DRAMATURG
Specializing in Adaptation Dramaturgy
What is Dramaturgy?
In 2011, I was a guest speaker for Dr. Chris Woodworth’s advanced dramaturgy seminar at UNC-Greensboro, and a student asked me the question, “What is Dramaturgy?” Here’s how I answered, a decade ago. Today? I would add that a dramaturg is a spectator consultant and a curator.
I am also a director!
For materials related to my directing projects, take a peep at this gallery.
Dramaturgy Toolkits
— Click the link above for a toolkit website that Shelley Graham, KJ Martinson, Dan Smith, and I created in 2021.
The Devil You (Don’t) Know
What would it take to purchase your soul? Faustian stories of human beings who sell their souls to the devil in exchange for power (in the form of love, influence, money, etc.) were “clickbait” long before social media ruled the landscape. Without the social clout of Doctor Faustus, however, Renaissance women who trafficked their souls to the devil were rarely tragic heroes—instead, especially after King James took the English throne in 1603, they were called witches. And, as the monarch’s version of the Bible put it, “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (Exodus 22:18, KJV).
Jane Barnette’s dramaturgy or directing has been part of productions at the following theatres:
Fun Home the Musical by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori, directed by Lisa M. Rothe;
Scholars’ Forum speaker for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams, directed by Lisa M. Rothe
KC Rep (Kansas City, MO)
Red Badge of Courage co-created by Michael Haverty and Jane Barnette
7 Stages (Atlanta, GA)
Billy Elliot the Musical by Lee Hall and Elton John, directed by Elizabeth Sullivan; Midnight Visit to the Grave of Poe: A Grotesque Arabesque, written and directed by Ric Averill
Lawrence Arts Center (Lawrence, KS)
Penelope by Phanesia Pharel—new play workshop dramaturgy
International Thespian Society—Playworks
Red Badge of Courage adapted by Michael Haverty and Jane Barnette, directed by Jane Barnette, dramaturgy by Robert Hadaway; Elephant’s Graveyard by George Brant, directed by Chase Bringardner
Auburn University (Auburn, AL)
Kansas Repertory Theatre in Lawrence, KS (The Book Club Play by Karen Zacarías, directed by Jane Barnette, dramaturgy by David Ruís Fisher)
Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, GA (various—see CV)
University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS (various—see CV; regional premiere of Sycorax by Susan Gayle Todd, directed by Jane Barnette, dramaturgy by Kaitlin Tossie)