One thing that this week has really emphasized for me is the width and breadth of a dramaturg's responsibilities. I never really thought about how involved a dramaturg could get on marketing the show before it opens, controlling pre-show and post-show discussions, and more. Even though my time at UWL has taught me a ton about dramaturgy, the class has made it obvious that there is still much to learn. I think that these components are very different from the things that I have done as a dramaturg and I would really like to learn more about how to facilitate my part in those different aspects. The discussions, for example, have so much potential to not only affect the audience further, but to also provide valuable feedback on a production. I can see how conversing with an audience member could bring so much more to the plate as far as making your message clear.
I also got super excited about the possibilities of informing an audience a bit about the show before they see it through more direct avenues. The website for SCR was awesome to prove how that is possible. Here at UWL, dramaturgs and publicity staff rarely, if ever, work together. Even though that doesn't mean that press releases would be inaccurate, I do wonder how they might be different if they were informed by all of the research done by the dramaturg. The prevalence of social media is another piece that I think is missing from a lot of arts places. In business, social media recruiting is the number two form of recruitment. You can make pages and groups on facebook, use geofilters and lenses on snapchat, and tag locations or ideas on instagram and twitter. These are all platforms that people look at on a daily basis. Though I am sure that some people might check the website of a theatre fairly regularly, there is nothing like the powerhouse of social media in the palm of one's hand.
Thinking about all of these possibilities that I have never explored in dramaturgy is quite exciting and a little overwhelming. I would love to stretch my bounds of dramaturgy far beyond an actor packet and a lobby display. Hopefully I will have the opportunity in the near future to delve deeper into these places that fill my head so vividly now.
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