This presentation examines the increasing importance of emotional dramaturgy in the

presentation of traumatic material on stage. The work starts in the emotional world of the

play and addresses how actors enter into, live inside of, and exit from that emotional world.

Emotional dramaturgy seeks to create a rehearsal process responsive to the actor's

intertwined physical and psychological needs in roles depicting trauma, working with the

body and brain to promote safety for the performer.

​

In the field of dramaturgy, there is “traditional” or factual dramaturgy, which questions what

can be known about a script and engages the text through an intellectual lens to discover

the historical, political and social implications. This type of dramaturgy attends to the mind.

There is also physical dramaturgy or ‘dramaturgy of the body’, which transmits traditional

dramaturgy into somatic, embodied representations through movement. This type of

dramaturgy attends to the body. Emotional dramaturgy attends to the mind/spirit to create a

holistic dramaturgy that allows performers to explore potentially traumatic work bravely.

Western realism often trains actors to portray traumatic stories in a hyper-realistic style,

allowing the audience to see the pain in their bodies and faces. Actors are instructed in

ways to take on a character and get to that vulnerability needed to give the performance the

rawness and open access traumatic roles require. However, they are not being taught

enough about closure to be able to safely walk away from the role. Actors’ mental health

has long been ignored. Emotional dramaturgy seeks to create training, rehearsal, and

performance processes responsive to the actor’s intertwined physical and psychological

needs in roles depicting trauma, working with the body and brain to promote safety for the

performer. I use the word “processes” as this is not a role, it is not necessary to hire an

emotional dramaturg. However, emotional dramaturgy should be practiced in all rehearsal

and training studios.