Travels with The Prague Visitor: The Dramaturg in Physical Theatre

What is the role of the dramaturg—of dramaturgy itself—in a theatrical process that is first and foremost physical in its inspiration and intention?  In particular, what does “new play” or developmental dramaturgy look like in this context.  Most of the historical basis and contemporary practice of developmental dramaturgy in this country concerns itself with playwrights and playtexts.  Time-honored (and hardened) processes, incorporating one-on-one dramaturgical relationships, read throughs, workshop productions, talk back sessions, and extended periods of solitary exile for the playwright are sponsored and organized by Canadian (indeed, North American) theatrical institutions both large and small.  Ironically, for almost as long dramaturgs and practitioners have questioned the value of these relentlessly repeated exercises, which for many seem to curtail and narrowly define new play creation as much as they facilitate it.  Yet the inadequacy of these activities in the face of physical theatre’s qualities and demands is obvious from the outset.  Is there a role for the individual dramaturg in physical theatre development?  Is it possible to distill a specific aspect out of the development of new physical work that we can confidently call “dramaturgy”?  Or is physical theatre creation not, perhaps, itself the most explicit expression of dramaturgy possible?  From January through March of 2003, I will serve as dramaturg to Toronto’s Number Eleven Theatre Company during the development of their most recent physical theatre creation, The Prague Visitor. As a playwright and a dramaturg who has worked extensively within the traditional, text-based preoccupation of developmental dramaturgy, preparation for this experience necessitates  that I revisit, at the most fundamental level, my understanding of dramaturgy.  This paper describes the context and process of this dramaturgical journey, as well as the insights and questions generated therein.