Amy McKenzie Projects

theatre directing / dramaturgy / producing

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I believe that meeting new work in a dramaturgical context is a privilege and honour. Fundamentally, my practice as a theatre maker involves working with other artists to make theatre and support craft development. Sometimes I work with artists when I am in a director role, sometimes in a dramaturg role, and sometimes in a producer role. I also work as a script reader, both for organisations and as a freelancer. I find fulfilment in all these roles.

As a theatremaker who works almost exclusively in new writing, I often develop and present work in scratch or development formats. I love working with playwrights and their work in this way, facilitating the process of new writing meeting audiences at an exciting and vital point of development. I work with all artists in a professional, respectful, gentle, and challenging way.

Some examples of my dramaturgical work are below. If you are looking to connect with someone with over a decade of dramaturgical experience, please do get in touch via amymckenzieprojects@outlook.com. Unfortunately, I don’t always have the capacity to read every script sent to me. If I can’t read your script I’ll happily point you in a suitable direction.

**Dramaturgy**
All my roles as a theatremaker have involved dramaturgy. An example of recent work in the specific role of dramaturg includes my work with CreateWorks.
CreateWorks aimed to explore the use of performance as a means for engineers to engage non-academic audiences with their research and for engineers to explore the use of drama as a means to understand the human aspects of their research. We set out to give engineers the skills to personalise and empathetically communicate their research and allow audiences to see themselves in those stories.
The project was generously supported by funding from the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Ingenious Award, which supports creative public engagement with engineering projects while providing engineers with skills and opportunities to share their stories, passion, and expertise with the public.
As part of the project, I led four three- hour workshops with fourteen engineers as they developed new audio dramas. The audio dramas were presented as part of the Science Festival in 2021 and at online events produced by the University of Edinburgh.

**Script Reading**
As well as being a previous assistant director at the Traverse Theatre and presenting my work as part of Traverse Hothouse, I have also been employed as a script reader. I have also read scripts for the Theatre Uncut Playwriting Award.
As part of my previous role at Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland, I facilitated the National Script Reading Service.
As a freelancer, I regularly read scripts from collaborators and offer both written and verbal feedback on their work.
When I’m reading a script I consider what the playwright is attending to do with the work and assess how effective the work does it. I reflect to the playwright my reaction and feelings to their work, and then offer suggestions and my general thoughts on the work.

**Directing Script-in-hand Performances**
At the Traverse Theatre, I have directed the following new writing script-in-hand events:
- Traverse Young Writers Scratch Night (May 2019), plays by Catherine Wilson, Bluey Little, and Claudia Lang
- Traverse Young Writers Scratch Night (April 2017), plays by Isla Turner, Erin McGee, Ula Moroz, Max Chase, Kerry Bruce, Stephen Redwood, and James Beagon
- Words Words Words (with Zinnie Harris) (December 2016), plays by Eszter Marsalkó, Martha Keith-Barnett, and Carolyn Lincoln
- An extract of *Milk* (deleted scene) by Ross Dunsmore, as part of *Over To E*u (July 2016)
I’ve also worked with Tandem Writing Collective. They were established and run by playwrights, Amy Hawes, Jennifer Adam, and Mhairi Quinn. The three writers read and critiqued each other's work before presenting the pieces at scratch events in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

I have directed at four Tandem events (June 2016, September 2016, June 2017, and February 2018).
In addition to directing work by the collective members, I also directed work by Rob Drummond, Clare Duffy, and Lynda Radley on behalf of Tandem.

**Research and Development**
Much of my work involves a research and development phase.
*Design by Disaster* was developed by Braw Fox Theatre and the University of Edinburgh.
As part of the development, an extract was shared at the Science Festival's Science in Spotlight Scratch Night (September 2016) and at a Critical Response Process workshop at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (August 2017).
Written by Dave Fargnoli
Directed and conceived by Jo Rush
Co-directed and dramaturgy by Amy McKenzie

Workshop Leading/Support Work - Lung Ha Theatre CompanyFollowing her work as an assistant director on Lung Ha Theatre Company's production of Dr Stirlingshire's Discovery, Amy has gone on to lead regular Tuesday workshops with the company and take o… — **Drama Support Work**
Following my work as an assistant director on Lung Ha Theatre Company's production of *Dr Stirlingshire's Discovery*, I went on to lead Tuesday workshops with the company and take on drama support work for the organisation.
For Lung Ha Theatre Company's production of Chekhov's *Three Sisters*, I lead outreach workshops related to the themes of the play with vulnerable adults who are interested in performing.
I also worked as a drama support worker on *Emma and Gill* (co-production with Catherine Wheels Theatre Company) and *We Are All Just Little Creatures* (co-production with Curious Seed).