Quick Answers

Frequent Questions

[01]

the offer

What is Sydney Dramaturgical?

Sydney Dramaturgical is a web magazine started by a theatre company. We critique performance from inside the industry and commission reviews, essays, and interviews about live performance across three cities: Sydney, New York, and Montréal. We're tastemakers and archivists — we discover, interpret, and preserve independent performance.We publish in English and French. In odd years, we also produce theatre; the writing operation runs continuously.

[02]

operation

How is SDC funded, and who runs it?

SDC is founded and edited by Aubrey Naur, with a distributed team of contributing writers across our three cities and editorial support from collaborators. The publication is funded by a combination of grants, individual contributions (including through our fundraising campaigns), and the labour of the people who run it.We are currently building the infrastructure to run advertising and accept sponsored content. Our editorial thesis is that SEO visibility and being a social-media-native publication are compatible with rigorous criticism — that a publication can be commercially serious and editorially serious at the same time, and that the two reinforce each other when the boundaries are clearly drawn. Sponsored placements, when they arrive, will be visually distinguished from editorial and will never influence commissioning or criticism.

[03]

writers

Who can write for Sydney Dramaturgical, and do I need published bylines?

We commission writers from three cities: Sydney and elsewhere in NSW; New York City (Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Queens — not the wider state); Montréal and elsewhere in Quebec. Reviews require you to be physically in the city where the show is happening. Essays and interviews are portable: you can pitch from any of our three editorial locations.No published bylines are required. Unpublished writing samples are fine. We read for voice and critical thinking, not for CV. Writers with performance backgrounds (actors, directors, dramaturgs, designers, stage managers, musicians who work in live performance) are especially welcome. SDC critiques from inside the industry.

[04]

Process

What is the editorial process like?

Once a writer is commissioned, SDC shares the submission template for the relevant format. The writer files a first draft. Copy edits (grammar, style, punctuation, formatting) are handled by the editor. Substantive changes (structural, argumentative, or interpretive) are discussed with the writer before publishing. Writers who disagree with an edit are encouraged to push back respectfully and constructively. It's a conversation, not a diktat. Once a piece is agreed, SDC does not add tasks or expand the assignment. Any changes to future scope are discussed with the writer in advance.

[05]

Copyright

Who owns the piece — can writers republish it elsewhere?

Writers retain ownership of their writing. SDC has a six-month exclusivity window from publication, during which the piece is available only through our site. After that six-month period, writers can republish anywhere, with the credit line "first published in Sydney Dramaturgical." Pieces remain in the SDC archive after the exclusivity period. The archive is a core part of SDC's editorial mission — the record of what happened in a particular scene at a particular time is why the writing matters to us. If a writer's name or identity changes, or if there is another good reason to update or remove a piece, we work with them on it. Requests should be sent to editorial@sydneydramaturgical.com.

[07]

AI policy

What is SDC's policy on AI in commissioned writing?

We use AI for administrative work but not for editorial writing, and we ask writers to hold to the same distinction. Using AI as a research assistant or a proofing tool is normal. The sentences we publish need to be yours. AI-drafted prose in commissioned writing is grounds for not publishing. We publish criticism that says what it thinks, including when what it thinks is not favourable. Writers should be prepared to write negatively about shows they don't admire, and to defend positions in the text rather than through hedging or false balance.

[08]

Support Team

How do I reach your support team directly?