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

I’m Deanie (she/her), a 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, 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. Most recently, I was on the Artistic Council for the 2024 National Playwrights Conference at the O’Neill.

Outside of theater I am an avid writer of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and now plays! My world premiere play, The Craic, opens at Milwaukee Rep in January 2025. Check out the “Writing” tab on my website to read some of my work. 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, traveling the world. and reading as much as possible (I especially love 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.

Recent & Upcoming Projects:

• The Craic, commissioned by Milwaukee Rep, world premiere January 2025 (co-writing with Mark Clements)

• Co-adjudicated the LMDA Elliott Hayes Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dramaturgy

• Dramaturgy support on Forward Theater’s Wisconsin Wrights New Play Festival