In the theater, a dramaturg holds a position that gained its modern-day function through the innovations of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, a playwright and theater practitioner who worked in Germany in the 18th century. For other usages see Theatre (disambiguation) Theater (American English) or Theatre (British English and widespread usage among theatre professionals in the US) is that branch of the performing arts concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience using combinations of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle — indeed... Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (January 22, 1729 - February 15, 1781), writer, philosopher, publicist, and art thinker, is the most outstanding German representative of the Enlightenment era. ... A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is someone who writes dramatic literature or drama. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ...

The dramaturg's contribution was to categorize and discuss the various types and kinds of plays, their interconnectedness and their styles. Enhanced by a tradition of generous support for theater as part of German cultural identity, which gave nearly every city a fully staffed theater supported by public funds, the position of dramaturg includes the hiring of actors and the development of a season of plays with a sense of the connectedness between them, the assistance and editing of new plays by resident or guest playwrights, the creation of programs or accompanying educational services and even helping the director with rehearsals, serving as elucidator of history or spokesperson for absent (deceased) playwrights.

In the United Kingdom, dramaturgs function similarly although they are more often, themselves, also playwrights. In the USA, where this position was until recently relatively unknown, it has enjoyed a recent growth particularly in cutting edge theaters with an emphasis on developing new plays within the theater.