Report of OISTAT Theatre Timeline Working Group (TTWG) Meeting held on Wednesday 11 September 2013 at RWCMD, Cardiff, Wales.
Present:
Kate Burnett
Ivo Kersmaekers
Chris Van Goethem
Anders Larsson
Laura Van Haperen
Gabriele Högg
Mark White
John Faulkner
Lydia Chang
Chloe Chang
Wan-Jung Wei
Jerôme Maeckelbergh (joined later)
Kate Burnett gave a brief resume of the meetings held by the TTWG since its inception at PQ2011, which were in London June 2012, Brussels and Kortrijk in January 2013. Chris Van Goethem emphasised that the OISTAT Working groups are defined by the projects and activities they undertake and that the TTWG will in time be defined through the variety of historical research, documentation and projects it and its members undertake.
The need for the TTWG to be identifiable on the new OISTAT website was discussed and Wan-Jung Wei of the OISTAT Office described the changes that were being made to the website including better links, loading of news items etc.
The Perspectiv model of creating ‘routes’ for visiting historic theatres in Europe was discussed, in particular the ‘Channel route’ which currently consists of UK, Netherlands and Belgian theatres. It was proposed that collaborating on creating similar ‘routes’ elsewhere in the world would be a useful project.
(See the Perspectiv website for news of the The "Historic Theatres Week 2014" that will take place on the German Route of the European Route of Historic Theatres from 14 to 26 September 2014.
Chris van Goethem presented the plans for the Wood and Canvas (and rabbit glue) conference to be held at the Bourla Theatre, Antwerp between 12 – 15 June 2014. This conference originated in Jerome Maeckelbergh’s presentation about the plight of the Bourla Theatre’s historic machinery in the Kortrijk conference ‘Revaluing Theatre Heritage’. It was taken up by Peter McKinnon of York University, Alberta, Canada, who is now the Conference Organiser with the support of OISTAT Technology and Architecture Commissions and TTWG. For the latest information see: http://woodandcanvas.info.yorku.ca/
The dates of the conference were set in order to lead on from the ABTT events in London:
The International Theatre Engineering Conference (ITEAC) 8-10 June.
and the ABTT Theatre Show 11-12 June.
Mark White, Chair of ABTT gave more information about these two events and encouragement to attend all of them!
Anders Larsson briefly described a project between three historical theatres in Sweden, examining the vocabulary associated with historical moving technology. (apologies from note-taker for inadequate details, further information welcomed).
The next meeting of the TTWG will be held at the Bourla Theatre, Antwerp during the Wood and Canvas conference (Now confirmed as 1pm Sunday 15 June 2014).
