In the beginning, the following tasks were performed: project implementation and organization, including the recruitment of staff, and the creation of a project webpage and social media communication channels. All project members undertook thorough archival research, and the main methodological concepts were developed and discussed. This initial phase led to two important scientific publications: "'Schöpferin glücklicher Stunden…' – Utopische Spielräume von Amateur-Schauspielerinnen nach 1800,' in Forum Modernes Theater, Heft 1-2, 2022, 177-190; "On a Praxeology of Theatre History," in Performing the Eighteenth Century. Theatrical Discourses, Practices and Artefacts, ed. by Magnus Tessing Schneider and Meike Wagner, Stockholm University Press, 2023, 21-45.
In addition to the bi-weekly project meetings, five intensive reading and research workshops with the group members and invited guests (scholars, stakeholders, archivists) between 2022 and 2024 fostered the development and refining of the research perspective, theoretical concepts and pragmatic approaches.The PhD students will present their research in the PhD Seminar at LMU in spring 2025.
The project presented first research results at three international collective project panels at the conferences of the International Federation for Theatre Research in Reykjavik (2022) and Manila (2024) and at a research seminar of Sorbonne, Paris (2023).
The launch of the amateur theatre wiki in summer 2023, was a major step in developing the wiki data base and furthering the public dissemination of data on amateur theatre practice.
All individual project members have developed draft chapter and are working on book proposals for publication. The PI will finalize a major book manuscript in September 2024.
