Studies
Head of course: Jens Gross
Deputy: Elisabeth Schweeger
1. ADK’s two-year Master of Arts course in Dramaturgy is designed for candidates who have already studied the humanities at university, hold a Bachelor of Arts or similar degree, can demonstrate practical theatre experience and are seeking a further qualification as a dramaturg or another career in theatre management.
2. The dramaturg as a go-between and multi-tasker: the professional profile has been changing rapidly in recent decades. In the past, the dramaturg was originally a person with a good knowledge of literature who wrote for the stage and advised the theatre management. Over time dramaturgs became increasingly involved on the production side and a more integral part of the theatre management. Today they are called upon both to keep a critical, dispassionate eye on the production and its artistic objectives and also to formulate issues of relevance to the social and political context within the company and towards the outside world. Dramaturgs are in every sense go-betweens – intermediaries between social questions and artistic dreams, between writers and directors, directing and acting, the production team and the technical crafts, the production and the public. Dramaturgs are scouts who can identify talents of all kinds, but they are also expected to plan a repertoire that promises commercial success while addressing social concerns, and to demonstrate a profound sense of responsibility for the use of public funds. Dramaturgs are expected to create protected biospheres for artistic processes, but equally to conduct contractual negotiations with performers, publishers and other partners. Dramaturgs are accountable for the overall picture, i.e. the profile of the company (content, advertising strategies), and for employee satisfaction (ensuring information flows, maximum transparency around decisions and an optimum use of human resources).
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Dramaturgs are directly involved in every stage of the production, from initial proposals for a play or project to the choice of director and management team, the conceptual spadework and the casting, and they will continue to provide support until well after the first night. They need the skills to coordinate production processes and calculate costs, they will forge contacts and networks, and they must prove their mettle as production managers but also as psychologists, with an understanding ear and solid advice for all the problems and difficulties which inevitably arise. In a nutshell, overload is routine for a dramaturg.
Wanted are young people eager to tackle everything at once and yet happy to keep modestly behind the scenes. Dramaturgs are not essentially performers with a sense of self. They are primarily facilitators, enablers, advisers and at best the midwives at the theatrical event – the applause will be for the others.
And yet dramaturg is one of the most varied, demanding and worthwhile professions of all, for the dramaturg deals constantly with very different people, tasks and topics.
Dramaturgs can chart the course, enabling a team to surmount a social or artistic boundary. To meet all these demands, dramaturgs need not only specialist knowledge, but above all the basic virtues of any artist: they must possess the skills to explore, read, look, think, listen, speak and write, the courage to draw on their common sense and the ability to work in and with teams.
3. A future-oriented, interdisciplinary training: the Master of Arts degree in Dramaturgy reflects the radical changes underway in the field of dramaturgy and the theatre in general. The course seeks through practical exercises to introduce students to and equip them for the broadest variety of requirement profiles. Upon graduation, the budding dramaturg should know how to translate relevant themes, aesthetics and structures from the world around us into artistic productions, should have acquired basic knowledge and insights of opportunities and constraints in theatre management, and should be able, ideally, not only to reflect but also to project a model. Most of all, dramaturgs must look beyond the narrow garden fence of the genre. Rather than learning what is impossible, they should come up with ideas for making things possible. That is why the course at Ludwigsburg not only imparts knowledge needed to work in the present theatre environment, but also prepares graduates for an as yet unmapped future in the profession. Apart from providing insights into theatre life, we seek to foster a political sense of responsibility and a social imagination, to build familiarity with other artistic options, to sharpen awareness of the unconventional and the unknown, to cultivate an ability to express these in concepts and a willingness to prevail against commercial and political hurdles in the company and in society at large.
4. Links with practice: Knowing the theory is only half the story. To deepen these theoretical insights, the main focus of training at ADK lies with applying what has been learned and linking it with practical experience and work processes. In other words, students are involved as early as possible in artistic projects at the Academy or at theatres and other arts institutions outside. What makes our training opportunities so special are close, direct collaboration with the Academy’s own courses in Directing and Acting, courses at the Film Academy of Baden-Württemberg (e.g. Introduction to Scripts, Adaptations) and the Stage & Costume Design course run by ABK Stuttgart. Joint artistic projects and productions are regularly designed and implemented on the Academy site together with the students on these courses, so training provides an excellent early opportunity to form powerful artistic teams for the future. There are also cooperation agreements with theatres and arts institutions in the region willing to work partially and temporarily with the Academy’s students. Moreover, almost all the course tutors have a professional career at various theatres where placements can be made for work experience or subsequent employment.
5. The two-year M.A. course breaks down into ten focal themes or modules:
1. Theory and history of theatre
2. Culture theories
3. Text analysis, production analysis
4. Dramaturgical methods
5. Dramaturgical practice
6. Essentials of directing and acting
7. Production dramaturgy
8. Media dramaturgy, media theory
9. Dramaturgical activities in other areas, e.g. independent theatre, festivals, cinema, television and radio etc.
10. Theatre in the light of day: managing productions and theatres, planning budgets, fund-raising, contract law, stage rights, insurance, press and publicity, etc.
6. These modules entail different teaching events designed to ensure a balanced mix between the theoretical academic foundations and an applied practical training. The external tutors include both lecturers from other academic institutions and experienced teachers engaged in artistic practice at various theatres, including the independent community.
This approach is complemented by modules where students take part together in projects and workshops. Here the students take a thematic focus as their starting point to develop their own creative models. The aim is to form teams drawn from different courses and academies who can work independently.
To complete the course, students will work on their own as dramaturgs in a practical professional context (at a theatre such as Schauspiel Stuttgart or in their own projects or bigger productions either at the Academy or in an independent ensemble) and will produce a written dissertation (which can, but need not necessarily, relate to the practical project).
Our vision is to train students who work together to confront the new demands made by the theatre and who take pleasure in discovering and inventing new, contemporary theatre formats.
Information about studies
- 1. course catalogue
For further informations please contact the Academic Office Dramaturgy (julia.klaas@adk-bw.de)
- 2. Start of studies
The study programme beginns in the winter semester.
Start of studies of winter semester 2020|21: Monday, 21st of September 2020
- 3. Duration of studies
The duration of studies for the study programme Master Dramaturgy is two year or four semesters.
- 4. Admission
No age limit.
- 5. Admission exams
After the pre-selection by the examination board you will receive an invitation by email for the admission exams which are held on June 18th and 19th, 2020.
- 6. Repetition of admission exams
If the entrance examination is not passed once it can be repeated at earliest one year later.
Further repetitions are not permitted. - 7. Head of course/ tutor
Head of course and tutor: Jens Groß
Deputy: Elisabeth Schweeger - 8. Tuition fees
The state of Baden-Württemberg has not been charging tuition fees since the summer semester 2012.
As of the winter semester 2017|18, international students who come from outside the EU for the purpose of studying will make a contribution of € 1.500 per semester. For the second degree, € 650 are charged per semester
Informations for educational support BAFöG: here (in German)
Each semester a contribution of € 113,40 for the Studierendenwerk and an administration and AStA fee of € 25.- is mandatory.
Informations of the Studierendenwerk Stuttgart
see here: www.studierendenwerk-stuttgart.de/en
Application
For the application process please use the german version of our website!
The application and related documents must be submitted in German, since entrance examinations and studies at the Academy of Performing Arts are held in German.
The application deadline for the winter semester 2020|21 has been finished. Admission exams will take place on June 18th/19th, 2020.