A Route towards Theatre. Development of Method and Specific Devices for Preservation, Appropriation and Dissemination of Historical Theatre Signboards

The objective of the project is to develop a methodology and devices for the preservation of a unique collection of theatre signboards and posters as an unrivalled source of information on the history of theatre and for making their content accessible to theatrological research. Both the Czech and international research communities have long required access to these unique sources, but the paper signboards suffer severely from frequent use due to the poor-quality materials of that time, folding of large-size signboards, and being bound into convolutions. The process consists of the digitalisation and restoration of the signboards, obtaining, verifying, and completing information on productions, and subsequently opening up the data in the form of a specialised database. A certified methodology open to the public can then be used for processing all Czech collections containing theatre signboards. That’s why the project covers the registration and documenting of signboards scattered in collections of museums, archives and libraries, as well as private collections.
The methodology of processing theatre signboards and opening up the information they contain will subsequently enable researchers to study the history of theatre as an important historical and cultural phenomenon. Due to this, a pilot theatrological research shall be carried out as another part of the project, the topic of which shall be processed with the use of devices created in the course of the project (such as research of repertoire and dramaturgy, of theatre personalities and their engagements, of creative potential of individual stages and companies of players). The pilot research results shall be made accessible in the form of an exhibition, completed with a critical catalogue and expert articles.

Project name: A Route towards Theatre. Development of Method and Specific Devices for Preservation, Appropriation and Dissemination of Historical Theatre Signboards with Particular Regard to Collections of the National Museum, Prague, and Moravian Museum, Brno
Code: DG16P02B008
Duration: 2016–2020
Agency: NAKI (Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic)
Project type: consortial (NM as the principal investigator)
NM’s investigator: Mgr. Markéta Trávníčková
Other participants: Arts and Theatre Institute, Moravian Museum

Anticipated results/outputs:
1. Certified methodology (2019)
2. A specialised map of theatre signboards occurring in other Czech and Moravian institutions (2019)
3. Organising an exhibition entitled Come Enter the Theatre (2019)
4. A specialist book entitled Come Enter the Theatre – a critical catalogue of an exhibition of the same name (2019)
5. A specialised public database EDA – Electronic Theatrical Archive (2020)
6. A peer-reviewed expert article entitled Unique Items from Collections of Signboards and Posters in the History of Theatre Department of the National Museum (2017, published)
7. A peer-reviewed expert article entitled Collection of Theatre Signboards and Posters at the Department of the History of Theatre of the Moravian Museum (2017, published)
8. A peer-reviewed expert article entitled Saving an Endangered Collection of Unique Theatre Signboards (2019)
9. A peer-reviewed expert article entitled The Life of a Production (2019)
10. A peer-reviewed expert article entitled Dramaturgy of Language (2020)
11. A peer-reviewed expert article entitled Influence of Italian Culture on the Repertoire of the Stadt-Theater in Brünn (2020)