Anne Hamilton/Hamilton Dramaturgy

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Download a copy of my last Bucks County Women’s Journal Page & Stage column here: BCWJ Article on Achieving Authenticity on Stage by Anne Hamilton

Achieving Authenticity on Stage

By Anne M. Hamilton, MFA

As a dramaturg, one of my tasks is to do research. Many times, a playwright will need to know specific facts about a time period or a place so that her work will be as authentic as possible. As a master of fine arts student at Columbia University School of the Arts, I was trained to gather, review and summarize materials in order to help playwrights and directors to portray authentic scenes on stage. Whether producing a classic play, or a new one, there is always an information-gathering process which contributes to the finished piece.

How do you go about searching for historical facts in a timely and effective way? When I was in grad school, we would have to visit libraries and special collections, but now the internet offers tremendous resources. The growing national trend for archiving materials online allows us greater access than ever before. And new media resources add to the richness of available materials.

Besides some standard resources, such as online newspapers, dictionaries and encyclopedias, I have some new favorites. For visual, cultural, and historical information, the Metropolitan Museum of Art launched a series called “82^nd and Fifth” this year.

According to the museum’s website, “82nd & Fifth is the Met’s address in New York City. It is also the intersection of art and ideas. We’ve invited 100 curators from across the Museum to talk about 100 works of art that changed the way they see the world. Eleven Museum photographers interpret their vision: one work, one curator, two minutes at a time. 82nd & Fifth is a year-long series of 100 episodes.” This beautifully-produced series is a treasure trove of images with cultural contextualization.

Metmuseum.org also describes the Heilbrunn Timeline as an online publication which, “presents the Met’s collection via a chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of global art history.” The timeline covers many millennia of artistic creations, which allows the researcher to easily find accurate information. Available online since 2000, it is searchable by works of art, timelines, and thematic essays, from 8,000 B.C. to the present.

The world is at our fingertips.

Anne Hamilton has 22 years of experience as a dramaturg. She is available for script consultations and career advising through hamiltonlit@hotmail.com. Season Three of Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! launched with an interview with Kate Valk, The Wooster Group’s leading actress.