The annual A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Festival provides a few student playwrights in the Washington University community with the opportunity to let their unique visions come to life onstage. These playwrights have one goal: to create.

t in the Carson Room waiting to begin my new job as assistant dramaturg for the A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Festival, I had two distinct thoughts: “What is a dramaturg,” and “Please don’t make it as bad as it sounds.”