Research Question

What remains of the stage once the performance has come to an end?

This research examines the contemporary theatre archive not as a site of passive preservation, but as an active dispositif capable of reactivating performative processes and generating new interpretative possibilities. The personal archive of Spiro Scimone serves as a privileged case study through which to investigate how documents, scripts, sketches, and stage materials may extend the life of a performance beyond its ephemeral event, challenging the boundaries between archive, memory, and repertoire.

Methodology

The project adopts an interdisciplinary framework that brings together Performance Studies, archival theory, and artistic research practices. It combines the analysis, cataloguing, and digitisation of materials preserved within the Scimone Sframeli archive.

The cataloguing process follows both typological and chronological criteria, drawing upon national and international archival standards, including ICCD and ISAD(G), while adapting them to the specific characteristics of contemporary performance materials. Digitisation is conceived not merely as a strategy of preservation, but also as the construction of a relational system capable of connecting heterogeneous materials and different stages of the creative process.

Case Studies

The primary case study is the personal archive of Spiro Scimone, with particular attention devoted to the productions Amore (2015), Sei (2019), and Fratellina (2022), selected in order to trace the evolution of the company’s compositional and creative processes.

The research also includes a comparative investigation of the archives and artistic practices of Carullo–Minasi and Teatro Pubblico Incanto, with the aim of identifying methodological continuities and divergences in the relationship between archival preservation and theatrical creation.

Data Analysis and Interpretation of Results

Preliminary analyses suggest that archival materials do not merely document theatrical performances; rather, they constitute a processual continuation of them. The fragmentary nature of these documents encourages non-linear modes of interpretation, in which the archive assumes a generative rather than exclusively preservational function.

The originality of the project lies in the application of archival and digital methodologies to the study of contemporary theatrical creative processes. The expected outcome is the development of a queryable digital archive and the definition of a methodological framework that may be adapted and transferred to other contemporary performance archives.