The Art of Dramaturgy (Anne Cattaneo)

The book I’m currently reading demands, I think, to be considered holistically and so I am putting off writing about it partially. Instead I’ll reflect on a professional development book from last year, The Art of Dramaturgy by Anne Cattaneo.

I picked it up by chance, seeing it new arrivals at the library, but I’m glad I did because it is an illuminating book about my art form that I hope to return to in the future.

To hear her tell it Anne is one of the first professional dramaturgs in the business, having to fight early in her career to be seen as having a legitimate place in the rehearsal process. This book is part-autobiographical, but largely serves to illustrate the many facets of the dramaturgs work: in understanding old work, inspiring new work, and resurrecting lost work.

To potentially minimize the profession by working off my year-old memory the dramaturg, as Anne sees it, is there to fight for the script sometimes in defiance (though respect) against the author. Before this book dramaturgs was presented to me as a kind of research partner, their job was to look into the past and find resources for designers and provide context to actors. A worthy job, certainly, but one I would mostly seek out for period pieces.

Cattaneo argues something much broader: the dramaturg is there to question and to discover. To assume that everything in there is for a purpose and to ask what that purpose is, to at all times wonder “why” and in doing that to discuss with the director, with the actors, and with the designers how to bring every aspect to life.

Reading her book made me realize how much I take scripts for granted and how shallowly I’ve been reading my entire life. Her fervent belief that playwrights are artists and that their choices matter, and that discovery of those choices is vital work at every level reminded me how much opportunity I’ve let go to waste in trying to solve practical problems first.