I got my Matthew Shepard Foundation newsletter today and here, in its entirety, is the story they offer about the defeat of two anti-LGBT bills in the Wyoming legislature. While there isn’t a lot being passed that’s actively positive for LGBT (like relationship recognition or employment protections) at least Wyoming has staved off overtly negative […]
Dramaturg blog
Fall 2011 Enrollment
I can’t believe it’s that time, but pre-registration time for next fall has arrived. I’m sure many of you are meeting with advisors and bookbagging classes/enrolling right now. I just wanted to give a plug for my (Jules’) fall course THEATRST130 (cross listed in CULTANTH and LIT): Death Scenes–After 9/11. We’re going to start at […]
Library love for Laramie
Perhaps the second dearest place (after the theater space) to a dramaturg’s heart is the library. The archive is a close third. At Duke, the library and librarian resources are beyond compare. If you don’t already know our Theater Studies subject librarian, Sara Berghausen, make sure you contact/consult with her the next time you’ve got […]
From there to here
From the photo files of the wonderful Summer Puente, I crafted a little slideshow of the development of our DukeinLaramie world. Thanks to Alex I was able to leech a very early sound file of Bart’s fantastic music as accompaniment. It’s still got the markings of that early recording but I went ahead with it […]
Protected: Notes from Jules (Acts 2&3) Monday night’s run
Thank you, Dr. King.
Today. 6:01pm, April 4, is the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in Memphis, TN. On that day in 1968, he was in the city to lead a peaceful march of striking city sanitation workers and headed from there to Washington D.C. to launch his “Poor People’s Campaign.” In 2008, on the 40th […]
Guest Blogger, Dan Ellison–TLP, Censorship and the Law Part II
And now, the part two of Dan’s post about The Laramie Project and censorship. Isn’t it amazing and wonderful that a play (or any work of art, for that matter) can create controversy and public debate. It is proof that art is powerful! Words matter. Art matters. Theater matters! The Laramie Project is a powerful […]
Protected: Act 1 Notes from Sunday’s Run
LIVE BLOG Last Laramie rehearsal before Tech.
Tonight, I’m live-blogging our last run-through before we head into technical rehearsals. This is the place where actors will pick up some of their notes but is also a way to introduce our readers to our process, our space, our productions. Enjoy! 6:55pm Worklight views of our beautiful set. Warm-ups begin. Click LaramieCastWarmup to see […]
Listening to the elders.
I fear that the Laramie cast and crew will be in technical rehearsals when this event happens, but I want to promote it anyway. All too frequently the mainstream media discussion of “gay rights” pits older Americans against younger citizens. Those under 30 are categorized as “open” and “tolerant” whereas retirees are identified as “conservative” […]
Me Too Next Year!
This post is a call for artistic staff for next year’s Me Too Monologues from our very own Afftene Taylor and Kimi Goffe. This year’s production was amazing with audiences of 750+! If you missed it, check out the Me Too YouTube channel to see what you missed. Be sure to get on board for […]
Performance and Social Activism THIS FRIDAY
For those of you interested in the intersections of performance and social action, check out this event at UNC’s Memorial Hall Friday night. Tickets can be picked up/reserved at the box office (919-843-3333). ADMISSION IS FREE and there will be free food at the Health Gala Reception after the performance. The poster below lists some […]
On your day off …
World Theatre Day 2011 is this Sunday, March 27, 2011. For some reasons why it is important to note/mark this celebration, I give you Jeffrey Wright (Tony and Emmy award winner for his role as Belize in both the Broadway production and HBO miniseries of Angels in America). He speaks in this promo as an […]
Brecht Bytes #4
Since my feedback has been centered on paying attention to the specificity of expression within your characters’ testimony — switches amongst verb tenses, the distinction of different kinds of punctuation marks, the colloquial turns of phrase that marks region and culture, and the vagaries of individual word choice — I found a Brecht poem that […]
Just for fun…
I have to share this. It has almost nothing to do with our work on this play except for providing a cautionary tale (with some adult language and humor) about writing in the blog format. A format that exacerbates those slips of the keyboard and brain that produce misspellings, clunky phrasing, discombobulated grammar, and mistaken […]
Matthew, Martyrdom, oh and Lady Gaga
Thanks to Jenny for the find. The above clip is of Lady Gaga doing her version of John Lennon’s “Imagine” at the 2009 Human Rights Campaign’s National Dinner. The singing begins about 2 minutes in and her slightly revised lyrics are below. There is appropriate criticism to be made about The Laramie Project‘s martyring of […]
Conjouring Laramie
We moved into the theater this week and spent rehearsals getting a feel for our stage space and adding the 100+ costume pieces and small props that will allow a cast of 13 to transform into and out of 60+ characters. Needless to say, much of our time has been consumed with what piece of […]
Guest Blogger Dan Ellison — TLP, censorship, & discrimination Part 1
A big DukeinLaramie welcome to Dan Ellison (Duke ’77), attorney-at-law, Instructor in Theater Studies, and faculty advisor for Hoof ‘n Horn. Dan has offered his legal expertise to discuss issues of censorship surrounding The Laramie Project. If you all are interested in finding out more about the legal terrain of creating, producing, and consuming performing […]
FREE LUNCH! And a talk about the Arts & Civic Engagement @ Duke
If working on this play has made you interested, anxious, and excited about the ways in which the performing arts can become forces for civic engagement and social justice, I suggest you mark this event on your calendar for THIS THURSDAY March 17. Notice our fantastic scene designer, Torry Bend is one of the panelists […]
It Gets Better @ NCSU
If you didn’t already know, the “It Gets Better” project was founded last fall by Dan Savage and his partner Terry Miller in response to a rash of suicides (or at least a rash of mainstream news coverage) of gay youth and youth bullied for being perceived as gay. Dan and Terry were in Washington, […]
Dots and Dashes
I’m a bit behind in my act-by-act review of language, so I apologize if this information arrives late in your memorization process. On March 2nd, when we reviewed Act Two, I started noticing how the play uses ellipses […] and dashes [—]. And like with my previous “you know …” post, I thought it might […]
Description: Dramaturg
For outside readers who might be wondering, “What’s a dramaturg and why does this person have her own blog feed for this production?”, this week’s edition of Philly.com (the digital version of The Philadelphia Inquirer) offers interviews with some Philly-area dramaturgs and directors who give their answers to such a question. The article even explores […]
Amazing Grace lyrics
I wish I could claim the cleverness to link the above image with this post, but I have to credit the idea to music historian Steve Turner and his book Amazing grace: the story of America’s most beloved song (Harper Collins 2002). Because I’m a dramaturg, I’m rarely content to settle for an easy answer […]
Job Opportunity for budding dramaturgs …
Now that I’ve made dramaturgy look all glamorous … Note that this job is for the full year next year, so pass it along to folks you know who are graduating. Deadline for applications is March 18, 2011. Woolly Mammoth is currently seeking innovative, ambitious, and dedicated candidates for the 2011-2012 season-long literary internship! This […]
A word from some experts
I’m not sure how many of you attended the amazing events that were part of the two Duke Performances theater residencies that happened over the past couple of weeks. We had the private audience (amazing!) with Maude Mitchell from Mabou Mines and some of you participated in the master classes offered by Mabou’s Lee Breur […]
