Ghost Light: An Introductory Handbook for Dramaturgy

Appendix B: The Dramaturg’s Library

181 Appendix B The Dramaturg’s Library Books are the main tools of the dramaturg’s trade, and dramaturgs must develop a solid library of resources on the practice of dramaturgy, research in theatre history and interpretive theory. As a dramaturg becomes specialized in particular styles and practices, his or her library will reflect that. For starters, I have included this (necessarily incomplete) list of strong resources in various categories. No doubt you will discover (or have already discovered) other books you will consider indispensable, but these lists can be useful to jump-start research in particular areas. On Dramaturgy (Including Script Analysis, Adaptation, and Translation) Ball, David. Backwards and Forwards: A Technical Manual for Reading Plays. Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, 1983. Bly, Mark. The Production Notebooks: Theatre in Process. Vols. 1 and 2. 1995. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2001. Gounaridou, Kiki, ed. “Theatre Translation.” Special issue, Metamorphoses 9, no. 1 (Spring 2001). Hartley, Andrew James. The Shakespearean Dramaturg: A Theoretical and Practical Guide. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2005. Heyman, Ronald. How to Read a Play. New York: Grove 1977. Johnston, David, ed. Stages of Translation: Translators on Translating for the Stage. London: Oberon, 1996. Jonas, Susan, Geoffrey S. Poehl, and Michael Lupu, eds. Dramaturgy in American Theatre: A Source Book. New York: Wadsworth, 1996. Londré, Felicia Hardison. Words at Play: Creative Writing and Dramaturgy. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2005. Luckhurst, Mary. Dramaturgy: A Revolution in Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Proehl, Geoff. Toward a Dramaturgical Sensibility: Landscape and Journey. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2008. Rush, David. A Student Guide to Play Analysis. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2005. Turner, Cathy, and Synne K. Behrndt. Dramaturgy and Performance. London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008. Weschler, Robert. Performing without a Stage: The Art of Literary Translation. North Haven, CT: Catbird, 1998. Zatlin, Phyllis. Theatrical Translation and Film Adaptation: A Practitioner’s View. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2005. Some Important Dramaturgies Artaud, Antonin. The Theater and Its Double. New York: Grove, 1994. This definitive text on experimental theater written in 1938 by the visionary artist elevates theater to a site of metaphysical and social therapy and shatters conventional boundaries about what as possible on stage. Boal, Augusto. Theatre of the Oppressed. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1993. This is the radical Brazilian activist’s manifesto that challenges deeply held assumptions about the role of theater as art, as education, and as a political tool. Brecht, Bertolt. Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic. Trans. John Willett . New York: Hill and Wang, 1992. A collection of critical essays that mark the development of Brecht’s thinking about theater, this text is extremely helpful in clarifying Brecht’s dramaturgy and marking its influence. Brook, Peter. The Empty Space: A Book about the Theatre. New York: Touchstone, 1996. The prominent director’s radical review of the state of the profession in the 1960s has been profoundly influential on the development of avant-garde and traditional directing alike ever since. Flanagan, Hallie. Arena. New York: Blom, 1940. Flanagan’s memoir details the inception, philosophies, development, and destruction of the Federal Theatre Project. Grotowski, Jerzy. Towards a Poor Theatre. New York: Theatre Arts, 2002. A sort of megacasebook on experimental theatre in Poland by one of the great theater minds of the last century. Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim. The Hamburg Dramaturgy. Trans. Helen Zimmern. 1890. New York: Dover, 1962. Lessing’s landmark output as dramaturg for the Hamburg Nationaltheatre in the eighteenth century establishes the foundation of Hegelian dramaturgy. Stanislavski, Konstantin. An Actor Prepares. New York: Theatre Arts, 1989. This primary sourcebook for Stanislavski’s method of actor training is now a standard text for actors all over the world. ———. My Life in Art. New York: Theatre Arts, 1996. This is the memoirs of the legendary director who lead the Moscow Art Theatre to international prominence in the early twentieth century. Theater History Applause. Theatre World. New York: Applause, 1944–present. These editions are a pictorial record of Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway. APPENDIX B 182 Aronson, Arnold. American Avant-Garde Theatre. London: Routledge, 2000. Baker, Henry Barton. History of the London Stage and Its Famous Players 1576–1903. Whitefish, MT: Kessenger, 2006. Banham, Martin. The Cambridge Guide to Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1995. ———, ed. A History of Theatre in Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Beadle, Richard, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press...