Molnár Klára et al. (szerk.): Színházi Évkönyv 2008/2009-es színi évadra (Budapest, 2010)
Bevezető
Foreword Several years ago we decided to change the composition and with this the proportional division of data in our Theatre Yearbook, which had been published for some decades, wishing to offer more information to those interested: from theatre professionals to theatre fans. In 2002, we started to publish the cast of the new performances, which resulted in a considerable increase of the volume’s size. As the number of premieres kept increasing from year to year, we were concerned to see for how long we will be able to squeeze the constantly growing bulk of information in the framework of a printed book. In this new issue we once again renounce the publication of the cast, without depriving our readers, however, of the access to this valuable data. We are happy to inform you here again, that by the end of the 2008/2009 season, after a strenuous implementing work of several years, we succeeded to launch several internet databases which can be freely accessed online at szinhaziadattar.hu. One of these, the Performance Database, offers data on virtually all theatre performances from 1949 to yesterday night's show. The present volume of the Yearbook comes with a DVD supplement, which enables you to browse these data even without an internet access. The disc, moreover, contains more than just information about the cast, offering the readers a variety of resources, which could not have been published in a traditional form because of size and financial constraints. The professionally outstanding performances of the year, receivers of several prizes, are documented with photographs, reviews, and you can also read full texts of the newest Hungarian theatre plays, just as many other valuable materials - like the Performing Arts Act, passed in December 2008, some of our publications, exhibition catalogues etc. - which give you a taste of the Theatre Institute's rich activity. Preserving the printed format has, of course, some practical reasons. It will probably take another few years until all the databases will be fully available, freely searchable, completely interconnected and permeable. Until that, it might still be worth for public libraries and theatre professionals to save a small space on their bookshelves of for this obsolete object. 9 T
