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ABOUT ME

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Photo: Lynne DeLade

Emily Dzioba

EMILY M. DZIOBA (she/her) is an emerging dramaturg, arts administrator, and educator based in New Jersey, the ancestral lands of the Lenape people. As a dramaturg and (occasional) director, Emily connects most strongly with new play development. Production research and crafting audience engagement tools are also favored facets of work. Emily's goal in any project or position is to connect audiences with resonant stories that they will identify with and cherish. She feels a strong connection to breaking down the racial, economic, gendered, and xenophobic gatekeeping that prevents access to theatrical work. 

 

Currently, Emily is the Associate Dramaturg and Director of the Storyteller Studio at The New Jersey Play Lab, a new play development home for New Jersey-based writers. She assists Cheryl Katz and Kaitlin Stillwell with dramaturgical insight on plays of all levels; created, launched, and leads The Storyteller Studio; managed their Residency submissions and reading process; and leads her own sections of PlayGym playwriting forums. She also works with Theater Masters, providing dramaturgical support to Take Ten MFA playwrights and the Visionary Commission playwrights. Emily is an original member and Managing Director of The Strides Collective, a new company that develops work by emerging playwrights that embraces the queer experience. Outside of her artistic career, Emily is proud to be a member of the team at Night Castle Management.

 

And when she needs a break from work, along with Talia Smith, Emily is a co-producer of Once Upon A Time: A Storytelling Podcast-- a project designed to embrace the storyteller in us all. 

 

Emily has worked with Tectonic Theater Project as their Education Intern, assisting the Moment Work Institute; George Street Playhouse; Keen Company; the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey; the Writers Theatre of New Jersey; and Paper Mill Playhouse's 2020 Rising Stars Program. Other artistic homes include the lobby of Mile Square Theater in Hoboken and in the booth at Ensemble Studio Theatre's Happy Hour series. Emily is a script reader for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Premiere Stages, She NYC Arts, KitchenDog, and the Campfire Theatre Festival. She is a proud member of LMDA (The Literary Managers and Darmaturgs of the Americas. 

 

She has assisted Jamie Richards (Ensemble Studio Theatre), as well as Eric Parness (Resonance Ensemble), the late Rodney Gilbert (Yendor Productions), and Daniel LaPenta on various professional and educational projects. As an educator, Emily has worked with the Union Catholic Performing Arts Company as their resident dramaturg and artistic mentor. She has also done educational work and training at George Street Playhouse.

 

A proud graduate of Drew University, Emily received her BA in Theatre Arts with Specialized Honors. Emily's most notable undergraduate project is serving as the dramaturg on an original devised piece, 4320p: IMMERSION, conceived under the mentorship of Tectonic Theater Project Master Teachers Barbara Pitts McAdams and Scott Barrow, and Dr. Lisa Brenner and Chris Ceraso of Drew. Emily presented her thesis research on 4320p at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education's annual conference as a 2019 Dramaturgy Debut Panelist. She aims to continue research into the effectiveness of a dramaturg within different devising methods in graduate school.

While studying at Drew, her concentration was primarily in directing. Highlights of her directing experience include a beta-script production of Heathers the Musical, in which she worked in close proximity to writers Kevin Murphy and Laurence O'Keefe; a premiere production of a student-written play Boys Rule; assisting professorial directing of Shakespeare and August Wilson's work; and numerous staged readings of student-written work.

 

Emily loves pugs, enjoys watching Jeopardy!, knitting, and baking. She credits her deep love of dramaturgy (especially conversations around form and content) to her mentor, Dr. Lisa Brenner.

 

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LET'S GET IN TOUCH

Up-to-date resumes are available upon request.

Photo: Madeleine Blossom

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