Celebrated Dramaturg Morgan Jenness Has Died

Renowned dramaturg Morgan Jenness has died. Their passing has drawn public statements from a number of institutions and artists with whom they collaborated throughout their career, including Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, Columbia University School of the Arts, among others.

“Morgan Jenness, I hope you’ve found that perfect wave someplace just beyond,” wrote Nottage on Instagram. “I will miss your nurturing spirit, your infectious love of theater, and the way somehow you miraculously managed to be everywhere in support of your colleagues. It was a pure joy listening to you wax poetic about theater, and I can’t believe that I won’t see you in the hallway, rumpled, smiling and eager to discuss a student’s play.”

Eustis made a statement on behalf of the Public Theater, where Jenness worked for over a decade, serving under both Artistic Director George C. Wolfe and founder Joseph Papp. “For almost half a century, Morgan was a fierce, unwavering advocate for downtown writers and artists, especially for those who work without the sanction of mainstream society,” Eustis wrote. “As a dramaturg, agent, teacher, critic, gadfly, and activist, she contributed more to our theater world than I can express.”

Considered one of the most widely respected dramaturgs in the theater industry, Jenness trained hundreds of artists through their work with theaters, festivals and as a teacher and mentor. Jenness served as associate producer of the New York Shakespeare Festival, associate artistic director at New York Theatre Workshop and associate director at the Los Angeles Theater Center. They also worked with the Young Playwrights Festival, the Mark Taper Forum, the Playwrights Center/Playlabs, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Double Image/New York Stage and Film, CSC, Victory Gardens, Hartford Stage and Center Stage as a dramaturg, workshop director and artistic consultant.

Jenness additionally taught in programs at Columbia University, University of Iowa, Brown University, Bread Loaf, New York University, Fordham University at Lincoln Center and Pace University. Over the course of their career, Jenness received an Obie Award Special Citation for Longtime Support of Playwrights, the Doris Duke Impact Award and the G. E. Lessing Award for Career Achievement from the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas.