Hi y’all!
I hope everyone survived this Mercury retrograde to the best of their ability. Here at The Grappler, we welcome any opportunity to reflect, slow down, and think critically, even when that comes with the twists and turns of a retrograde. Side note - if anyone wants to write the guide to dramaturgy during a Mercury retrograde that we all so desperately need, shoot us an email. You’d be doing us all a public service!
Speaking of dramaturgy, I heard Sandra Oh say “dramaturgically” during an interview in August and it’s been playing on loop in my head ever since:
I think this video is incredible for a number of reasons (her blazer! her hand gestures!), but the thing that made me scream and hit rewind was the casual way she brought it up. Dramaturgy is so often the unspoken element of artistic processes - many of us aren’t even aware that we practice dramaturgy until it’s explained to us - so to have it mentioned so casually was incredible to hear. I’m a big believer that in the most exciting and inspiring creative processes everybody is a dramaturg. In the coming month, we'll have some reflections on dramaturgy as an ensemble-building practice on the site, so stay tuned for that! How do you practice dramaturgy as an act of community building? Let us know!
In other exciting news, The Grappler is excited to welcome Leah Geisler as our co-editor this year.
Hi there!
Let me first take the opportunity to introduce myself! My name is Leah, my pronouns are she/they, and I am the new co-editor of The Grappler this year alongside Liv!
I am so excited to be a part of this team and aid in transforming it to be an active part of the TTS community.
In all honesty, change is scary. There seems to be an abundance of it everywhere, but I especially notice it as I have walked the halls of TTS this year for the first time in a year and a half.
It is easy to get lost in so much change. Yet, I am invigorated every time I enter the building because I see other artists constantly striving to change the system we are a part of for the better. Creating art that is both meaningful and beautiful. Collecting stories that will one day become memories. What if all of these changes will make us stronger artists? I hope as you read the pieces we have for you moving forward, you will use the same mentality: change is my strength. We have been given a wonderful gift as artists to reunite as a collective community, and this year at The Grappler, I hope to give the term “change” new meaning through my own and other personal narratives of the world around us.
As you may have noticed, Leah has given our website a facelift! In addition to being a genius dramaturg, they’re also a secret web designer, so make sure to poke around and check out all of our fancy new pages. Coming up on The Grappler we have some coverage of the inaugural TTS MessFest, reflections from the co-dramaturgs of Everybody, the first installment of an ongoing series on musicals based on movies, and so much more!
That's all for now. Here's hoping you find joy in practicing dramaturgy in any form you find it!
Leah and Liv
(Virgo and Capricorn, your fave earth sign co-editing team)
P.S. If you're interested in contributing to The Grappler, you can email us at thegrapplertts@gmail.com or DM us on Instagram, @grapplertts.