I believe the mission of dramaturgy is to serve the intention of the playwright’s vision through research of place and time and, most importantly, with great care and attention paid to the essence of the characters created. A playwright pours their soul into a piece of theatre. A play has a life to live and characters to serve. It is of the utmost importance that respect and honor be paid to the words written by, and the world conceived from, the artist who first gave it the air to breathe.

Carolyn Messina (Member: LMDA) has served as dramaturgical consultant for the National Showcase of New Plays (NNPN) (10-city rolling world premiere), the Southern Writers Festival (Alabama Shakes), Signature Theater's SigWorks,  BMCC Showcase (NYC), Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights (Barter Theatre), Hollins Playwright's Lab. Other productions include: The Gulf (Chicago premiere (About Face Theatre), Hank Williams: Lost Highway (Florida Rep), and Maytag Virgin (world premiere: Women's Voices Theater Festival). She has also worked in various capacities of dramaturgical support for plays such as Safety Net (Daryl Fazio), Winter Break/Spring Break (Joe Calarco), Ten Minutes on a Bench (Kenneth Jones), and perhaps most notably, Maytag Virgin, The Gulf, Alabaster, Trouble, and The Garment, as longtime dramaturg for playwright Audrey Cefaly.​​​