Playwriting & Dramaturgy
Staff team
The programme is team-taught by University staff and external specialists --
The core members of the teaching team in Theatre Studies are:
- Minty Donald
- Dr Anselm Heinrich
- Dr Victoria Price
- Professor Adrienne Scullion
- Professor Carl Lavery
Other internal Theatre Studies staff members include:
The playwriting elements of the programme are taught by:
Philip Howard
Philip read Classics at Girton College, Cambridge, and has a MLitt in Architectural History from the University of St Andrews. He trained as a theatre director under Max Stafford-Clark at the Royal Court Theatre on the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme from 1988-1990, and was Associate Director at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh from 1993-1996 and Artistic Director from 1996-2007. Productions include Sunday in the Park with George and Watertight (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), Marilyn (Citizens', Glasgow & Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh), The Dacha and Fuenteovejuna (Òran Mór, Glasgow), Words of Advice for Young People by Ioanna Anderson (Rough Magic, Dublin), The Speculator by David Greig in Catalan (Grec Festival, Barcelona/Edinburgh International Festival), Entertaining Mr Sloane (Royal, Northampton) and Something About Us (Lyric Hammersmith Studio). Freelance dramaturgy includes Pineapple by Phillip McMahon (Calipo Theatre Co, Ireland). He is the editor of Scotland Plays (1997) and Scottish Shorts (2010) for Nick Hern Books. For a more detailed biography click here.
Douglas Maxwell
Douglas has been one of the most popular and produced playwrights in Scotland for over a decade. His plays have also been performed in translation in Germany, Norway, Hong Kong, New York, Chicago, Holland, Sweden, South Korea and Japan. Douglas’ work in the last few years includes Promises Promises (which transferred to New York under the title The Promise in 2011, where it earned a Drama Desk Award Nomination for the actress Joanna Tope); a 10th Anniversary revival of the award winning Decky Does a Bronco; a version of Wedekind's Spring Awakening for the Traverse; The Miracle Man for the NTS, and Small Town, written with DC Jackson and Johnny McKnight for Random Accomplice. His short play, A Respectable Widow Takes To Vulgarity was read as part of The Traverse Theatre’s “Dream Play” series during the Edinburgh Fringe 2012. For a more detailed biography click here.
Collaborations, Placements and Guest practitioners:
In addition to the staff members above, students benefit from collaborations with and dramaturgy placements at local and national theatre companies and arts organisations. Previous students on the programme have, for example, undertaken placements at: The Arches, the CCA, The Citizens’ Theatre, National Theatre of Scotland, Òran Mór, Playwrights’ Studio Scotland, The Traverse, and The Tron Theatre. Students also benefit from dramaturgy workshops and masterclasses facilitated by professional practitioners – guest workshop facilitators have included Graham Eatough (theatre director and former Artistic Director of Suspect Culture), Adrian Howells (performance artist), and Pamela McQueen (dramaturg).