Opera Dramaturgy
Des Moines Metro Opera (World Premiere) | West Edge Opera. (2026)
American Apollo by Damien Geter and Lila Palmer gives voice to a pivotal figure in American art: Thomas Eugene McKeller, a Black hotel worker who served as model and muse for famous portraitist John Singer Sargent. As a work of historical fiction, the opera imagines the story behind Sargent’s spare, nude portrait and sensual sketches of McKeller, whose image was transformed by Sargent into white-skinned Greek gods featured prominently in murals throughout Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.
Chicago Opera Theater (Concert Premieres)
Resident Dramaturg, Vanguard Initiative.
The Transformation of Jane Doe, by Stacy Garrop and Jerre Dye
It’s New Year’s Eve in Chicago, 1919. Just before the stroke of midnight, an anonymous woman leaps from the rooftop of a downtown hotel.
The Beekeeper, by Wang Lu and Kelley Rourke
A snapshot of the interlocking cycles of human, apian, and arboreal life, The Beekeeper is a meditation on time, grief, and hope.
The Weight of Light, by Gillian Rae Perry and Marcus Amaker
When a child inherits a magical ability that allows them to speak with objects, it opens up a new world of possibilities.
American Lyric Theater
Trusted, by Aaron Israel Levin and Marella Martin Koch
When an accomplished financial advisor is exposed for orchestrating a decades-long fraud, the fallout extends far beyond his clients…
Resident Artist, Composer Librettist Development Program | Guest Lecturer, Bard College | Panelist, Pathways to Opera for Dramaturgs.
Comic Dramaturgy
Kate dramaturgs, appears in, and occasionally co-writes Good Tickle Brain, the world’s only Shakespeare stick-figure webcomic.
Q&A: Kate Pitt, Pocket Dramaturg
Apart from being a delightful human being, Kate is also a genuine Shakespearean powerhouse, with a vast amount of both scholarly and practical Shakespeare knowledge and experience. You might have noticed that many of my recent comics have included the note “Thanks to my pocket dramaturg, Kate Pitt, for consulting with me on this comic.” This is because I quickly fell into the habit of texting Kate with random Shakespeare-related questions, like “IN HOW MANY SHAKESPEARE PLAYS DO SHEEP REGULARLY APPEAR ON STAGE?” Kate, in her infinite patience and bottomless depth of knowledge, would always promptly text me back with answers, including sources. It was like having my own personal dramaturg in my pocket.
A huge HUGE thanks to my pocket dramaturg, Kate Pitt, for being with me every step of the way, answering all the random questions I had about the text, making sure my storytelling was clear, discussing the pros and cons of different interpretations, fixing typos, and generally being the best moral support a Shakespearean cartoonist could wish for.
Purchase the book with 45 pages of additional material or read the webcomic for free online.
Theater Dramaturgy
Theresa Rebeck, Bernhardt/Hamlet
Folger Shakespeare Library
Nell Gwynn, French Dialect Coach
Romeo and Juliet, Dramaturg Assistant
The Reduced Shakespeare Company
Reduced Shakespeare Company Podcast Episode 492 – The Comedy of Hamlet! (a prequel)
Dramaturg Kate Pitt joins us for a deep dive into the creation of the script for The Comedy of Hamlet! (a prequel), on which she cast her dramaturgical magic. Kate discusses its biofictional elements and reveals the identity of the most confusing Hamlet ever…