dramaturgy
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of dramaturgy
First recorded in 1795–1805; from Greek drāmatourgía “dramatic composition,” equivalent to drāmaturg(ós) “playwright” + -ia -y 3; see dramatic, -urgy
Explanation
Dramaturgy is the process and art of writing and staging a play. Your little brother's preschool production of "The Three Little Pigs" might not be an example of excellent dramaturgy, but it is adorable. Playwrights, theater directors, and drama teachers are the most likely to throw around the term dramaturgy. It encompasses everything that's involved in creating a play and producing it on an actual stage for an audience to watch. Dramaturgy is especially focused on the play's setting, social context, political themes, and the psychology of its characters. The word itself comes from Greek roots drama and ergon, "work or activity."
Vocabulary lists containing dramaturgy
Curtain Call: Dance and Theater Terms
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Drama Terminology
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Reading: Literature - Drama - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“They sneak in acting classes, but it’s all The Theatre Of Weimar Germany, and Dramaturgy: A Deep Dive Into Ibsen. God forbid you actually have a skill at the end of it.”
From The Guardian • Jul. 8, 2017
He researched nineteenth-century Norwegian divorce law and read books such as “Ibsen: The Dramaturgy of Fear” and “Marriage, a History.”
From The New Yorker • May 15, 2017
Dramaturgy is a "fine art" in which he is supported by a team of directors, playwrights and a literary manager.
From The Guardian • Mar. 10, 2013
A conversation with him was a regular course in Dramaturgy, and although a young foreigner like myself must necessarily have been troublesome to him, he let nothing of this be perceptible.
From Recollections of My Childhood and Youth by Brandes, Georg Morris Cohen
Hamburg Dramaturgy, 9, 68, 114, 121, 212, 247, 255, 291.
From Dramatic Technique by Baker, George Pierce
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
