InfoGuides: Resources for Dramaturgy: Narrative Analysis / In Rehearsal

Narrative Analysis & The Dramaturg in Rehearsal

If your role involves helping in either the writing of a play (with a playwright) or the devising of a play (with a company), you'll not only have to conduct research, but serve as a consultant on the dramatic structure of the play itself. Even in an established work, if the director is trying to convey a specific point, they might need help achieving that message to its full effect.

This involves deepening your literacy of dramatic conventions and serving as an audience surrogate during the formative process - you weigh in on what works and what doesn't, and can provide input + context to help steer the work. If the playwright wants to convey a specific tone or message or theme (et cetera), you can judge whether that is successful or sufficiently theatrically interesting.

Here are some resources to help along your familiarity with the medium...

Drama Online This link opens in a new window
Collection provides full text access to dramatic works from the early Greek period to the present day, as well as some works of criticism and information on theatre craft. Contains scholarly notes, annotated texts, contextual information, synopsis, biographical entries, and material on acting, directing, and lighting. This includes practical applications of theory and essays from practitioners about process, invaluable tools for dramaturgy. Features drama titles from the Oberon Books Collection and the TCG Books Play Collection. Includes epics, monologues, and one-person plays in all time periods, as well as translations of major foreign works. Features play tools with character grids, words and speech graphs, and images.
Digital Theatre Plus This link opens in a new window
Collection of streaming videos featuring unique films of current, leading British theatre productions including Digital Theater's own recordings alongside collections such as BBC, Royal Shakespeare Company, Broadway Digital Archive, Royal Opera House, London Symphony Orchestra, Shakespeare's Globe etc. Includes behind-the-scenes documentaries as well as teaching and learning resources.

Finding Scholarly Resources in the Catalog

To find acting resources in the library catalog, first go to library.gmu.edu. Then, click Advanced Search. After that, change the drop down menu to "Subject" and type in "Script analysis."

You will then get a list of all the resources about script analysis. Since there are so many, you can use the filters off to the side to narrow down your results.

Literature Resources

You may also find literary databases to be helpful in your script analysis.

Gale Literary Sources This link opens in a new window
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Integrates Literature resources from Gale and Literature Criticism Online into a single research environment. Includes: Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online, Gale Virtual Reference Library, Literature Criticism Online, Literature Resource Center, Scribner Writers Series, and Twayne's Authors Series.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is a collection of core scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences digitized in most cases back to the first date of issue. Includes selected books, primary sources and other materials for academic work.
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
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Produced by the Modern Language Association (MLA), the MLA International Bibliography is the definitive index for the study of language, literature, linguistics, rhetoric and composition, folklore, and film, covering scholarly publications from the early 20th century to the present.

Literature Subject Guides

If you are unable to find what you need in the above databases, check out our Language and Literature Subject Guides.

Language and Literature Subject Guides