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COMMUNITY BASED DRAMATURGY

"Freedom is not a state; it is an act. It is not some enchanted garden perched high on a distant plateau where we can finally sit down and rest. Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society.”
-US Representative John Lewis

Community Based Dramaturgy is a civic minded dramaturgical practice in community engagement and social justice rooted in the development of compassion and critical thinking."

Image by Clark Tibbs
Community Based Dramaturgy: Welcome

BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Immersion: Themes from Ragtime 

with Angela M. Farr Schiller, PhD

2023

Journey through a deep dive conversation with Boston Conservatory Professor of Contemporary and Musical Theatre, dramaturg, and Emmy award winner Angela M. Farr Schiller into the themes and social politics of Ragtime—exploring the ways that the world meets the work in this dynamic exchange. Ultimately, revealing the ways that performance can be utilized as a meaningful tool for the development of social justice, critical thinking, and compassion for the human experience.

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Community Based Dramaturgy: About
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NATIONAL BLACK ARTS FESTIVAL

Dramaturgical Consultant
2023

The National Black Arts Festival seeks to ensure that the art and stories of Black people are presented, highlighted and celebrated. They are committed to helping shape a more equitable and impactful arts ecosystem that uplifts and supports the contributions of Black artists and values the transformative impact that Black art has made on our world.

Community Based Dramaturgy: About

TABLEWORK:
HOW NEW PLAYS GET MADE

PODCAST

Season 1, Episode 2: 

From the Roota to the Toota:

The Journey of Seeing and Then Seeing Through with Dr. Angela Farr Schiller

2023

Tablework: How New Plays Get Made is a brand new podcast where Managing Artistic Director Amber Bradshaw interviews new play artists about how they create and collaborate, what they hope for the future of new play development and their favorite development tools and practices. As the world and the theatre rebuilds, rediscovers and realigns - we’re going to be a part of that exploration!

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Community Based Dramaturgy: About
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WILSON PICKETT LEGACY FOUNDATION

Guest Dramaturg & Facilitator
January 2023

Wilson Pickett (1941-2006) was an American singer/songwriter and a major figure in the development of "Soul Music." Functioning as a significant contribution towards bringing Wilson Pickett’s story to life for the stage, this community conversation focused on Pickett's humanity as a Black man navigating the pressures of success and white supremacy during Jim Crow. 


Pickett's forceful, passionate style of singing was developed in the church and on the streets of Detroit, under the influence of recording stars such as Little Richard, whom he referred to as "the architect of rock and roll." Pickett was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, in recognition of his impact on songwriting and recording. Among his best-known hits are “in the Midnight Hour”, “Land of 1,000 Dances”, “634-5789”, and “Mustang Sally.”

Community Based Dramaturgy: About

WORKING TITLE PLAYWRIGHTS 

DRAMATURGY INTENSIVE

Guest Dramaturg & Facilitator:

June 2021 & April 2022

Form Follows Function: 

Suzan-Lori Parks and the Unpacking of Flow in Dramatic Structure

January 2021 & October 2022

Adrienne Kennedy: 

Supporting Playwrights Who Write Outside of the Funnyhouse 

A dialogue and personal-response driven course designed to investigate ways of reading, communicating and listening. This class covers best practices to support playwrights at all levels of experience; analyze new and published plays, short stories and critical writing--serving playwrights, directors and dramaturgs who seek to grow and expand their knowledge and practice in professional new development dramaturgy. 

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Community Based Dramaturgy: About

INTIMATE APPAREL

Talk Back Panel

Actor's Express

April 2022

In 1905 New York, an independent woman named Esther creates beautiful lingerie for clients that range from white society mavens on the Upper East Side to prostitutes in the Tenderloin district. And when she enters into a romantic correspondence with a mysterious pen pal, her quest for empowerment and self-actualization takes unexpected turns. A landmark play from MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage.

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Community Based Dramaturgy: About

KENNY LEON'S
TRUE COLORS THEATRE COMPANY

Community Conversations Series:​

 “The Right to the Stage:

Access for our Youth”

Panelist

April 2021

 “The Right to the Stage: Access for our Youth,” community conversation, part of True Colors' Joy & Pain Season, is in partnership with the Atlanta Music Project. This conversation centers on the challenges to accessing the arts that many of our Black youth continue to face in conversation with Angela Farr Schiller, PhD, Director of Arts Education for the ArtsBridge Foundation, Freddie Hendricks, Co-Founder of the Youth Ensemble Atlanta, and Dantes Rameau, the Chief Executive Officer of the Atlanta Music Project.

Community Based Dramaturgy: About
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Community Based Dramaturgy: Videos
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HUSH HARBOR

New Play Development

Conversation Series: 

The Dramaturgical Perspective with Angela Farr Schiller, PhD

November 2020

Sponsored by Fulton County Arts and Culture Visual Arts Initiative Grant, this Hush Harbor Lab Conversation focused on the new play development process from the perspective of a dramaturg and theatre scholar.

Community Based Dramaturgy: About

AURORA THEATRE:

2 THE LEFT

Moderator

Community Conversation:

About Music, Mindfulness and Mental Health

November 2020

Dedicated to  to the memory of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, from the multi-Grammy award wining group TLC, this community conversation sits at the intersection of music, mindfulness, and mental health.

Existing in the shadow of both Daniel Prude (New York) and Walter Wallace Jr (Philadelphia) both murdered by the police after experiencing mental health episodes, this community conversation  engages the challenges, and even the dangers, of being black and suffering from mental health issues in the United States. Especially when, according to the American Psychiatric Association, only 1 and 3 African Americans who need mental health services actually receive them. 

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Community Based Dramaturgy: About
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THEATRE THROUGH THE YEARS

FROM A BLACK PERSPECTIVE

The Suzi Bass Awards' 

Judge's Round Table Salon: 

in conversation with Angela Farr Schiller, Tom Jones & Gary Yates 

October 2020

This salon, hosted by the Suzi Bass Awards, engages the breath, depth and history of Atlanta's Black Theatre and Black Arts Community, along with the unique contributions of Black Atlanta Artists in the face of system inequities. The Suzi Bass Awards celebrates and promotes Atlanta professional theatre through the evaluation and recognition of excellence.

Community Based Dramaturgy: About
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TOWN HALL 1.5:
A PATH TO RECONCILIATION

Facilitator

Coalition for Racial Equity in Atlanta

& Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity

in the Arts ATL

October 2020

In the effort to continue the work begun at the Town Hall for Racial Reckoning in June, IDEA ATL and CREAT are partnering again for the next step. The passion and vulnerability offered as a gift during and outside of the town halls cannot be ignored, nor can it lead to nowhere. Changes must be addressed. We believe we must work together to build a stronger, more inclusive community.


The goal is to address as a collective, our theatres’ vision/mission (as well as your personal vision), build and revise equitable plans of action, prepare for CREAT’s accountability rating system and workshop behaviors and language towards racial equity and understanding bias. 

Community Based Dramaturgy: About
Community Based Dramaturgy: About

OUT OF HAND THEATER

Moderator

Equitable Dinner Series

"Setting the Table for Racial Equity"

February 2020

September 2020

*Winner of the New York Times Best Theatre of 2020

Out of Hand Theater hosts the Equitable Dinner Series. These dinners are a chance for communities to come together and engage in a brave and fruitful facilitated  dialogue regarding race and equity.

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Community Based Dramaturgy: About

THE LOWERY INSTITUTE:
SOCIAL JUSTICE &
THE ARTS CONVERSATION SERIES

Moderator

Visual Art@the Intersection of Social Justice 

with Anne Collins Smith,

Curator of Collections at Spelman College Museum of Fine Art &

Tara Pixley, PhD,

photojournalist, filmmaker and

visual media consultant.

August 2020

The Lowery Institute's Social Justice and the Arts series is an artist lead dialogue in theatre, music, visual art, and dance with discussions centered around positive and empowering social change. The Joseph & Evelyn Lowery Institute for Justice and Human Rights is dedicated to training, developing, empowering, and inspiring leaders to improve their communities for the common good. It serves this mission by focusing on: civil and human rights; social justice; education; and community health locally, nationally, and abroad.

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Community Based Dramaturgy: About
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TOWN HALL FOR RACIAL RECKONING_ATL

Moderator 

Coalition for Racial Equity in Atlanta Theatre &

Inclusion, Diversity and Equity in the Arts ATL 

June 2020

How do we move forward?

That’s the question being asked in a three-night virtual town hall hosted by the Coalition for Racial Equity in Atlanta Theater and Inclusion Diversity Equity in the Arts Atlanta. “For too long, BIPOC artists have felt forced to stay silent due to fear of retaliation but the survival of our industry now requires that we speak up. This is one small step toward creating a more equitable and just theater community, metro region and country.” 

—Coalition for Racial Equity in Atlanta Theatre &  Inclusion, Diversity and Equity in the Arts ATL 

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LINFIELD UNIVERSITY

Artist-in-Residence

The Dramaturg & Her Craft

2019-McMinnville, Oregon

A 2-day guest artist residency that includes classroom visits on the craft of dramaturgy, a community talk, hosting a talk-back for their production of Cabaret, and a hands-on intensive dramaturgy workshop.

Community Based Dramaturgy: About
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