas New Play Festival presented in a partnership with TheatreSquared. During this two-week intensive, students will observe festival shows and discover how everyone in the process—directors, actors, dramaturgs, designers, and audience—play a critical role in shaping the narrative. Along the way, students will pick up tools and tips of the savvy new play dramaturg and learn how to: lead with imagination and curiosity, unpack a play’s structure, style, and themes, be resourceful and flexible, converse with a multitude of collaborators across disciplines, ask questions and ask for directions.