The Journal of Global Theatre History (GTHJ) has published its first issue!

With a focus issue on Theatrical Trade Routes this new, peer-reviewed, open access online journal presents recent research in theatre history devoted to exploring the historical dimensions of theatre and performance from a global, transnational and transcultural perspective. The journal has grown out of a research project conducted at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (LMU) entitled Global Theatre Histories: Modernization, public spheres and transnational theatrical networks 1860-1960 (GTH). Sponsored by the German Research Society (DFG) within its Reinhart Koselleck programme for high risk research this six-year project explored the emergence of theatre as a global phenomenon against the background of imperial expansion and modernization in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Journal is issued by the recently established Center for Global Theater History, based at LMU’s Theatre studies department.
The journal for Global Theatre History is published twice a year and welcomes submissions that present original research on theatre, opera, dance, and popular entertainment against the backdrop of globalization studies, transnational and transcultural processes of exchange. We encourage submissions of material covering all historical periods areas, periods, or epochs of all genres of the performing arts, but place special emphasis on the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries.
The journal and more information on submissions, the review process, and future issues can be found at:
https://gthj.ub.lmu.de/

Contact:
Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich
Center for Global Theatre History
Theatre Studies
Georgenstraße 11
80799 Munich
Germany
globaltheatrehistory@lrz.uni-muenchen.de

The Editorial Team
Editors
Christopher Balme and Nic Leonhardt
Editorial Office
Gero Toegl
Gwendolin Lehnerer
Editorial Board
Derek Miller (Harvard), Helen Gilbert (Royal Holloway London)
Stanca Scholz-Cionca (Trier/Munich), Kati Röttger (Amsterdam)
Marlis Schweitzer (York University, Toronto)
Roland Wenzlhuemer (Heidelberg), Gordon Winder (Munich)

Cfp WG Digital Humanities in Theatre Research, IFTR Stockholm 2016

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Annual Conference 2016, Stockholm, Sweden, IFTR 2016

Conference:´Theme: Presenting the Theatrical Past

13 – 17 June, 2016

Abstracts are due by 15 Jan., 2016

Applications for bursaries to assist with travel funding are due by Dec 1st, 2015

Conveners:

Nic Leonhardt (Munich/ Cologne): n.leonhardt@posteo.de

Franklin J. Hildy (University of Maryland and theatre-finder.org): hildy@umd.edu

CFP 2016 Digital Humanities in Theatre Research Working Group

We are soliciting papers that will represent the full range of experience IFTR/FIRT members have with Digital Humanities in Theatre and Performance Research. We are seeking papers and project presentations that

  • explore the theoretical implications of Digital Humanities for our research into theatre and performance
  • describe existing cyber projects in theatre and performance research
  • propose needed digital projects in these fields
  • explicate problems relating to the pedagogy and technology of such projects (and perhaps propose solutions to them)
  • focus on digital theatre history and historiography

Papers and case studies examining how digital humanities projects can be used in teaching are welcome, but we are not looking for contributions that are only concerned with techniques for using technology in the classroom or distance learning courses at this time. Working groups are not required to address the theme of an IFTR conference but papers which enter into conversation with the theme are most welcome.

Abstracts (up to 300 words) on either a proposed paper or the presentation of a data project will be accepted in English or in the language of the host country but please remember that the group’s primary working language is English.

Abstracts are due by 15 January 2016, and notice of acceptance will be given in early March.

To submit abstracts for papers to be presented in Working Groups for 2016 Conference, you must upload your 300 word abstract through the link to the submission page on the Cambridge Journals Online website and specify which Working Group you are interested in applying for. If you are ready to send your abstract, please click here. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/memServHome?name=IFTR

You will be taken to the Cambridge Journals Online website where you will be prompted to join IFTR or renew your membership. After this you’ll be taken to the abstract submission form.”

Accepted abstracts will be published in the Congress’s Abstracts Book, so pay careful attention to form and content.

Additional information such as the form the proposed submission will take, information about restrictions to your availability over the course of the IFTR World Congress, and a request for the equipment you will require to do your presentation, should be included on the online form under ‘Equipment required.’ Completed papers/ project outline (up to 3 pages) for your DH project presentation or links to online projects are to be submitted by email to both conveners by May 17, 2016:

Nic Leonhardt: n.leonhardt@posteo.de

Franklin J. Hildy: hildy@umd.edu.

Papers/ presentation outlines, and links will be distributed to the groups’ members for discussion. Group members are expected to come prepared to engage in productive discussion of all papers.

If you would like to submit a paper but will be unable to travel to in Stockholm, please contact both the conveners. We are exploring an alternate site for an additional meeting of the working group and will put you are our contact list to keep you updated.

 

Theater in der digitalen Moderne

AKADEMIETAG am Montag, 15. Juni 2015, 14.30 Uhr, Theaterakademie August Everding, München

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Mit Keynote von Kay Voges, Workshops mit Voxi Bärenklau, Tommy Finke, Daniel Hengst und Alexander Kerln und einer Podiumsdiskussion

„Der Regisseur und Intendant des Schauspiel Dortmund, Kay Voges, beschreibt in einer Keynote seine Vision vom Theater als „kollektiver Arbeit an der Gegenwart“ und zeigt Beispiele seiner Auseinandersetzung mit digitalen Lebenswelten auf der Bühne. Auf Basis dieser Keynote folgt eine Reihe vertiefender Workshops:

Der Berliner Kameramann und Lichtdesigner Voxi Bärenklau widmet sich dem Einzug des Kinos in das Theater und verdeutlicht die Entwicklung einer neuen Bildsprache des Films auf der Bühne. Der Komponist, Sänger und Musiker Tommy Finke entwickelt musikalische Mittel aus Stück-Texten und stellt z.B. den Einsatz von Körpersensoren vor.  Der Videokünstler Daniel Hengst, kürzlich mit dem Nachwuchspreis des Deutschen Bühnenvereins prämiert, gibt Einblicke in die Digitalisierung und Transformierung des Körpers auf der Bühne. Alexander Kerlin, Autor und Dramaturg, erläutert die Arbeitsweise am Schauspiel Dortmund und blickt in die Zukunft des Stadttheaters.

(Weitere Infos zu den Workshops im Anhang, Anmeldung bis Freitag unter inge.schielein@theaterakademie.de)

Die Podiumsdiskussion mit Andreas Breitscheid (Komponist, Musik- und Medientechnologe), Hans-Jürgen Drescher (Präsident der Theaterakademie August Everding), Nic Leonhardt (Dozentin und wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin an der LMU, Schwerpunkt Theater- und Mediengeschichte), Blanka Radoczy (Studium der Bühnen- und Filmgestaltung in Wien, seit 2014 Regie-Studentin an der Theaterakademie) und Kay Voges (Regisseur und Intendant des Schauspiel Dortmund) wird von Sophie Becker (Dramaturgin des Festivals SPIELART und Dozenten an der Theaterakademie) moderiert und erweitert den Blick auf das Theater in der digitalen Moderne um Positionen im Bereich Musiktheater, Ausbildung und Medienwissenschaft.“ (Text: Theaterakademie)

Theaterakademie August Everding

Theatre Archives, Museums and Collections

woman-peering-at-dusty-old-museum-displayTheatre is History: it flakes away in the very moment of its production. The show ends, the curtain falls, the stage remains empty… There is hardly any other cultural form as volatile and intangible as theatrical performance. Immediacy and ephemerality characterize theatre, and it is this intangibility that makes it both difficult and challenging to archive, preserve and perpetuate theatre (history).

When they began to establish museums open to everyone in the 19th century, theatre, too, became an object of collections and archives. Thanks to numerous theatre collections in almost all places of the globe, theatre researchers interested in theatre history are able to explore (snippets of) the theatrical past by studying the ‘leftovers’ or tangible traces of theatrical performances such as scripts, text books, reviews, sketches, playbills, paintings, photographs, videos, etc. of both theatre’s production and reception.

I compiled two lists that might serve as useful overviews: Theatre Archives & Collections in Germany, and Theatre Museums in Europe. The compilations are preliminary, additions and suggestions for modification highly appreciated.

Impressions of our 1st ‘Hackfest’ – Feeding and Testing Our New Database

Theatrescapes & Global Theatre Histories Hackathon 16 Jan 2015, (left to right: Mehmet Özbek, Gero Tögl, Gwendolin Lehnerer, Tobi Englmeier, Lisa-Frederike Seidler, Nic Leonhardt, Christopher Balme; photo: Christine Kneifel, twm)

Theatrescapes & Global Theatre Histories Hackathon 16 Jan 2015 (left to right: Mehmet Özbek, Gero Tögl, Gwendolin Lehnerer, Tobi Englmeier, Lisa-Frederike Seidler, Nic Leonhardt, Christopher Balme; photo: Christine Kneifel, twm)

Hackathon 16 Januar 2015On Friday, 16 January, core members of the research projects Global Theatre Histories (PI: Christopher Balme) and Theatrescapes (PI: Nic Leonhardt) gathered for a joint hackathon. The goal of this ‘hack day’ was to employ, test, and also challenge the “Theatrescapes Research Tool”, developed by computational linguist Tobi Englmeier, and to enter data (textual, visual, georeferential) on theatres established worldwide since 1850 – both purpose built and non-purpose built –– into the Theatrescapes database.

The tool will go online shortly and is designed to work as a research tool for mapping theatres of the world since the mid-19th century.

Preview: Interactive Global Theatre Map

Here is a foretaste of what is to come soon. The screenshot below gives an impression of a mapping tool we are currently working on. The aim of this tool is to visualize data and to allow users to interactively explore theatre foundations on a global scale and thereby help them to gain a better understanding of how theatre had become a global phenomenon throughout history. Each colored dot represents the location at which a certain venue was founded, while nations are separated by means of different colors. The timeline beneath puts all theatre foundation dates into a chronological order.

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In order to enable the user to scroll through the history of theatre foundations, the timeline in return is connected to the map. Once the desired time span is set, one or more theatres can be selected and detailed information can be shown. To be secured against possible performance drawbacks the map overlay is rendered with the help of WebGL.

Digital Humanities and the Performing Arts

A paper by Nic Leonhardt on DH in Theatre and Performance Research, its benefits, challenges, and pitfalls; including notes on the historicity of Digital Humanities and a short list of best practice DH projects on theatre architecture, playwrights, dance, applied or ‘experiential’ DH projects in the international community as well as on art history and early cinema.

(Slightly modified paper version of the keynote at SIBMAS/TLA Conference, New York City, June 2014)

Nic Leonhardt_DH and the Performing Arts_June 2014

Mapping and Visualization Workshop in St Andrews, UK

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Gero Toegl and Tobias Englmeier just came back from a Workshop hosted by the University of St Andrews, UK where they presented their visualization of the 1876 Fremdenlisten published during the first Richard Wagner Festival. For more information on their project “Wahnfried’s Worldwide Webs: Digital Theatre History of the late 19th century- A case study” and ongoing discussions see the Workshop’s website.

We thank the organizers Bernhard Struck, Konrad Lawson, Kelsey Jackson Williams and all who helped them for an inspiring and thought provoking conference!

Theatrescapes

This blog is related to the research project “Theatrescapes. Mapping Global Theatre Histories” based at LMU Munich and directed by Dr. Nic Leonhardt. Financed through a LMUexcellent starting grant, this project is connected to the Reinhart Koselleck project “Global Theatre Histories”, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) project, and a pioneer in the application of Digital Humanities tools to theatre historiography in Germany. Theatrescapes combines, in an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach, questions of global history and transnational theory with the methods and tools of Digital Humanities and adapts these to the analysis of theatre history. The historiography of theatre and media history dedicated to analysing its objects as phenomena of global circulation and exchange, relies on a relational and multi-dimensional perspective which can only profit from established paradigms and recent innovations in Digital Humanities (DH) and Historical Network Analysis. Anthropologist Arjun Appadurai has coined the notion of various “-scapes” for understanding the different dimensions of globalization. The project embraces this key concept of ethnographical, sociological, and historical research in order to collect, visualize, and depict global flows and cultural encounters in 19th and 20th century theatre and opera. As one of the leading media and cultural institutions of this period, theatre of all genres acted as a global currency or good of cultural exchange, mobility, and trade, which calls for a framework of Global Theatre Histories.