A drama-what?

In one of my first entries (it may have been the first one... but I'd have to go back and check...) I told you that the second half of my summer I would be a dramaturg. In case you didn't see it before, check out that link. At the end of the paragraph you'll find the most accurate description of what I'll be doing -

"At larger theatres, a casting director hires the actors, a literary manager helps with play selection and editing/workshopping, and the dramaturg works on the historical and cultural research into the play and its setting. A dramaturg will create a workbook for the director and actors (usually these are different) and work extensively with the director prior to the first rehearsal."

Most people have no idea what a dramaturg is... usually I get incredulous looks and "... you're a drama-what?" "No... not a dramaTURD... a dramaTURG..."

So what does Minnetrista, more specifically, Faeries, Sprites and Lights, need a dramaturg for?

As I think I said at one point or another, the starting point for Faeries, Sprites and Lights was Elisabeth ("Betty") Ball and her love of (maybe belief in?) faeries. When she was little she had faerie tea parties, and she wrote that poem about faeries that I shared with you when she was 19 years old. Faeries were a big part of her childhood. And basically, they'd like to know what inspired her love of faeries. What kinds of books did she own when she was little? What stories would her parents have read to her? What sorts of things did she do when she was little? And then, based on all those things, what would the faeries in Betty Ball's head have looked like, more or less? That's basically what it's my job to find out.

On top of Betty Ball research then, I'll also be doing some generic research on faerie lore through the centuries and trying to fill in whatever gaps we can about faeries... trying to establish a precedent for "Minnetrista faeries." And then I'll also be writing a sort of history of the Faeries, Sprites and Lights event at Minnetrista, and helping to establish a little bit of a precedent for the event itself and different things that have been done within the event.

So it's back to the library, getting reacquainted with the stacks of books and online article databases. :) By the end of the summer though, I should be pretty much an expert on faeries. So if you have any questions I'd be glad to answer them!