29.06.2023

Dramaturgs' Network: Elliot Hayes Award

David Harris, Jarkko Lehmus and Katalin Trencsényi have won the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs’ of the Americas (LMDA) 2023 Elliott Hayes Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dramaturgy.

The award was presented on 24th June at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Canada at the annual conference of the LMDA.

This year’s winners, a British company manager, a British-Hungarian dramaturg, and a Finnish artistic director, worked in collaboration as the British Dramaturgs’ Network’s Contract Working Group. As a result of the team’s years of dedicated volunteering work, the d’n Dramaturgs’ Contract Package was created. This ground-breaking package is the first-ever comprehensive contract specifically created for dramaturgs in the United Kingdom. It contains nine recommended practice documents designed to help freelance dramaturgs and producers create fairer and better-informed employment contracts. At the heart of this project is a desire to enhance the visibility of the dramaturg’s contribution by identifying the many concrete tasks that the role embraces, and making the dramaturg’s invisible labour visible.

The package, that the winners of this prestigious international award developed, comprises recommendations for engaging freelance dramaturgs, including a fully-detailed job description and recommended fees for dramaturgs, thus improving the conditions under which dramaturgs are engaged and paid for freelance work, this way having a long-lasting impact on the field in the UK and beyond. The LMDA endorsed the package as “an essential and invaluable resource”.

The creation of this package was a several-year-long process. The three winners volunteered their time, knowledge, and combined their experience and skills during the working process. It included research into legal issues, surveying data of the field, collecting sample contracts and comparing them, harvesting case studies, discussing various scenarios (things that can go wrong) during a production process, devising these legal documents, creating clauses for every possible scenario, devising a ground-breaking job description and creating the accompanying user manuals.

The winners say:

David Harris commented, “winning this award endorses for me the value of this contract for freelance dramaturgs, improving both recognition and visibility”.

Jarkko Lehmus says, "I am honoured and humbled by this recognition from the global community of fellow dramaturgs. We dramaturgs might do some of our work by ourselves, but we never do anything truly alone. Collaboration was at the heart of creating the d’n Dramaturgs’ Contract Package. This recognition belongs to all who have taken part in the process."

Katalin Trencsényi noted, “I am delighted and proud that our names will join the line of
eminent dramaturgs who have previously received this award. With this project, we wanted
to draw attention to examining the values reflected in the artistic processes and their
working conditions.”

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Named in honour of Elliott Hayes, the former dramaturg and literary manager at The Stratford Festival and a dual citizen of Canada and the USA, this award recognizes excellence in dramaturgical work on a specific project over the past two years. The 2023 Elliott Hayes Award is presented at the annual LMDA conference, and the recipient(s) receive $1000 US and a travel stipend to the following LMDA conference.

More on the award and its previous recipients
More on the d’n Dramaturgs’ Contract Package

BIOGRAPHIES:

David Harris worked as a stage manager and company manager before becoming a Company Secretary and an MBA. He was Business Manager at Company of Angels for nine years and Finance Manager at Told by an Idiot. He is now Business Manager for Simon Spencer Productions Ltd and co-producing the musical Starr!

Jarkko Lehmus is the director of Cirko - Center for New Circus in Helsinki, Finland, and a freelance dramaturg. He has worked internationally both on and off the stage in over 30 countries. His
experience ranges from physical theatre to neoclassical ballet and conceptual performance art to commercial television productions.

Katalin Trencsényi is a dramaturg, theatre-maker, and researcher, working in the fields of contemporary
theatre, dance and performance in the UK and internationally. She has edited and authored many
books, including Dramaturgy in the Making (Bloomsbury, 2015). Currently, Katalin is working as a
lecturer on the Comparative Dramaturgy and Performance Research programme at the University of the Arts Helsinki.

For more information, please contact:
David Harris: david@dramaturgy.co.uk