organisation profile 2021
INTRODUCING THE DRAMATURGS’ NETWORK “The organisation has extensive experience in delivering professional development activity”. – Arts Council England
Established in 2001, the Dramaturgs’ Network is a volunteer-led organisation exploring and expanding the theory and practice of dramaturgy in the UK and advocating for dramaturgs in the broader sector. As such, this is the only organisation in the UK fulfilling this role. The d’n aims to bring dramaturgs together, from different parts of the UK and the world, to share experiences and working methods, provide continuous professional development and tackle the pressing issues of the day and their interrogation through live arts. In short, the d’n is a home for dramaturgs in the UK, both established and aspiring, and their collaborators. The d’n facilitates spaces for artists to meet, explore and collaborate, and through its website it provides resources for the development of dramaturgical theory and practice. The d’n has been doing this critical work for two decades without any substantive funding. The d’n has been innovative in its leadership model too. Since 2018, the d’n has been operating by collaborative leadership: it is run not by a president but a collective (an elected Board) who share roles and steer the organisation. Current Board members are Bernadette Cochrane, Catriona Craig, Tommo Fowler, David Harris, Miranda Laurence, Hanna Slättne, Sarah Sigal and Katalin Trencsényi.
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MAJOR d’n EVENTS IN 2021 In 2021 the Dramaturgs’ Network: • Created and ran the International Dramaturgy Lab – a year-long project to foster collaboration and communication among dramaturgs worldwide in the time of a global pandemic. • Launched d’n Dramaturgs’ Contract Package – the first in the UK, including job descriptions and recommended fee calculations to help dramaturgs and managers when making an agreement • Continued its anti-racist advocacy work (see below) • Organised d’n20: Celebrating Dramaturgy and inspirational practices, a day-long professional online symposium • Conferred the Kenneth Tynan Award – the only award in the UK acknowledging excellence in dramaturgy
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2021 PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS The International Dramaturgy Lab (IDL) Initiated by the d’n, the International Dramaturgy Lab was a project created to foster collaboration and communication among dramaturgs worldwide in the time of a global pandemic. It was a unique, year-long collaboration between seven international dramaturgy partner organisations: The Dramaturgs’ Network (UK), the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (USA, Canada, and Mexico); The Fence International Network; STOD (Finland); and the Association of Danish Dramaturgs (Denmark). The International Dramaturgy Lab was a dramaturgy-driven initiative designed to facilitate openended artistic collaboration around the question: “What does it mean to work dramaturgically across borders?” With no pressure to achieve pre-determined outcomes, the project allowed the participants to show what they value, need and desire. In the projects 93 dramaturgs participated, forming 14 groups, and working online across different continents and time zones: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Oceania. The IDL became a place for dramaturgy-driven artists to explore, think, dream, and learn from their international peers.
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The participants’ projects included: • Investigating the consequences of the primacy of the English language and exploring cultures as an international means of communicating ideas in theatre and performance. Working in mixed language groups. • Cross-cultural exploration of specific areas of interest: queer culture, feminist theatre, the climate crisis, #BLM, disability, sciences and culture, digital theatre. • Comparing tools, work situations, work processes, industry and policy environments and ways of thinking about dramaturgy across countries, languages, and continents. • Exploring a range of online tools that are useful to dramaturgical discussions and projects. We noted that as practitioners, we rarely have space to explore these tools without external pressures, goals and specific projects. Events: • Participation in the LMDA conference (June 2021) Different sessions at the LMDA Mexico 2021 Conference, sharing the techniques, discussions, and output of the International Dramaturgy Lab. • Industry Networking (November 2021) A networking event for the participants and industry professionals to share the benefits of this global collaboration; explore further avenues for specific projects and the IDL more generally, as well as connecting dramaturgs to theatres and vice versa. Outputs: • Resources and tools to collaborate, connect and imagine over time zones, cultures, borders, and languages. • Professional development: individual participants benefit from connecting with peers over time to investigate issues that concern them.
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d’n Dramaturgs’ Contract Package Freelance dramaturgs contribute enormously to the theatre ecology, lending their skills and expertise from new drama development, through staging classics, to devised theatre or dance. Through their advocacy and creative work, they help key decision-makers in the creative process. Whilst the impact of dramaturgs’ work on the theatre and dance sector can be enormous, there is very little industry support available for freelance dramaturgs to help negotiate their work contracts. For managers working with dramaturgs, it is not easy to create a contract that encompasses the complexity of a dramaturg’s work. Following six years of preparations, the d’n Dramaturgs’ Contract Package was launched in June 2021 to help dramaturgs and managers. It comprises recommendations for engaging freelance dramaturgs. The d’n Dramaturgs’ Contract Package is a set of recommended practice documents flexible enough to be tailored to the needs of each organisation or company. It allows managers to have a clear idea of the dramaturg’s tasks and responsibilities before an engagement is made, ensuring that dramaturgs are offered a fair deal. The d’n Dramaturgs’ Contract Package includes: • A Manual – on how to use the Contract with the Appendices, and how to calculate the dramaturg’s fees according to the level of the job • Guidelines for Engagement – a comprehensive document explaining every clause of the Contract and what to consider • A recommended Contract for use (flexible to be tailored to every situation) under licence • 3 Appendices with detailed task descriptions for New Drama Development, Production Dramaturgy and Devising and Dance – to be used together with the Contract • a 90-minute online workshop to give hands-on training on how to use the package
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Responses and outcomes from the d’n Dramaturgs’ Contract Package: “An excellent collection of useful documents that provide dramaturgs with all the resources they need to negotiate fair remuneration, terms, and conditions within the UK theatre industry [...] an essential and invaluable resource.” – The Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas “As a literary agent who sometimes puts on the hat of a dramaturg, it was revelatory to read through the Dramaturgs’ Network’s Dramaturgs’ Contract Package. (…) Their Task Lists section of the contract is ground-breaking, and I very much hope all freelance artists will embrace the idea and bring an end to ‘job creep’. Our community is strengthened by their advocacy.” – Beth Blickers, APA Agency, New York An edited version of the panel conversation that launched the contract was published in the Theatre Times.
Anti-racist Advocacy Work As an organisation, the d’n is committed to supporting dramaturgs to be rigorous in their anti-racist artistic practice. Therefore, following the #BLM movement, in the summer of 2020, the d’n set up an Anti-racist Strategy Working Group. Activities of the Working Group included: • continuing to collate and share resources on the topic on the d’n website • Responding as an organisation to the open letter “We Need to Talk about Dramaturgy”. Signed by over a hundred playwrights from the Global Majority, addressed to dramaturgs, literary managers, artistic directors, and all those who collaborate with playwrights to shape their work, the letter outlines both the existence of explicit racism in dramaturgical relationships, as well as the more nuanced, covert ways in which imbalances of power are created and maintained. The letter is a provocation, request, and invitation to think critically about the Eurocentric tradition of much of our work and about the assumptions, power structures and priorities that exist unchallenged within that tradition. As of today, the d’n is the only organisation who responded to this letter officially. The original letter can be read here, along with a response from the d’n Board: here. • Hosted an event for d’n members, discussing the content of the letter, “We Need to Talk about Dramaturgy”. • Hosted a live-streamed roundtable Anti-racist Strategies in Dramaturgy (available on HowlRound) on anti-racist dramaturgical practices (chaired by Dr Lynette Goddard, with panellists Sudha Bhuchar, Samantha Ellis and Kane Husbands offering a robust discussion of some of the most pressing issues in theatre’s move towards a decolonised model. In considering their own experiences of best (and worst) practices in institutional and freelance settings, this panel of theatre-makers and dramaturgs addressed voice, appropriation, and ‘risk’. It expanded on their vision of what they would like to happen next in the industry. The discussion also explored developments in dramaturgy that can support a more authentic inclusive creative practice, to help the sector move consciously and confidently beyond the narratives, forms, and epistemologies of the Eurocentric canon. The archived recording of the live-streamed conversation, Anti-racist Strategies in Dramaturgy, can be watched here. 10
d’n20: Celebrating Dramaturgy 2021 marked the 20th anniversary of the Dramaturgs’ Network. We celebrated it by organising a day-long international online symposium, promoting innovative practices. In a series of five roundtables, the Dramaturgs’ Network (d’n) brought dramaturgs together to exchange ideas, discuss inspirational practices from many corners of the world, and focus on contemporary dramaturgy that responds to the most recent challenges and innovations in the field and brings attention to best practices with an aim to make a long-lasting impact on theatre. Celebrating Dramaturgy was an international collaboration, featuring two of those dramaturg organisations that have been our allies in the past two decades: the Asian Dramaturgs’ Network and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas. The day’s programme included a roundtable curated by the ADN: Expansions, Intersections and Hybridities in Dramaturgy (chaired by Lim How Ngean) and a special edition of Dramaturging the Phoenix, curated by the LMDA (chaired by Lynde Rosario). We hosted a Shared Table (an online social session with Hot Topics presentations from eminent British dramaturgs) and several informal networking sessions during the day. We also held a roundtable on anti-racist practices (chaired by Lynette Goddard), live-streamed on HowlRound. At the end of the day, we announced the recipient of the fifth Kenneth Tynan Award for excellence in dramaturgy. Partners: Asian Dramaturgs’ Network, HowlRound, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas Panel sponsor: The Society for Theatre Research Supporters: David Hare, Tamás Gádor
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The Kenneth Tynan Award for Excellence in Dramaturgy “Rouse tempers, goad, lacerate and raise whirlwinds.” – Kenneth Tynan “All I can say is that this award could not be named after a better person, since he not only defined the job for future generations but expanded the frontiers of British theatre.” –Michael Billington “It’s so lovely that you continue to give this award honouring my father. I know, I speak for my entire family, when I say how much we appreciate it.” – Tracy Tynan
To recognise excellence in the field of dramaturgy, the Dramaturgs’ Network presented the Kenneth Tynan Award (KTA) 2021. Established in 2011, this biennial award honours theatre professionals working and residing in the United Kingdom, who have made an outstanding contribution to dramaturgy in the UK in the past two years (2019 – 2021), regardless of their job title. The award is named after Kenneth Tynan (1927 – 1980), the first dramaturg in the United Kingdom. A brilliant and feared critic and a great supporter of the cause of a subsidised repertory theatre, Tynan gave up his job at The Observer to join Laurence Olivier at the newly established National Theatre. He worked as a literary manager between 1963 and 1974, paving the way to the success of the first-ever publicly funded theatre in Britain. Previous KTA award winners are Suzanne Bell (Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester), Hanna Slättne (Tinderbox Theatre, Belfast), Ruth Little (Akram Khan Company, London), Lloyd Trott (RADA, London). In 2021, the award panel received 22 nominations from all corners of the United Kingdom highlighting the wide range of excellent work of dramaturgs and their contribution to the performance industry. Nominations ranged from freelance dramaturgs to those in full-time positions in theatre institutions, working across new writing, devising and dance. They included practitioners nurturing new talents, developing and running programs for those with little access to theatre, as well as dramaturgs working closely with established writers, choreographers and directors in shaping professional productions.
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At a ceremony rounding off the Dramaturgs’ Network 20th anniversary celebrations, Gail Babb was announced as this year’s recipient of the Kenneth Tynan Award for excellence in dramaturgy for championing of Black artists and voices and being an important contributor to a contemporary Black British dramaturgy, and for her “ability to work outside accepted structures”. The shortlist also consisted of dramaturgs Lou Cope and Neil Grutchfield. Lou Cope was shortlisted for her advocacy work in the field of dance dramaturgy and her many initiatives supporting the professional development of choreographers and dramaturgs. Neil Grutchfield was shortlisted for his tireless work at Synergy nurturing writers and new plays, putting unheard stories about the criminal justice system on theatrical main stages. The panel also commended the work of dramaturgs Rita McDade, Royal Conservatoire Scotland, for her innovative and ground-breaking dramaturgical work in fore fronting British Sign Language and artists working in BSL; and Francesca Peschier for her work in the New Works department at Liverpool Playhouse for her artistic leadership and passion in platforming and celebrating voices that are often left unheard. This year’s KTA panel members were Oladipo Agboluaje (playwright and dramaturg), Hannah Khalil (playwright), Stewart Pringle (dramaturg National Theatre), Sarah Sigal (playwright and dramaturg), Hanna Slättne (dramaturg), and Katalin Trencsényi (dramaturg). Gail Babb said: “I’m delighted to have won the Kenneth Tynan Award and proud to have been shortlisted alongside Lou Cope & Neil Grutchfield. As dramaturgs, we spend a lot of time quietly working in the background so to have a space to celebrate each other and talk about our work is just brilliant. Thank you to the Dramaturgs’ Network, the judges and to those who nominated me.” The award ceremony was live streamed on HowlRound on 20th November: https://howlround.com/happenings/livestreaming-kenneth-tynan-award-2021 Kenneth Tynan Award sponsors: National Theatre, Nick Hern Books S upporters: Methuen Drama, Tom Stoppard
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MAJOR d’n EVENTS 2001 to 2021 Internal Collaborations • Dramaturgy and Devising workshops at the Battersea Arts Centre (2002). • Masterclasses with the Young Vic Directors’ Program (2003, 2010, 2011, 2013). • Seminars with the Directors’ Guild (2003) and the Writers’ Guild (2004). • Who Does What? - a conference on developing new work, organised in conjunction with the Literary Managers’ Forum and the LMDA (2005). • Pro-sessional - a conference at Soho Theatre (2007). • DN10: Celebrating Dramaturgy The Dramaturgs’ Network’s 10th-anniversary festival held at Southwark Playhouse (2011). • Dance dramaturgy masterclass with Hildegard de Vuyst (dramaturg, les ballets C de la B) (2012). • Kenneth Tynan Award (2011, 2012, 2016, 2019, 2021). • d’n15 The Dramaturgs’ Network’s 15th-anniversary festival held at the Arcola Theatre (2016). • Regular CPD events: d’n cafés (2010-2013), d’n labs (2012), and Stammtisches (2017-2018). • Online lockdown Stammtisches (2020) and social events for members (2021) • Invisible Diaries (2020) • International Dramaturgy Lab (2021) External Collaborations: • National Student Drama Festival (2004, 2005). • Dramaturgy: The What the Why the Where the How – a symposium with the ACE in Birmingham (2005). • Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas’ annual conference, Minneapolis, USA (2006). • Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2009, 2011, 2012). • Invisible Presences: Translation, Dramaturgy and Performance – an international conference at the Queen’s University, Belfast (2011).
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• Theatre and Performance Research Association (TaPRA)’s annual conference at Kingston University, London. (2011). • HighTide Festival Symposium, Halesworth (2012). • Participating in the In Battalions Study (2013), a snapshot of new play development in England. • Supported the publication of New Dramaturgy: International Perspectives on Theory and Practice (ed. by: Katalin Trencsényi and Bernadette Cochrane, Bloomsbury, 2014). In the twenty years since we started, the industry has changed and the d’n has changed with it. We continue to challenge our own practices, to learn, to explore together as a network. To make space for new ideas, people, practices, understandings, and the ever-evolving needs of our artforms and our society. What hasn’t changed, though, is that it is still a small board of passionate, dedicated dramaturgs who make all this happen, still on a voluntary basis.
Dramaturgs’ Network info@dramaturgy.co.uk www.dramaturgy.co.uk twitter: @dramaturgs_net facebook.com/dramaturgsnetwork
Photo credits: p1: An excerpt from Virtual Crossings by Victoria Chiu and Carol Brown. Photography: Victoria Chiu. p3: The authors of the Invisible Diaries blog series Duška Radosavljević, Katalin Trencsényi (photography Cynthia SoRelle), Kara McKechnie, David Geary (photography: Tae Hoon Kim), Miranda Laurence, Martine Kei Green-Rogers (photography: Joe Mazza), Bernadette Cochrane (photography: Chris Osbourne), M.J. Chung (photography: CHOI Young-seok), LIM How Ngean, Yasmin Zacaria Mikhaiel, Sarah Sigal, Guy Cools (photography: Pawel Wyszomirski). If otherwise not stated, images are courtesy of the authors. p5: Screenshot from live-streaming the Kenneth Tynan Award 2021. From l-r: Hanna Slättne, Carol-Anne McGlennon, Gail Babb, Neil Grutchfield, and Lou Cope. p9: Photo credit: howtostartablogonline.net p13: Virtual Crossings by Victoria Chiu and Carol Brown. Photography: Victoria Chiu. p15: Photography: Hanna Slättne. p17: KTA award panel member Hanna Khalil presenting the Kenneth Tynan Award to Gail Babb. p19: From the Kenneth Tynan Award 2019 ceremony events at Soho Theatre: Dramaturgy and Activism, a panel discussion: From l-r: Nesreen Hussein, Sue Mayo, Jonathan Meth, and Anthony Simpson-Pike. Photography: Penny Black.
The text of this brochure was written by Catriona Craig, Tommo Fowler, David Harris, Miranda Laurence, Hanna Slättne, Sarah Sigal and Katalin Trencsényi, compiled and edited by Katalin Trencsényi and Bernadette Cochrane. Graphic design: Tamás Gádor. Dramaturgs’ Network © 2021