17-20 February, 2010, in venues at the Victorian College of the Arts and Music, and the Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne.

Rationale for Dramaturgies #4

The work of the dramaturge finds applications in theatre making, dance, circus, music performance, multimdia, performance art, installation environments, street arts, and community contexts. With a strong sense of working inside dynamic social systems, dramaturgy negotiates aesthetic forms, industrial concerns, creative imaginations and contexts of performance. Its perspective is therefore ecological and looks at the ways that theatre is made from the invention, choreography and connective tissues of all these elements working in an unruly concert.

As a constellation of practices in theatre, dramaturgy is at an exciting time of new development. ‘Drama’ is in dialogue with what is being called the ‘postdramatic’, while at the same time some earlier forms of writing and performance seem to be able to stand their ground. At the centre of such tensions is the work of dramaturgy, and dramaturges are becoming evermore central and visible to theatre-making both in Australia and overseas. Yet they are seldom called upon to work together within their professional context, and rarely are dramaturgical practices shared by each other in a productive environment. A national event that brings differing dramaturgical perspectives and practices into the same space at the same time is an important and vital initiative for the professional development of dramaturges and other creative artists.

The ecology of theatre is dramaturgy, and the proposed event will explore, develop and offer a vital contribution to the development of high quality contemporary Australian theatre.