Ghost Light

Michael Mark Chemers founded the Production Dramaturgy Program at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama. He is a professor of dramatic literature and theatre arts and the chair of the Department of Performance, Play & Design at the University of California Santa Cruz. His works include The Monster in Theatre History: This Thing of Darkness and Staging Stigma: A Critical Examination of the American Freak Show, winner of the ATHE Outstanding Book Award (Honorable Mention) of 2009.

“With wit, intelligence, and generosity, Michael Mark Chemers offers students a wide range of concrete, practical, and immediate entry points to the work of the dramaturg from classics to new plays, devised theatre, adaptations, and more. Grounded in history, theory, and textual analysis, this comprehensive handbook underscores with great effect the centrality of curiosity, questioning, creativity, collaboration, and expertise to dramaturgy and theatre making as a whole.”—Geoff Proehl, author of Toward a Dramaturgical Sensibility“The first edition of Ghost Light carefully broke down the role of the dramaturg and provided an intelligent and accessible perspective on the underpinnings of dramaturgy. Chemers now gifts us with a revised and updated text that carefully considers radical changes of the past decade and blind spots that can come up when writing. Particularly, this new edition addresses societal strife and the pervasive systems of oppression that have informed the recent past that theatre studies must address.”—Analola Santana, coeditor of Theatre and Cartographies of Power: Repositioning the Latina/o Americas“Ghost Light is the best book I can recommend to someone looking for a book that covers the history, theory, and practice of dramaturgy in one place. I never teach a Dramaturgy class without it! I appreciate Chemers updating this important contribution to the field to wrestle with and open up an academic and practical discussion about how cultural competency and identity play an ever-changing role in the way dramaturgy functions in art-making.”— Martine Kei Green-Rogers, past president of LMDA“This second edition of Ghost Light offers welcome updates to what has become a trusted introductory textbook for the study of dramaturgy in the United States. Featuring additions to his “theory capsules” as well as new approaches to the “Twelve Steps,” the insight Chemers offers in Ghost Light is both practical and aspirational, a feat he accomplishes without losing his engaging, lively style of writing that at once demonstrates dramaturgy while explaining the long history and crucial role of the dramaturg in theatre.”— Jane Barnette , author of Adapturgy: The Dramaturg’s Art and Theatrical Adaptation“For over a decade, Ghost Light has welcomed newcomers with open arms to the rigorous building blocks that constitute contemporary dramaturgical practice. With this second edition, Chemers embraces the latest developments in an ever-diversifying field with his trademark humor, humility, and abiding love for this vocation we share. This book has earned an essential place in every dramaturg's library.”—Ken Cerniglia, editor of Newsies: Stories of the Unlikely Broadway Hit

• Foreword by Faedra Chatard CarpenterPreface to the Second Edition Preface to the First EditionAcknowledgmentsPart One: Philosophy1. What the #$%@ Is a Dramaturg?2. Historicizing Dramaturgy3. Power PlaysPart Two: Analysis4. The Twelve-Step Program for Script Analysts5. Form Follows Function6. Why This Play Now?Part Three: Practice7. New Plays8. The Company9. AudiencesAppendixesA: The CasebookB: The Dramaturg’s LibraryC: Journals, Periodicals, and Online DatabasesD: Accessing Original Texts OnlineE: Recommended Play AnthologiesNotes