Publications
Production Dramaturgy
New Play Dramaturgy
Teaching
Events
Poor Lessing's
Theatre Almanack
I define production dramaturgy as a three phase process: pre-production dramaturgy, rehearsal dramaturgy, and community engagement.
Production Review for A Moon for the Misbegotten:
"A helpful program essay by dramaturg Heather Helinsky notes that Jim's repressed guilt over the
death of his mother echoes O'Neill's own experience. What a gift that he ultimately stills the flood of talk
and, in a passage of sad silence, gives these two soiled people a momentary shimmer of transcendence."
---Christopher Rawson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 27 April 2009
Rehearsal Dramaturgy
Radio Golf
"The Cast of Radio Golf Gives Back": As part of my rehearsal dramaturgy, director Ron OJ Parson asked me to arrange for the actors in the cast to learn more about golf, both historically and movement. In the rehearsal room, I had several coffee table books for the actors to peruse on breaks, such as Uneven Lies: The Heroic Story of African-Americans in Golf. To teach the actors movement, I contacted Marc Field and Eric Amato at The First Tee of Pittsburgh. Eric Amato arranged for students at Neighborhood Academy to participate in a clinic with our actors, so that the students were the teachers-for-the-day. It was an extremely rewarding experience all around.
Photos:
The Cast of Radio Golf with Instructors from The First Tee of Pittsburgh.
Actor E. Milton Wheeler (and the cast of Radio Golf) with Coach
Don Wallace of West Penn Minority Jr. Golf Association.
Actor E. Milton Wheeler learns from a Neighborhood Academy student.
Community Engagement
The World Goes 'Round
For all productions at Pittsburgh Public Theater, I have been giving lectures about our productions, not only as part of our on-site "Mondays with the Public" series but also offsite at places like US Steel and the Carnegie Public Library (Downtown & Business branch). Critic Mary Ann Vallus came to my lecture on March 10th at the Carnegie Public Library and "reviewed" my lecture for Pittsburgh City Paper's "Everyone Is a Critic" section, published on March 17th, 2009.
"It was a lecture about the writer and [the composer], [John] Kander and [Fred] Ebb. They wrote
so many songs for so many different plays, and this lecture really gave you the spirit of what they
were trying to generate. The World Goes 'Round does not have a story line: It's just the music.
There's no plot. Each song is a story in and of itself, is the way Heather, the [Pittsburgh Public
Theater] dramaturg, described it. Also, what was brought out in the lecture is that this is what's
needed right now, because our economy is in such a state. People who will attend [the musical] will
come out feeling very, very good. Even here, the one audience member was a scream asking questions.
I've never seen [this show] before. But I love musicals. I'm just interested in theater, and have
belonged to the Public Theater for years and years as a subscriber, so I thought it would be interesting
to listen to. I work in town and I usually exercise on my lunch break, but I decided I would do this
instead to prep for the play tonight."
---Mary Ann Vallus