LMDA – Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas
All participants in this year’s Dramaturgy program will be considered for the LMDA/KCACTF Student Dramaturgy Award, take part in professional development workshops led by a nationally-recognized dramaturg, and serve as dramaturgs in the ten-minute play festival.
LMDA / KCACTF Student Dramaturgy Award
The LMDA/KCACTF Student Dramaturgy Award is designed to recognize student dramaturgs who show promise as participants in the diverse landscape of professional dramaturgy. Because dramaturgical work is so often intangible, the application process aims to create space for students to demonstrate how they have tuned their contributions to the needs of a college- or university-sponsored workshop, production, or dramaturgy course. The philosophical foundation of this program rests in the belief that the most effective professional dramaturgs develop an ever-evolving sensibility rather than a rigid set of practices. Such dramaturgs embrace the importance of self-reflection and learning in ways that allow them to tailor their creative work to the needs of each play, production team, and/or audience.
This initiative is the result of a unique collaboration between Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA), the professional association of dramaturgs and literary managers working in North America, and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF), a national program dedicated to improving the quality of college and university theater in the United States.
Additional support is provided by the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE).
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
All undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to participate, as long as they have
completed one of the following at a college or university during the calendar year prior
to the Regional Festival:
• Work as a credited dramaturg on a full production or new-play workshop
• A class assignment with an explicitly dramaturgical focus
HOW DO I APPLY?
Join the national conversation in LMDA/KCACTF-sponsored online workshops with professional dramaturgs.
- Fill out the application form.
- Attend your Region’s Festival, where you will display, present, and receive feedback about your work. (Check your Regional website for guidelines related to displaying and presenting your work.)
Application Form Details
On the application you will:
- Provide contact and eligibility details.
- Send a Reference Form to a faculty member or other professional
collaborator who has agreed to speak about your work on the project. - Write short reflective statements (150-250 words) addressing three of the
following questions:
1. How did you approach the work of researching and analyzing the play?
2. What moments of joy did you experience during this process?
3. How did you adjust your goals in response to project needs?
4. How did you overcome challenges that arose during the process?
5. How did you navigate the relationship between your individual work and that
of the rehearsals and/or design conferences? - Select, organize, and upload the materials that best represent your process
and/or dramaturgical sensibility. These items may include emails, pictures of your
display, screenshots of webpages, presentations, content shared with project
participants or instructor, and/or videos.)- Please Note: Although we have set a limit of 100 pages for these
uploaded documents, we encourage you to focus on the quality and not
quantity of the materials you select.
- Please Note: Although we have set a limit of 100 pages for these
- Write an introduction to the materials you have uploaded, briefly explaining why
you created them for this project (150-250 words). - Write a brief statement (150-250 words) answering one of the following
questions:- Takeaways: How has this project helped you understand how to improve your dramaturgical work? What aspects of your work will you bring into your next project?
- Uniqueness: Where are you in this work? If someone else had dramaturged this production, how would it have been different?
- Impact: How did your individual participation affect the whole? (To
address this aspect of your work, we encourage you to invite statements
from collaborators who can speak to your intangible contributions.) - Dramaturgical Vision: How does this project fit into your overall creative
work and plans for the future?
- Takeaways: How has this project helped you understand how to improve your dramaturgical work? What aspects of your work will you bring into your next project?
- Confirm your intent to attend your Regional Festival, where you will display,
present, and receive feedback about your work. - If applicable, briefly tell us about an aspect of your work that you haven’t yet explained in your previous answers.
Please complete the submission on the national Submittable website above by January 10, 2025.
Also, feel free to contact Dr. Nelson Barre if you have any questions about the submission and/or dramaturgy participation in Region IV
Feedback Process
At each Regional Festival, students will participate in conversations with professional
dramaturgs, members of LMDA who live in each region, and other qualified
Respondents about the following elements of their work:
- Creativity: What is unique or innovative about your approach to the work?
Where is your dramaturgical sensibility visible? - Collaboration: How did the perspectives of your collaborators affect the choices
you made throughout the process? - Contextualization: How did the play itself guide your research and analysis?
- Self-Awareness: How does your ability to self-reflect help position you for
continued dramaturgical work?
