Program: DRAMATURGY

Mary Margaret Kunze

BFA DRAMATURGY, 2012

Mary-Margaret Kunze is a producer and casting assistant who earned her BFA in Dramaturgy from CMU’s School of Drama in 2012. Shortly after graduation, she began working in casting under the tutelage of Emmy Award-winning casting director Cami Patton, contributing to shows such as “Justified,” “Parenthood” and “About a Boy,” among others. 

Mary-Margaret has several producorial credits as well, beginning as a co-producer on the fourth season of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”, before continuing as a co-producer on the third season of “Daredevil” the first and second season of “Cloak & Dagger” and the second season of “Runaways.” Outside of the MCU, Mary-Margaret has recently executive produced the true-crime miniseries “The Thing About Pam” starring Renee Zellwegger and the feature film “Miller’s Girl” starring Jenna Ortega and Martin Freeman. 

Kendra Chanae Chapman

BFA DRAMATURGY, 2011

Kendra Chanae Chapman is a writer and producer who earned her BFA in Dramaturgy from the School of Drama in 2011 (completing the program in three years instead of four). Since then, she has produced several projects, including “Avant-Guardians” and “19 Weeks” from fellow CMU Dramaturgy alum Alesia Etinoff. 

She has many television writing credits to her name as well, including “Designated Survivor” (staff writer), “Emergence” (story editor) and most recently “Power Book IV: Force” (executive story editor), for which she is also a producer.

Ryan Dumas

BFA DRAMATURGY, 2019

Ryan Dumas, a graduate of both the BFA Dramaturgy and Master of Arts Management programs at CMU, is a producer, fundraiser, dramaturg and project manager specializing in new work development, corporate giving and financial analysis. 

A member of both Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas and Americans for the Arts as well as the TEDxBroadway Young Professionals 2020 cohort, Ryan has worked with companies all over the United States, including Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, the Alley Theatre, City Theatre, William Morris Endeavor, PlayPenn, the Drama League, and Fringe Arts Philadelphia. He is the creator of the New Works Risk Assessment Calculator, a season-planning tool for nonprofit theatres combining dramaturgical and managerial considerations, and has consulted for the Sweetwater Center for the Arts, On Site Opera, and Mattel, Inc.

Currently, Ryan serves as a consultant at CCS Fundraising, providing embedded advisory services to create and implement impactful development plans for nonprofits.

Alesia Etinoff

BFA DRAMATURGY, 2014

Alesia Etinoff is an LA-based writer and actress who graduated from the School of Drama with a BFA in Dramaturgy in 2014. After working as a Talent Agent Assistant at Innovative Artists, Alesia became an executive assistant and showrunner assistant at ABC Studios, working on the comedy series “The Mayor”. 

Alesia is an accomplished writer as well. Most recently, she was a Story Editor on season 2 of “The Game” on Paramount+ after being a staff writer on the first season. Last year, Alesia sold and developed “Avant–Guardians” with Paramount+, CBS TV Studios and Trevor Noah’s Day Zero Productions and Avalon as Executive Producers, based on her award-winning webseries; she was attached as creator, writer and star. In May of 2022, Alesia wrote and performed a comedy one woman show about purity culture, “Allie v. The Abstinence Pledge” to sold out crowds at the Hudson Theatre in Hollywood. The short film that she wrote/starred in alongside Lamorne Morris (“New Girl”), Sherri Shepherd (“The View”), and Marque Richardson (“Dear White People”), “19 Weeks”, was featured in Popsugar and Shadow & Act; the film was executive produced by Zoe Saldana’s company, Cinestar. 

VISIT ALESIA’S WEBSITE

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Olivia O’Connor

BFA DRAMATURGY, 2013

Since graduating from the School of Drama’s BFA Dramaturgy program in 2013, Olivia has had a varied and busy career as a dramaturg. She has served as the Literary Manager & Dramaturg at Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles since 2022, where she facilitates the Geffen’s Writers’ Room and has worked on projects such as The Inheritance, Every Brilliant Thing, and the upcoming production of Jake Brasch’s The Reservoir, which will have its world premiere in partnership with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and the Alliance Theatre in 2025. 

Olivia’s other creative development experience includes staff positions at Pittsburgh CLO (Manager of New Work Development), and Roundabout Theatre Company (Artistic Associate), as well as dramaturgy and selection committee work with the Ojai Playwrights Conference, City Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Bricolage Production Company, and the National Alliance for Musical Theatre.

Olivia found dramaturgy through playwriting, and she has continued to write plays and fiction outside of her institutional work. Her play Life-Changing Magic was a 2020 finalist for the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference and The Playwrights Realm Scratchpad Series and was featured in City Theatre Company’s Momentum Festival.

VISIT OLIVIA’S WEBSITE