Playwright Discovery Award Teacher's Guide - The John F. Kennedy ...

FOR THE ARTIST’S NOTEBOOK:
The Dramaturg’s Second-Best Tool:
Listening Well
The second part of asking an Open
Question is listening well, which means
listening to what’s said, not for the
answer one wants to hear.
• Listen for words the artist uses but the
characters do not.
Sometimes the writer describes characters out
loud one way and sets them on paper another
way.
A writer may describe a self-important
character by adopting a different vocal pattern
and repeating the word “fabulous” every fourth
word. A dramaturg can help a writer notice
that the dialogue isn’t written in dialect and the
word “fabulous” never appears in the script.
For example, the revised version:
SUZIE’S MOTHER
Suzie, dahhling. Thahht’s fabulous!
As the writer describes what she or he would
like to see happen in the play or scene, think
about where the writer can add these details.
• Listen for what drives the artist to pursue this
project, the passion.
• Listen for what excites the writer about the
story. Passion, if nothing else, keeps the
journey going when times get rough and the
rewriting process seems long.
For example, in the original draft:
Oh, Suzie.
SUZIE’S MOTHER
• Listen for places where the writer can be
more specific.
ACT III: DRAMATURGY 45