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A Gambler’s Instinct: The Story of Broadway Producer Cheryl Crawford Milly S. Barranger Unfriendly Witnesses: Gender, Theater, and Film in the McCarthy Era Milly S. Barranger The Theatre of Sabina Berman: The Agony of Ecstasy and Other Plays Translated by Adam Versényi With an Essay by Jacqueline E. Bixler Messiah of the New Technique: John Howard Lawson, Communism, and American Theatre, 1923–1937 Jonathan L. Chambers Composing Ourselves: The Little Theatre Movement and the American Audience Dorothy Chansky The Hanlon Brothers: From Daredevil Acrobatics to Spectacle Pantomime, 1833–1931 Mark Cosdon Women in Turmoil: Six Plays by Mercedes de Acosta Edited and with an Introduction by Robert A. Schanke Rediscovering Mordecai Gorelik: Scene Design and the American Theatre Anne Fletcher A Spectacle of Suffering: Clara Morris on the American Stage Barbara Wallace Grossman American Political Plays after 9/11 Edited by Allan Havis Performing Loss: Rebuilding Community through Theater and Writing Jodi Kanter Unfinished Show Business: Broadway Musicals as Works-in-Process Bruce Kirle Staging America: Cornerstone and Community-Based Theater Sonja Kuftinec Words at Play: Creative Writing and Dramaturgy Felicia Hardison Londré Entertaining the Nation: American Drama in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Tice L. Miller Stage, Page, Scandals, and Vandals: William E. Burton and NineteenthCentury American Theatre David L. Rinear Contemporary Latina/o Theater: Wrighting Ethnicity Jon D. Rossini Angels in the American Theater: Patrons, Patronage, and Philanthropy Edited and with an Introduction by Robert A. Schanke “That Furious Lesbian”: The Story of Mercedes de Acosta Robert A. Schanke Caffe Cino: The Birthplace of Off-Off-Broadway Wendell C. Stone Teaching Performance Studies Edited by Nathan Stucky and Cynthia Wimmer With a Foreword by Richard Schechner Broadway’s Bravest Woman: Selected Writings of Sophie Treadwell Edited and with Introductions by Jerry Dickey and Miriam López-Rodríguez The Humana Festival: The History of New Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville Jeffrey Ullom Our Land Is Made of Courage and Glory: Nationalist Performance of Nicaragua and Guatemala E. J. Westlake Other Books in the Theater in the Americas Series “This book documents the rigor, intellectual research, and collaborative skills required of a practicing dramaturg today. Students and professionals alike will find illumination of lasting value in Ghost Light.” —Elizabeth Bradley, New York University “Ghost Light offers students of dramaturgy a welcome introductory foothold. . . . Michael Chemers combines an academically rigorous overview of the field’s historical discourses with an entirely practical guide to everyday dramaturgical work.” —Ken Cerniglia, Dramaturg and Literary Manager, Disney Theatrical Productions In Ghost Light Michael Mark Chemers offers useful and entertaining answers to the confounding questions: “What, exactly, is dramaturgy, and what does a dramaturg do?” According to Chemers, dramaturgs are the scientists of the theater world. Their primary responsibility is to query the creative possibilities in every step of the production process, from play selection to costume design, and then research the various options and find ways to transform that knowledge into useful ideas. To say that dramaturgs are well-rounded is an understatement. Those who choose this profession must possess an acute aesthetic sensibility in combination with an extensive knowledge of theater history and practice, world history, and critical theory, and they must be able to collaborate with every member of the creative team and theater administration. Perfectly suited for the classroom, each chapter of Ghost Light concludes with a series of practical exercises that can be used as course assignments. However, dramaturgy is a skill that is essential to all theater practitioners, making this book a valuable addition to all theater libraries. Michael Mark Chemers founded and directs the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Production Dramaturgy Program at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama. He is the author of Staging Stigma: A Critical Examination of the American Freak Show. Southern Illinois University Press 1915 University Press Drive Mail Code 6806 Carbondale, IL 62901 www.siupress.com Printed in the United States of America Cover image courtesy of Anne Mundell isbn 0-8093-2952-2 isbn 978-0-8093-2952-6 THEATER Chemers cvr mech.indd 1 2/11/10 1:09 PM ...

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