Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA) is pleased to announce the recipients of the most recent Dramaturg Driven grants:

Developing a Collaborative Online Script Database
Kathryn Van Winkle
The project will implement existing web 2.0 technology—the sort that brought us del.icio.us and the ever-controversial Wikipedia—to develop a private, collaborative script database for LMDA members. Plays, authors, agents, theaters: all will have their own wiki-style page. Anyone in the password-protected group will have the ability to view, create, and edit pages. All the pages will be linked, tagged, and cross-referenced through an interactive social bookmarking application. The database will help answer common questions that cycle through the LMDA listserv every few months: “Does anyone have a list of plays with an all-female cast?” “Plays based on classical sources?” “Plays about science?” “How about a small-cast comedy?” “Does anyone have a copy of [insert play title here]?” “Who has contact information for [insert playwright/agent/dramaturg/director here]?” As the number of entries grows, this database will become more and more useful for all LMDA members.

Visualizing the News
Roweena Mackay
Company dramaturg for New York based theatre ensemble Bone Orchard, Roweena Mackay and Artistic Director Anna Jones will organize and lead a series of workshops called "Visualizing the News."  These sessions will include an exploration of the news through contemporary photojournalism and will support the development of Bone Orchard's new piece called Times 365:24:7, a multimedia performance exploring the phenomenon of the news, to be performed in March 2009 at the Brick Theatre in Williamsburg. The grant will be used for research materials, equipment and space rental and guest speakers.

LMDA offers up to $500 in seed money to support projects conceived, spearheaded, and/or orchestrated by LMDA member dramaturgs.  Deadlines for proposals are April 1st and October 1st of each year.