Molnár Klára et al. (szerk.): Színházi Évkönyv 2006/2007-es évad (Budapest, 2008)
Bevezető
Introduction We are thrilled to present to our growing number of readers the most thorough database of Hungarian theatrical life - in one volume. The emphasis in this sentence - besides the words, “glad” and “growing” - is on the word, “volume”. The new structure of the Yearbook keeps track of the constantly changing trends in Hungarian theatre while cataloging all of the many events, institutions, and personalities through which we can describe our national theatre life. What is chronicled here from the past season is, as they say “just the tip of the iceberg” - deep down the Yearbook encompasses the fullest aspects of our theatre life. Theatre is a living organism - with its own dynamic structure, institutional peculiarities, artists, decision makers and experiments. Theatre reinvents itself not only night to night but from minute to minute. Therefore, any record is an approximation. At the same time, keeping track of all these changes is an essential task of our institution. Within our new framework, there is great promise and potential, and we want to meet the challenges presented by this design. To follow and record the history of our seasons requires a dynamic and effective infrastructure. We have an updated informatic and computer system with a growing database and accompanying search engine; and, of course, there are our colleagues who make all of this run and function properly. They collect, think over and oversee all of this. They are the ones who represent the depth of our resources, and they will be happy to guide those who are eager to explore our database. The database will be accessible for researchers and then it will take only a few clicks of the mouse to get from companies to performances, from prizes to performers, from guest performances to institutions, and back again. We are truly appreciative of those who continuously provide all the information to complete the Yearbook: theatres, professional institutions, colleagues, friends and offices. And we must naturally thank our own institution for making the publication of this Yearbook possible. The Yearbook reveals, from year to year, the unique influence of Hungarian theatre. The editing of this publication allows us to analyze the characteristics of last season and creates a memorial for the future: this is the way we were in 2006/2007. This period is just one chapter in theatre history - and will be judged by future generations who read the pages of this book. That said, we have not changed the basic structure of the Yearbook. The configuration is the same as it was five years ago. We start with the databank of the theatres. The data concerning the venues and companies ends with a figure that refers to the number of premieres each of them had this season. In the index of new premieres, we list the titles in alphabetical order. We 9
