Ally Varitek

Ally Varitek

My name is Ally Varitek (she/her/hers), and I am a dramaturg with an acting background currently based outside of Atlanta, GA. I've been a self-professed interdisciplinary aficionado for as long as I can remember, straddling the line between a love of learning and a passion for creativity. I find myself enamored with approaching relationships from a place of abundance instead of competition and find...
My name is Ally Varitek (she/her/hers), and I am a dramaturg with an acting background currently based outside of Atlanta, GA. I've been a self-professed interdisciplinary aficionado for as long as I can remember, straddling the line between a love of learning and a passion for creativity. I find myself enamored with approaching relationships from a place of abundance instead of competition and find learning about the human experience and how to be in citizenship across differences through theatre always draws my heart.

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.

CURRENT WORK
- ARCHIVAL: The Rodgers & Hammerstein Photo Archives
- DRAMATURGY: MusicalWriters.com Affiliate Dramaturg; Digital Dramaturgy Project Affiliate Dramaturg
- LITERARY MANAGEMENT: Amphibian Stage's SparkFest '24
- SCRIPT READING: Amphibian Stage's SparkFest '24, SheDFWArts

PREVIOUS WORK
- ARCHIVAL: Baylor Theatre; The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization
- DRAMATURGY: 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
- SCRIPT READING: BAPF '23, Epiphanies '22 & '23, Samuel French OOB '22, O'Neill NPC '22

Recommended by Ally Varitek

  • Buzz by Hope Villanueva
    8 Apr. 2024
    “ This one is especially my jam in terms of theme, so perhaps a bit biased, but... Well-rounded scientist women characters? An entomologist who gets metaphysical when she sleeps? A fight sequence between insects? It's buzz-tacular! Its magical realism is cleverly and creatively crafted. This play is such an effective vehicle for varying personalities and different generations trying to find a way to communicate with each other, survive, and fight against patriarchy. I especially admire the ways in which its fully formed characters challenge and rewrite stereotypes about women in science. I want to see this produced! #SparkFest24 ”
  • How to Lose a Sleep Paralysis Demon in 10 Days by Parker Davis Gray
    8 Jan. 2024
    “ This play is funny and sad and horrific and beautiful. I always adore the coming-of-age of the secrets we are too afraid to say out loud. Parker Gray’s deft slaloms between wit, boldness, and vulnerability provide playground for both actors and their audiences in this play. It only helps that he is artistically savvy and lovely to work with. The dialectic and physical landscapes in this play are also rich & a designer's dream. I fell in love with the characters’ quirks, gasped at their mistakes, and cried at their endings. I cannot wait to see this produced! ”
  • cry hard by CALDER MEIS
    8 Jan. 2024
    “ A delightfully raucous participatory play encounters theatricality and legacy, agency over one’s past and its recollection in the future, and Truth. I’ve seen this play in multiple iterations as its dramaturg and find each time Alexander permeates time, space, and even the stage directions in each to offer a hilariously heartbreaking conversation about identity and how authenticity necessitates vulnerability. Calder is wonderfully thoughtful to work with and intellectually playful, which comes out through the plays' themes in ways you can’t even fathom. You’re in for a sore belly and an aching conscience with this one! ”
  • 18 by Darius M. Buckley
    21 Sep. 2023
    “ Other recommendations touch on the genius of this playwright's poetry, and so I'd love to uplift the rhythm of the language in this piece. Pacing and poetic verse work together in this play with a deeply empathic slam. The increasing speed and intensity generated by the arc of this narrative offers a feeling both jarring and honest about the realities of mass incarceration for Black youth. I saw this piece multiple times at the OOB Festival as a festival coordinator and can't help but also highlight how heart-forward Darius is as a playwright. A must-read and a need-to-see-again. ”
  • Freestyle Hand Entry by Elise Wien
    21 Sep. 2023
    “ Ches' character charms in this poetically crafted exploration of gender fluidity through childhood nostalgia by Elise Wien. I encountered this play in the spring and yet still find myself myself contemplating the parallels between swimming and gender fluidity. I would really encourage actors looking to venture into solo performance work and also any creatives interested in gender identity to check out this piece! ”
View all 18 recommendations