PMA Ph.D. Alums Caitlin A. Kane and Erin Stoneking are the co-editors of a newly published anthology called Dramaturgy and History: Staging the Archive. The anthology was published in October, 2024 and is available to purchase from Routledge Press.
“Dramaturgy and History provides a practical account of an aspect of dramaturgical practice that is often taken for granted: dramaturgs’ engagements with history and historiography… An essential resource for teachers and students of dramaturgy, the collection offers a concluding hands-on exercise for each chapter to facilitate the reader’s application of the methods discussed in their own practice.”
Kane, an Assistant Professor of Theatre History and Dramatic Criticism at Kent State University, spoke about their collaboration with Stoneking and the genesis of the project:
“The project actually began at Cornell when we were both graduate students. Erin and I co-organized a three-day symposium entitled Escape from the Archive, which brought together nearly two dozen artists and scholars, including keynote speaker Soyica Diggs Colbert and keynote artists Leigh Fondakowski and Kelli Simpkins, to address many of the questions about the relationships between history and theatre/performance that we ultimately addressed in the anthology. That symposium and much of the work that we have done since was supported by countless individuals and groups on campus, most notably Sara Warner and J. Ellen Gainor who have been two of our most consistent interlocutors and fiercest advocates throughout the development of this anthology.
“In the years since the symposium, Erin and I organized a series of national conference panels, roundtables, and workshops on the subject and, through that work, began to notice a surprising gap in dramaturgy manuals and scholarship: dramaturgs often say that a broad knowledge of theatre history and historiography is foundational to our work but we rarely explicitly address how that knowledge and historical research gets taken up. This anthology brings together 18 dramaturgs who offer a breadth of insights into how dramaturgs put history and historical research to use.”
Stoneking, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Gender and Race at The University of Alabama, spoke about what she hopes readers will take away:
“One of the things that Caitlin and I find so compelling about dramaturgy as a practice is that it allows us to enact our shared firm commitments to artistic collaboration, teaching, and scholarship. (We were fortunate to complete our graduate studies in a department that really encouraged us to explore and hone each of those aspects of our work.) We tried to honor those commitments by creating a text that would take seriously the historiographical work of the dramaturg as well as facilitate readers' practical application of the discussed strategies, whether in the classroom, the rehearsal room, the development workshop, or in the broader community.”
Read more about Caitlin A. Kane’s work.
Read more about Erin Stoneking’s work.
