Molnár Klára et al. (szerk.): Színházi Évkönyv 2009/2010-es színi évadra (Budapest, 2011)
Bevezető
Introduction Each issue of the Theatre Yearbook is the last one. And not only in the sense that it collects the theatrical data of the last season. For quite a while we have been sending each issue to print with the belief that this was going to be the last one published in the present form. But, just to avoid misunderstanding, I must state that our fear is not nurtured by the lack of funds. The world has changed a lot in the past decade. The digital processing and recording of data and the prevalent internet access has brought about an entirely new situation. To have a collection of most up-to-date records which can be accessed in an instant, regardless of the geographical position, has become in a blink of an eye a sensible requirement from an abstract possibility. And after we have made the first steps to fulfil these new demands we cannot deny that the context in which our Yearbook is published has undergone a fundamental change. Our databases are under construction (unfortunately the pace of this development depends mostly on financial matters), some of them are accessible online, and all feedbacks underline that in practical everyday usage the internet is arguably the most preferred medium. Does all this mean that our online theatre database, szinhaziadattar. hu has won the battle against the printed book? Each Yearbook is a mirror of a theatrical season, ordered along professional guidelines, while in a database, to collect the data characteristic of a given period, one has to scan through an endless datastream. The truth of this counter-argument might seem undeniable yet one may ask: why not use a digital disk for the purpose? Our practical answer Is the present Yearbook which, once again, has a DVD supplement too. The disk duplicates the content of the book, gives a detailed listing of the cast of each performance, but also presents materials which lie beyond the possibilities of a printed book. For instance it is unimaginable for a book to print the number of photos included in this supplement. And as a special extra, this year we would like to give you a taste of the rich exhibition activity of the Gizi Bajor Actors’ Museum. Our loyalty to the printed form, of course, also stems from our respect for a certain tradition. Yet, undeniably, we also have a responsibility for the future. The printed Yearbook with a DVD supplement represents this transition. We are assured 9
