The dramaturg goes by many names and undertakes many tasks in the name of creating theatre. So many tasks, in fact, that if you were to ask a group of dramaturgs what exactly it is that they do, you’re bound to recieve several acceptable answers.

Here is something of a basic breakdown ofsome of the more obvious roles a dramaturg may cover. The roles themselves can be grouped and divided depending on what type of production is being created or what part of the theatrical production is being focused on.

These groups are as follows:

RESEARCH
A dramaturg is a vital member of the directors team. In terms of research they provide the director with information – be it historical, contextual, regarding costumes or setting – with which the director can increase the authenticity and believability of the production. This research can be provided as a precurser to the rehearsal process beginning or throughout the development – possibly when a director has a query or issue.
However the real skill lies in choosing what information is actually relevant to the production and discerning how much the director already knows on the topic.

Cary .M.Mazer states in Dramaturgy in the Classroom: Teaching undergraduate students not to be students:
If the director already knows more about a particular subject than does the dramaturg, then the director wouldn’t waste the dramaturg’s time asking about it; there are countless other better uses to which the dramaturg’s time and energies can be put.

NEW PLAYS
In terms of new plays and playwrights a dramaturg can firstly  take part in the reading and evaluating of new scripts, before contacting those whose scripts they wont be using and speaking with the agents of those they will.  They sometimes provide roles in the creation of in-house reading event. As mentioned before they can provide any background information necessary reagarding the writer and the play that will help see the play through to a complete production.

PRODUCTION DRAMATURGY
Before work on a production can begin a dramaturg may set out to secure permissions to use copyrighted material. Some provide help for the director during the casting. Often it can be useful to collate the script’s production history as a means to explore the plays previous incarnations and even take a look at we (or not) recieved they were. Also prior to beginning the rehearsal processfor the dramaturg to compile any and all research in order to explore and present the world of the play for the directors, techincal crews and cast. This would enable a shared and clear vision for the production from the outset.