With a summer of research behind her, Kathy Grassi was prepared to lend a hand to her fellow actors and the director of Quinnipiac’s production of “The Beggar’s Opera.”

Grassi teamed up with Crystal Brian, the show’s director and professor of theater, for her interdisciplinary research project. As a history major with an interest in theater, Grassi was the perfect person to serve as dramaturge for the fall production.

What’s a dramaturge? Grassi, top left in photo, wasn’t quite sure at the time. But, in meeting with Brian weekly throughout the summer, she discovered that the dramaturge plays an extremely important role—and the historical research involved is specific to that role. The dramaturge studies the context of a play—placing special emphasis on information that will explain the culture and times that the play’s characters “live in.” Over the course of the summer, she learned how to focus her research in a way that supported the production.

She became the go-to person for information. Anytime someone needed help with character development or understanding the humor, culture or history of 18th-century London, he or she went to Grassi. “They couldn’t get all the jokes without the historical understanding,” Brian says. Sometimes actors needed help understanding their characters’ motivation. For instance, Grassi helped Casey Manning, a junior playing the role of Macheath, resolve an apparent contradiction in the script involving the culprit who has betrayed him.

Grassi also helped the audience, sharing some of her research with classes planning to attend the show.