Liz Engelman is a freelance dramaturg and the founder and Executive Director of Tofte Lake Center at Norm’s Fish Camp. She most recently taught in the Playwriting and Directing Program in the Theatre and Dance Department at the University of Texas-Austin.

List lived on Whidbey Island where she was the Alumnae Relations Coordinator of Hedgebrook, a retreat for women writers. Liz has served as the Resident Dramaturg at Mixed Blood Theatre, as the Literary Director of the McCarter Theatre, the Director of New Play Development at ACT Theatre in Seattle, Washington, Literary Manager/Dramaturg at Seattle’s Intiman Theatre, and as Assistant Literary Manager at Actors Theatre of Louisville. She has worked on the development of new plays at The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, ASK Theatre Projects, New York Theatre Workshop, the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, South Coast Rep, Denver Center, and Florida Stage. She has directed new plays at The Illusion Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, and Carleton College. She studied dramaturgy and new play development at Brown and Columbia universities, where she received her BA and MFA in theatre and dramaturgy, respectively.

Liz has served as President, Board Chair, Board Member of LMDA, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas. She’s been a Board Member of the National Theatre Conference (NTC) and is on the Board of the National New Play Network (NNPN), Producer Hub, and serves on the Executive Committee of the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council (ARAC).

Liz has been the co-editor with colleagues Michael Bigelow Dixon, Tori Haring-Smith, and Christine Sumption on several collections of plays, playwriting exercises, and monologues. She has written articles published in Theatre Topics and Theatre Forum.

Liz was the 2024 recipient of the Lessing Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dramaturgy.