mgr Anna Chojnacka, Editor-in-Chief
Editing Team: mgr Barbara Berger, dr. Joanna Krakowska, mgr Justyna Kozłowska, dr. Maria Napiontkowa, prof. dr. hab. Magdalena Raszewska
Email: almanach@ispan.pl, Tel: (+48 22) 50 48 227, (+48 22) 50 48 263, Fax: (+48 22) 50 48 290
Annual, 250 copies, ISSN 0065-6526
“Almanach Sceny Polskiej” [“Almanac of the Polish Stage"] is a serial publication of a documentative nature. Each volume of the annual gathers and organizes information about theatrical life in Poland and the activities of Polish artists during a single season. The material is divided into three main sections: documentation, education and chronicle.
The documentation section covers all of the professional musical, dramatic and puppet theatres existing in Poland. It lists their addresses and telephone numbers, the composition of management boards and theatre companies, premieres (the original title, name of the translator, director, set designer, choreographer, composer, casts, date of premiere and number of shows and audience numbers), as well as their repertoires. The “Almanach” also lists entities operating as booking agents.
The section dedicated to education presents higher drama schools and study courses organized by theatres. It also lists the composition of the schools’ management boards, lecturers and graduates, information about the number of students in a given year, as well as actors and directors’ graduation plays. The section concludes with a directory of drama school graduates who have participated in external examinations and acquired professional qualifications.
The chronicle lists the anniversaries of theatres and individual artists, academic sessions, seminars, book promotions, festivals, exhibitions and artistic prizes awarded. It also includes short biographies of people associated with the theatre who have died during a particular season - actors, directors, set designers, choreographers, literary directors and theatre researchers.
The “Almanach” is published in cooperation with theatres and drama schools. The editorial team also benefits from the collections of IS PAN (Theatre Documentation and library catalogues and files of Słownik biograficznego artystów teatru [The Biographical Dictionary of Theatrical Artists]) and Theatre Documentation at the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatrical Institute.
HISTORY
The idea of documenting theatrical activities in the form of an almanac covering a single season was first conceived after World War I. The Polski Instytut Teatrologiczny [Polish Institute of Theatre Studies] was established in 1925, at the initiative of the Society of Polish Stage Artists in Warsaw. Its plans included the “Almanach”, edited by Władysław Zawistowski, the-then editor of the “Scena Polska” [Polish Stage]. The idea did not come to fruition until after the war, when Edward Csató, the editor of “Teatr” [Theatre], assembled a team to revive the idea. The first volume of the publication, documenting the 1959/1960 season, was published in 1961. Csató edited eight volumes of the “Almanach”. Subsequent editors-in-chief were Jerzy Koenig (vol. IX), Stanisław Marczak-Oborski (vol. X) and Kazimierz Andrzej Wysiński (vols. XI-XXVII). From its very inception, the publication has been connected with IS PAN, whose employees have constituted the core of the editing team. Until 1989, the “Almanach” was published by WAiF (vols. I-XXVI). Volume XXVII (documenting the 1985/86 season) was published by PWN in 1993. Since that year, the “Almanach” has been published by IS PAN. It is now edited by Anna Chojnacka.
In the years 1998-2001, IS PAN carried out a research project titled Almanach Sceny Polskiej 1944-1959” [the Almanac of the Polish Stage 1944-1959], financed by KBN. Consequently, missing documentation was gathered, covering 15 post-war theatre seasons from 1944/45 to 1959/59. It is available in both hard copy and CD format in IS PAN’s library and the Theatrical Institute in Warsaw, as well as in the National Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre (PWSFTViT) in Łódź.