Ally Varitek

My name is Ally Varitek (she/her/hers), and I am a dramaturg, arts administrator, and new works advocate who has worked in the Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, and New York City areas. With a background in acting, acapella, choir, musical theatre, and sports, I knit all sides of my performance past, movement methods, introverted disposition, and current literary affinity in the development of new works

Special niches include stories with space for melancholy and the bittersweet, movement in theatre, environmental science and climate change, plays with music, musicals (including acapella), literary adaptations, and femme-centric stories. Those are some specifics, but I also have a wide and varied interest in all theatrical works and promise to approach your writing with an open heart and...

My name is Ally Varitek (she/her/hers), and I am a dramaturg, arts administrator, and new works advocate who has worked in the Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, and New York City areas. With a background in acting, acapella, choir, musical theatre, and sports, I knit all sides of my performance past, movement methods, introverted disposition, and current literary affinity in the development of new works

Special niches include stories with space for melancholy and the bittersweet, movement in theatre, environmental science and climate change, plays with music, musicals (including acapella), literary adaptations, and femme-centric stories. Those are some specifics, but I also have a wide and varied interest in all theatrical works and promise to approach your writing with an open heart and curious mind. You'll see this in both my recommendations and past work!

Favorites: Introverted characters (#theatreneedsmoreintroverts), stories with space for melancholy and the bittersweet, environmental science and climate themes, literary adaptations, femme-centric stories, plays with music, sports (specifically tennis, volleyball, flag football, and women’s soccer), and folk musicals.

Has a special heart for elevating the work of playwrights from the American South (from Georgia, spent time in Texas).

CURRENT WORK
- ARCHIVAL: The Rodgers & Hammerstein Photo Archives
- DRAMATURGY: MusicalWriters.com Dramaturg; Digital Dramaturgy Project Collaborator & Dramaturg; Working Title Playwrights New Work Development Apprentice.
- LITERARY MANAGEMENT: DDP's Fall 2024 Program, The Match; Amphibian Stage's SparkFest '25.
- SCRIPT READING: BAPF; Playwrights' Center Fellowships; SHE ATL/DFW/NYC Arts.

PREVIOUS WORK
- ARCHIVAL: Baylor Theatre; The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization
- DRAMATURGY: Assistant Dramaturg for They Love Violence by Jacob York and Public Wickedness by Lee Osorio at Working Title Playwrights' Ethel Woolson Lab (2024); Dramaturg for Chuan & Eve by Lyra Nalan as part of DDP's Playshare Evolution (2024). Digital Development Project, 2023 (How to Lose a Sleep Paralysis Demon in 10 Days by Parker Davis Gray; cry hard by Calder Meis; Songs of Angels by Emilia Getzinger); cry hard thesis by Calder Meis at Baylor University; University productions of Airness by Chelsea Marcantel, Sunday in the Park with George by Sondheim, and CaBEARet Musical Theatre Revue; Theatre for Young Audience Dramaturgy includes The Leonardo Project by Young Festival Stage and Michael Sullivan; Kennedy Center Dramaturgy Intensive 2021 Fellow.
- LITERARY MANAGEMENT: Amphibian Stage's SparkFest '24
- SCRIPT READING: Working Title Playwrights' Ethel Woolson Lab '24, Amphibian Stage's SparkFest '24, BAPF '23, Epiphanies '22 & '23, Samuel French OOB '22, O'Neill NPC '22, SheDFWArts '24, DDP's Fall 2024 Program, The Match.

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Recommended by

  • This play proves that sometimes the classics can be made even tastier with some contemporary sprinkles! This play was lively, its wit both sharp and fresh and on occasion the right dose of silly, and its characters a wonderful tapestry of all kinds of comedy. THIS is a play we need produced right now! Less misogyny, more pants and delightful anachronisms. Theatres, program this new comedy if you want to engage your audiences and keep them laughing while supporting diverse artists!

    This play proves that sometimes the classics can be made even tastier with some contemporary sprinkles! This play was lively, its wit both sharp and fresh and on occasion the right dose of silly, and its characters a wonderful tapestry of all kinds of comedy. THIS is a play we need produced right now! Less misogyny, more pants and delightful anachronisms. Theatres, program this new comedy if you want to engage your audiences and keep them laughing while supporting diverse artists!

  •

    A thoughtful exploration of incarceration through cyclical structure, parallels to Dante’s Inferno, & the walls that trap people in different circles. The characters are well rounded, & I’m especially fascinated by the Narrator and how strong that character is thematically, as it indicates systems of oppression that want to resolve themselves of individual blame. I got to witness this play through the Digital Development Project’s Digital Play Lab and would love to see more. #PlayshareEvolution

    A thoughtful exploration of incarceration through cyclical structure, parallels to Dante’s Inferno, & the walls that trap people in different circles. The characters are well rounded, & I’m especially fascinated by the Narrator and how strong that character is thematically, as it indicates systems of oppression that want to resolve themselves of individual blame. I got to witness this play through the Digital Development Project’s Digital Play Lab and would love to see more. #PlayshareEvolution

  •

    As someone who finds herself unable to look at life without both melancholy and joy, this play feels rooted in something familiar yet not often given the space onstage. This is a bittersweet meditation on loss, from the seemingly small loss as distance grows in childhood friendships to true tragedy that you often don’t have words for until years later. I’m left in a contemplative space after reading this piece and would love to experience it together with an audience.

    As someone who finds herself unable to look at life without both melancholy and joy, this play feels rooted in something familiar yet not often given the space onstage. This is a bittersweet meditation on loss, from the seemingly small loss as distance grows in childhood friendships to true tragedy that you often don’t have words for until years later. I’m left in a contemplative space after reading this piece and would love to experience it together with an audience.

  •

    I love that this play acknowledges both the healing power of getting in tune with your body after trauma AND the darkness that can come from the intersection of toxic femininity and wellness culture in the aftermath. This play is a wrestling match and a dream of a two-hander for female actor-athletes. I can see this being great material for stage combat scene work as well as a full performance in a traditional space OR on location. Can someone program this now so I can come??

    I love that this play acknowledges both the healing power of getting in tune with your body after trauma AND the darkness that can come from the intersection of toxic femininity and wellness culture in the aftermath. This play is a wrestling match and a dream of a two-hander for female actor-athletes. I can see this being great material for stage combat scene work as well as a full performance in a traditional space OR on location. Can someone program this now so I can come??

  •

    THIS is the history play I want to see! This play explores the nature of changing technologies, the origins of writing, gender, state power, resistance to it, handlessness, disability, and the invention of poetry. We go back in time to contemplate identity, expression, and language as the Assyrian empire shifts from cuneiform to Aramaic. It begs the question of art & technology in a manner that feels timely with questions about A.I. and delivered with some much-needed laughter. #SparkFest23

    THIS is the history play I want to see! This play explores the nature of changing technologies, the origins of writing, gender, state power, resistance to it, handlessness, disability, and the invention of poetry. We go back in time to contemplate identity, expression, and language as the Assyrian empire shifts from cuneiform to Aramaic. It begs the question of art & technology in a manner that feels timely with questions about A.I. and delivered with some much-needed laughter. #SparkFest23

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