Script Analysis & Dramaturgy

Spring 2025

Through lecture and discussion, students explore the foundational elements of play scripts. The class investigates the structure of a play as well as its use of character, thought, plot, diction, song, and spectacle to analyze how a play's social and cultural elements inform potential productions.

Students will explore the fundamentals of dramaturgy and theatre research through readings, exercises, and in-class and at-home projects.  They will be exposed to dramaturgy in a variety of forms: Production Dramaturgy, New Play Dramaturgy, Literary Management, and Translation/ Adaptation Dramaturgy.  They will investigate a variety of theoretical approaches to scripts including, but not limited to: Queer Theory, Feminist Theory, Genre Theory, and Aristotelian Theory, culminating in final dramaturgical research projects to be presented to the class.