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179 Appendix A The Casebook The casebook, also called a protocol, is the last stage of the process of working on an individual production, project, or theatrical experiment. It is a document that contains everything that happened in the process and a lot of information on things that didn’t happen. It is a map of the garden of forking paths that made during a dramaturg’s time with the production. It is the record of the event and includes a summation of the projects’ goals, hopes and dreams, successes and failures, and overall worth. The dramaturg is a bridge: between the script and the production, between the author’s time and now, between the administration and the artistic team, between the playwright and the director, between the production and the audience, and between the scholar and the artist. The casebook enables the dramaturg to be the most important bridge of all (from our humble perspective ): between one dramaturg and another. Performance is ephemeral. It exists in a fixed time and at a fixed place, and when a performance is complete, poof, it’s gone. It leaves only fragmented traces, from which future researchers attempt to piece together a whole. Dramaturgs look to past productions all the time, seeking guidance in how previous companies navigated the terrain and what perils and triumphs they encountered. Craft your casebook to be exactly the document you would like to have if you were working on a future production of this play. In it, record as much as possible about your concept, process, research, what was used (and what wasn’t used), and the events that shaped your production. Be sure to include information about the role you played as dramaturg. Your objectivity and critical eye are essential components of this document. Please, please, please do not include commentary along the lines of “if I had been directing this show” or “if only the playwright had done what I said.” Those aren’t the shows you are working on. This venting is unprofessional and APPENDIX A 180 demonstrates that something was guiding your work as a dramaturg other than dramaturgy: your ego. Working in this way only contributes to the idea that dramaturgy is a “second prize” instead of a discrete art form with its own principles and goals. When you are directing, direct, when you are writing, write, and when you are the dramaturg, be the dramaturg. The casebook should include the following items: • A cover sheet with the basic production information (what, who, where, when) • A table of contents • Letter to the artistic director • Letter to the director • Production history with critical commentary • Historical and contemporary research • Visual research • Production stills, designer renderings, other visual records of the show, if permitted • Program notes (or a copy of the program itself) • Notes on the lobby display, including photos, if possible • Notes on any outreach, preshows, or specific audience development • Notes on postshow talkbacks • The dramaturg’s production journal, a day-to-day account of the whole process, which includes his or her summary of the production and the performances • Any reviews, criticism, or media feedback • The entire script, showing cuts, revisions, retranslations, translations, adaptations, new material, and the like Your theater should maintain an archive of past productions, and this is where you can establish (or contribute to) a casebook library. If you do have a library of casebooks, it is a professional courtesy to allow other dramaturgs and scholars to consult it (although no one is allowed to steal the ideas they contain —directors and companies have been sued for re-creating design and even blocking, so be warned). More and more dramaturgs are putting their casebooks online to give other researchers easy access, but if you do this, make sure you are not violating any copyrights (not only for material you uncovered doing research but for material owned by the designers and the theater company). Get permissions in writing if you need to, and include them in the casebook. ...

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