Two aspects of this conversation with dramaturg Aki Matsushita stood out to me most. One was learning what the expansive field of dramaturgy is all about. As Aki says, it’s an art practice that doesn’t necessarily show itself to people outside the development process. The practitioners themselves don’t even agree on how to pronounce it.

My biggest takeaway was that the dramaturg can help answer the question, 'why this story now?'

The other is a tangent I went on somewhere in the middle about cross-cultural communication. I was planning to remove it, but Aki’s response was both generous and illuminating, so I kept it in. It’s something I don’t know much about (obviously), so I thought it might be useful for others to hear about as well.

Learn more about Aki and her work through the Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal website at playwrights.ca/who-we-are as well as her Instagram @kikimg07