Dramaturgy
And Other Scholarly Works
Villanova Theatre's Education Dramaturg 2021-2022 Season
Position as education dramaturg involved creating education guides for professors at the high school and undergraduate level to utilize to create lesson plans and discussions in their classrooms. Education dramaturg assists the production dramaturg in outreach in local colleges and high schools and prepare them to see the plays in the season. Education dramaturg would attend production rehearsals and create educational videos in classrooms to make the show more accessible to students.
Education Guide for Villanova Theatre's WHITE, by James Ijames.
Education Guide for Villanova Theatre's THE REVOLUTIONISTS, by Lauren Gunderson.
Lesson plan and guided activity for an undergraduate course for Villanova Theatre's WHITE, by James Ijames.
Educational video about the band-aid art used in WHITE at Villanova Theatre, with interviews from James Ijames and Sharri Jerue.
Dramaturgical Website File: The Country Wife
Website created in a graduate-level dramaturgy course surrounding a hypothetical production of the restoration comedy The Country Wife by William Wycherley.
Featuring annotated reviews, landmark productions, etc.
Annotated articles detailing important theory surrounding the play.
Lobby display, program note, speaker for Speaker's Night, audience activities, etc.
Featuring annotated reviews, landmark productions, etc.
Selected pages from the dramaturgy website.
Potential song for the only song with lyrics in the production, composed by Mark James in collaboration with the dramaturg.
Draft of potential program note from the dramaturg, graphic designs by Julia Whitten.
Other Notable Works
The Dramaturgy of Ophelia's Bouquet
Co-authored piece in Shakespeare Journal. Other authors include: Chelsea Phillips, Veshonte Brown, Luke Davis, Kate Fischer, Alycia Gonzalez, J. Bean Schwab, Timothy Storey & Sarah Stryker.
Abstract:
What does Ophelia carry with her on stage in Act 4, scene 5 of Hamlet? She names a variety of botanicals, but productions have often replaced these with sticks, bones, pills, toys, or nothing at all. These replacements seek to provide modern audiences with more accessible or relatable symbols but can rarely capture the complexity and ambiguity of the originals. On page and stage, Ophelia’s bouquet has become a key to interpreting her in her madness – the meaning ascribed to her plants going hand in hand with the presumed qualities she displays in the scene, from childish innocence to overt sexuality to defiant anger. This essay details a series of staging experiments conducted in a graduate Shakespeare class to investigate the dramaturgical possibilities of Ophelia’s bouquet, asking how these items shape our perception and understanding of Ophelia, her mental state, and place within the play.