School of Creative
Industries
BA(Hons) Arts Management
On the record: Examining the role and significance of theatre archives in Singapore
A theatre archive, regardless of its presentation in physical or digital form, allows information about and traces of theatre to be made accessible. Students, researchers, the general public and even arts practitioners are amongst the identified users by theatre organisations and theatre archivists in Singapore. Examples of such archives include Centre 42’s SG Theatre Archive and The Necessary Stage’s tnsarchives.com.
Factors that drive the establishment of theatre archives include material deterioration, legacy building on the part of theatre companies and performance artists, as well as resource population. Through the attempts by the archives’ owners to best capture and make accessible theatre and performance ephemera as is humanly possible, traces of theatre documentation can be made known, and gaps in theatre history can be identified for potential creative endeavours or research.
Keywords: theatre, performance, archive, library, archival residency, archivist, documentation, ephemeral, repository, acquisition, theatre and performance research, Centre 42, The Necessary Stage
Subtopics: ephemerality of performance and theatre, archival maintenance
Hee Kim Phung Christine
Having worked with various local arts institutions for three years before pursuing her BA(Hons) Arts Management at LASALLE College of the Arts, Christine is passionate about collections and documentations of all art forms in both Singapore and Vietnam. She hopes to continue contributing to the arts scene by being an avid supporter and lover of the visual and performing arts, with an interest and skill set in events, gallery and exhibition management, as well as documentation management and research.