Without a little dramaturgy, you won’t know where you are. Dramaturgy — which sounds far too much like a major affliction — is the process of establishing physical, social, political and other contexts for a given play.

There are other functions of dramaturgy, too,…

Actors subdivide into roughly two categories: character actors and, for lack of a better term, stars. The stars are those actors who are recognizable no matter what role they play. Character actors tend to wear their parts. When they leave through the stage door after the show, few people recognize them…