Bio: Vicki Stroich is Executive Director at Alberta Theatre Projects in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Vicki recently shifted her focus to leading ATP's organizational vision after 12 years on the Artistic team where she focused on new play dramaturgy and programming for the Enbridge playRites Festival of New Canadian Plays; a national Festival that developed and premiered new plays by Canadian playwrights. She was a Program Director for the Banff Playwrights Colony at The Banff Centre for three years and was on the faculty of the program, working with Canadian playwrights from across Canada, for seven years. She also freelances locally and nationally as a dramaturg, facilitator, and director. Favourite freelance projects include dramaturgy of The Tragical Comedy of Punch and Judy by Jacob Richmond and The Notorious Right Robert and his Robber Bride by Sean Dixon both for the Caravan Farm Theatre, sitting on the jury for the 2008 Siminovitch Prize in Theatre, directing The Vajayjay Monologues by Lindsay Burns (New York International Fringe Festival and Urban Curvz Theatre, Calgary) and, of course, her work at the Enbridge playRites Festival. Her work has included dramaturgy of dramatic text, devised theatre and performance creation. She is the proud recipient of a Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding Achievement for her contributions to new work. Vicki served as VP Canada of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas for two terms and was Conference Chair of the international 2010 LMDA Conference in Banff before becoming President of LMDA in 2012. She is proud to serve the organization she joined in 2001. She was listed in Avenue Magazines Top 40 Under 40 in 2013 and recently contributed an article on Dramaturgy and Leadership to The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy (2014.)

Focus for the week: “Celebrating the life of artist Michael Green and the final stages of creating an ambitious multi-media production, The Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst produced by Alberta Theatre Projects, in association with Ghost River Theatre.” 

Questions from LMDA:

What is your definition of dramaturgy? "My definition of dramaturgy (today) is 'Supporting collaborative process through careful listening, focused questioning and synthesizing information to help an artist communicate their vision as potently as possible to an audience.'”

What is your dream project? "To get a dramaturg elected as a head of state."

Follow along with @LMDAmericas