Hi! Thanks for stopping by my website! I hope you stay a while and take a look around.

I’m Deanie (she/her), a freelance dramaturg, producer, and writer with over a decade of experience in theater, specifically in new play development. For five years I was on the literary staff at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, and for two I oversaw their new play program as Literary Director. I’ve also worked with Baltimore Center Stage, Asolo Rep, Forward Theater, and NNPN/the Kennedy Center. I have collaborated with dozens of playwrights on new work, including Dael Orlandersmith, Ayad Akhtar, Idris Goodwin, Lloyd Suh, Kimberly Belflower, Eleanor Burgess, and Lauren Gunderson. For two years I served on the reading committee for the Yale Drama Prize under Judge Ayad Akhtar, and have been a reader for numerous organizations including the O’Neill, Great Plains Theater Conference, and the Playwrights Center.

Outside of theater I am an avid writer of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and now plays! My world premiere play, The Craic, opened at Milwaukee Rep in January 2025. Check out the “Writing” tab on my website to read some of my work and the “THE CRAIC” tab if you’re interested in producing our show! As a writer myself, I understand the need for trust, communication, and flexibility in collaborative creative work. Writing is personal, scary, and hard work–as a dramaturg, my job is to help champion, inspire, and support writers.

When not making art, I train birds of prey at a local nature center and brew beer (though not at the same time, for safety reasons). I’m a big lover of my plant babies, cooking Italian food to make my family proud, playing D&D with a bunch of other theater nerds, maintaining my 1100+ day streak on Duolingo, crocheting, traveling the world, and reading as much as possible (I especially love horror, fantasy, and New Weird fiction).

I’m always game to collaborate on any work–from musicals to straight plays, from new work to classic texts. Some highly specific areas of interest are new plays focusing on feral girlhood, history/mythology/Shakespeare explored through a contemporary lens, plays that play with genre (sci fi, fantasy, and horror), and the intersection of theater and nature/the environment. If anyone is planning on developing a play with birds, please please please reach out; it is my dream.

Recent & Upcoming Projects:

• Dramaturgy for Romeo and Juliet at Milwaukee Rep

• Script reading for the O’Neill’s National Playwrights Conference and the Playwrights’ Center Core Apprenticeship Program

• Dramaturgy Masterclass teaching with First Stage’s Young Company

• Dramaturgy for Great White Throne through Renaissance Theaterworks’ Br!nk New Play Festival