May 14-20: Debra Cardona-DePeahul

May 14-20: Debra Cardona-DePeahul 

Focus: "I am launching a new project at Classical Theatre of Harlem called the Playwright’s Playground. The best way I could describe it is a “living room read” of sections of plays in progress. Writers submit 10-12 pages of something they are working on and twice a month we schedule a night to hear about six of them read. We invite actors to come to these evenings and we cast them in the scenes, which are then done as cold readings. This way the writers can hear what they have and the actors can build a relationship with up and coming playwrights. Monday, May 14th (my first day of tweeting) will be the first meeting of the Playwright’s Playground, so a lot can go right — and a lot can go wrong. The rest of the week will deal with the aftershocks of staring something new and brainstorming on ways to help the idea evolve into something valuable to both writers and actors."

Bio: Debra Cardona-DePeahul is an actress and dramaturg. She has toured extensively across the country as an actress, most recently with Mary Poppins, and has served as dramaturg at the Classical Theatre of Harlem, where she is currently administrator of their Playwright’s Playground reading series. Ms. Cardona is on the Board of Directors of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA).

Questions from LMDA:

What is your definition of dramaturgy?

"Brian Quirt, a former president of LMDA, defined it as “the exploration of stories and how they are told in the theater.” I truly like that definition. So I would like to add to it.

Dramaturgy is the exploration of stories and how they are told in the theater, and a dramaturg does this in a number of ways

1)   A dramaturg can introduce the story to an audience

a.     As a Literary Manager discovering new plays for a theater

b.     As a translator

c.      As an adaptor

d.     As an aid to a playwright who is constructing a new story for the stage

2)   A dramaturg can explore the story

a.     In rehearsal as a production dramaturg

b.     By writing scholarly essays on the story

c.      By writing criticism

d.     As a teacher helping students discover these stories

A dramaturg has the opportunity (and the absolute pleasure) of looking at a story for the theater from conception, through production, and even reflect upon it after the production is done, and present all those facets to the world. How cool is that?"

What is your favorite project?

"Oh, dear, I hate to choose! But I would have to say it was a production of Waiting for Godot that Classical Theatre of Harlem did back in 2007 — after Hurricane Katrina — that was staged on a roof in the middle of a flood. Designer Troy Hourie constructed the roof in the middle of a 30-foot pool. In that context, so much of the text sounded as Beckett had written his play because of this natural disaster. The production was later remounted in New Orleans on a corner in the flood-devastated Ninth Ward."

 
 
 
 
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