Theatre job titles are often self-explanatory. Actors act. Playwrights write plays. Costume designers, surprise surprise, design costumes. By these standards, the title of dramaturg is downright cryptic. So I reached out to Martine Kei Green-Rogers, dramaturg for the Denver Center Theatre Company production of The Hot Wing King, to gain some more insight into dramaturgy and the world of Katori Hall’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Our following conversation has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

Martine Kei Green-Rogers

To start off, could you explain what it is that a dramaturg does?

I think the best way to describe it is “duties as assigned.” I help with historical research. I help with cultural context. I help with overall storytelling. I’m here to serve the vision, to marry the vision of the text on a page with the vision of the director that ends up on the stage.

You’d be surprised, the random things that I have done in my career as a dramaturg. I taught somebody how to knit for a show. I’ve also had to research things that I wasn’t expecting, like how to do drugs. I was like, “I don’t know that, but I’m gonna find out so I can help you figure that out.”

In your time in the field, how have you seen the role of the dramaturg evolve?

The evolution of technology has definitely affected the way that I do my work. Once upon a time, dramaturgs were out in the libraries. Now, with the advent of Google and all these other things, there’s less of a need to always do the research aspect. But there is a need to figure out the context, how it is applied, what that means in terms of audience engagement.

What would be an example of that engagement in The Hot Wing King?

We have these songs…that are mentioned in the world of the play [such as “Never Too Much” by Luther Vandross], but then there’s also the sonic landscape around the play. So some of the things that we have had conversations about, especially with the sound designer, are what kind of tone, what kind of vibe do we want the audience to have coming in?

Even the playlist that you hear coming into the space sets you up for the fact that this is a play based in some of the essentials of Black soul and Black gospel, which I think is really important. It’s not like our sound designer just went and pulled a bunch of songs from the time period. We’re actually curating a vibe, an emotion, a feeling for people.

One of the things that was so joyful watching the invited dress last night…there was somebody I was sitting near that when one of the Luther songs came on, they were like, “Oh my God, I love this song.” And you can just feel their entire energy shift because they were hearing a song that meant something to them. That’s the kind of thing that we talk about curating. How do we bring audiences into the world of the play?

The Hot Wing King has “king” in the title. The play has a lot of talk of crowns. Dwayne’s house is compared to a castle. How do these elements operate in the show?

One of the things that’s interesting to me about Black African-American culture is our reverence for royalty, and how we have a tendency to use royal titles for people when we really truly uphold and revere them, or respect them as a human. My first place of reference — think about how people call Beyonce “Queen Bey.” Things like that.

There’s also where the influx of gay culture and Black queer culture comes in too. I think people, especially Black folk, love to use this type of [royal] terminology in order to evoke joy and to evoke respect. Where we see this manifest in the storytelling is the fact that it is an honor to be seen as a king of kings. It is a place of joy to be a queen in these cultural contexts.

Speaking of context — the show is set in Memphis, Tennessee. Cordell is from St. Louis. Isom is from New Orleans. What is the role of place in The Hot Wing King?

When you think about the history of Memphis and all the things that have happened culturally for Black Americans in Memphis, there’s something to be said about that. What we’ve talked about is also how Black folk migrate across and find themselves in urban hubs. Especially how people move around in the South. But then also all kinds of migration.

It makes me think of this line where Cordell is talking about how he uprooted his life, how he moved all the way down from St. Louis. And Big Charles says, “St. Louis ain’t all the way from nowhere.”

I think that’s the thing. In a country of this size, we sometimes forget that there is proximity, there is a potential for community across all sorts of state lines, et cetera. The question is, what are the things that bind us or connect us to one another? And how do we embrace those things as opposed to using it as a place of difference?

I would be remiss if I did not talk about food. The play opens with Cordell listing all the different wings that New Wing Order cooks up. How is food functioning in the story?

For most cultures, food is a connector. I know so many people who, [to take one example], refuse to eat with people they don’t like. Because food is about celebration. It’s about connection. It’s about family. When you think about sitting down to eat, hopefully it’s with people that you actually care about in some way, shape, or form.

So it makes sense to me that [the characters in The Hot Wing King] would come together over food, over something as iconic, especially in Black American culture, as wings. I think a lot of Black Americans take a lot of pride in the flavors of our different regional cities. Just to be simplistic for a second, it’s always interesting to me how people talk about the difference between Detroit-style pizza versus Chicago pizza. These are regional things that we infuse a bit of ourselves, our culture, into the food that we eat.

It’s also an act of service, an act of love, to prepare food for people. I think that is also part of what this entire play is trying to evoke. Like the fact that it takes place mostly in a kitchen, which is a center, especially culturally, for Black Americans. I think there’s something to be said about how we use food to illustrate all sorts of emotions.

There’s something special about nourishing oneself in the presence of others. And how the act of doing that can also be a different kind of nourishment. It’s for the belly but then also for the soul. I would encourage anyone who’s reading this to think about, how do you break bread with people? How do you share food with people?

In family gatherings that I go to, certain people are assigned certain things to bring. The reason why is ’cause either they know they can do it really really well, or because, “oh, you cannot be trusted to do anything besides that thing.”

This is why I’m asked to bring napkins.

Exactly! But at least…you are bringing something that is essential. Everyone has their place in terms of what they are meant to contribute. And everyone is meant to contribute. Just in different ways.

DETAILS
Hot Wing King
Apr 25 – May 25, 2025 • Kilstrom Theatre
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