Performance! The SAA Performing Arts Roundtable encourages the exchange of information on historical and contemporary WINTER 2015 NEWSLETTER OF THE SA A PERFORMING ARTS ROUNDTABLE documentation of music, dance, theatre, motion pictures, and other performance media. INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Message Page 3 from the Co-Chairs Artists and Page 4 Archives in Belgium: La Monnaie and Het Firmament Berklee Page 10 College of Music Opens its Archives Rutgers IJS Page 16 Fellows Program News Page 22 P A G E 2 Roundtable Leadership 2014-2015 Co-Chairs Steering Committee Newsletter Editor Katherine Crowe Karla Irwin Helice Koffler University of Denver University of Nevada, Las Vegas University of Washington Denver, Colorado Las Vegas, Nevada Seattle, Washington [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Rachel Rosenfeld Elizabeth Surles Academy of Motion Picture Arts Rutgers University and Sciences Newark, New Jersey Los Angeles, California [email protected] [email protected] Image Credits Cover: George Duvivier and dog, circa 1933, Monnaie; all other photographs by Tiffany Nixon Ismay and George Duvivier Papers, Realia and Audiovisual Materials (MC 009), Institute of Jazz Pages 10-15: All images courtesy of College Studies, Rutgers University Libraries Archives, Stan Getz Memorial Library, Berklee College of Music; screen shot of Toshiko Akiyoshi (page 14) from her interview in the online Berklee Oral History Project Pages 16-20: Photographs by Ed Berger; collection images from the Ismay and George Duvivier Papers, Realia and Audiovisual Materials (MC 009), Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University Libraries Page 22: Samuel French Theatre Collection, Amherst College Archives Page 23: Chicago Architectural Photographing Co. Collection, courtesy of Theatre Historical Society of America; Theatre Guild Archive. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Page 2: Costume design for Lillian Russell Opera Company (circa 1891-1893), in Samuel French Page 24: Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Theatre Collection, Amherst College Archives Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Special Collections, Amherst College Library Page 25: Screen shot of blog page courtesy of Page 3: Marshall and Carolyn Durand Brooks DHC Photography and Dance Collection, courtesy of University of Denver Special Collections and Thanks to news contributors: Susan Brady Archives (Theatre Guild); Rosemary Davis (French); Rachel Rosenfeld (Waters); Patrick Seymour Pages 4-9: La Monnaie brochure, courtesy of La (THS); Imogen Smith (DHC) PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2015 P A G E 3 Message From the Co-Chairs Greetings PAR members, over the listserv!) how we might become more engaged as a community. Having a glass of wine The Performing Arts Roundtable (PAR) is, first with colleagues during the annual meeting is and foremost, an affinity group—everyone who wonderful, but perhaps there are methods to chooses to become a member of this roundtable connect between these encounters that we need shares a common professional experience. The to try out more vigorously. We have a Facebook roundtable brings together archivists and archi- page, perhaps we could and should have a Twitter vists-to-be from all different kinds of institu- presence as well. tions: academic libraries, special libraries, art libraries, performing arts organizations, and more. We want your help on figuring out how we can We come together in person once a year at the make this as valuable and meaningful a community annual meeting of the Society of American as possible. Anyone can start by suggesting a topic Archivists, and share our knowledge and experi- for the upcoming annual roundtable meeting in ence remotely through Performance!, our Cleveland, Ohio. We had such good feedback roundtable listserv, and our Facebook page. In about last year’s roundtable theme, that it would addition, and probably more importantly, in be nice if we could find another theme to base coming together we are able to not only share, our next meeting around. Please feel free to but to create knowledge in a way that is only share your ideas on the listserv, post them to the possible when individuals with a shared experi- Facebook page, or email the co-chairs directly. ence come together to talk, laugh, and kvetch. Here's to another great year in Performing Arts Archives! In anticipation of the 2015 annual meeting, we would like to encourage the membership of the Katherine Crowe and Rachel Rosenfeld roundtable to think about and talk about (perhaps Co-Chairs of the Performing Arts Roundtable Hanya Holm and Marshall Brooks, between 1960-1965 P A G E 4 INTERNATIONAL NEWS Performing and Preserving Arts in Belgium by Tiffany Nixon Tiffany Nixon is the archivist for Roundabout Theatre Company. Roundabout’s archives contain extensive institutional and stage documentation chronicling the not-for-profit company's 50-year history as an Off- Broadway and Broadway producer. Ms. Nixon is Co-Chair of the Theatre Library Association Book Awards; Director of Outreach and Advocacy for the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York (A.R.T.); and is on the executive board of SIBMAS. At the end of September 2014, I was first stop was Theatre Royal de la Monnaie fortunate to travel to Belgium, primarily to (or simply La Monnaie; or in Dutch, De visit colleagues working in performing arts Munt) which is the National Opera of archives in and around Brussels. We had Belgium and one of the world’s foremost met in the United States when I gave tours opera houses; and my second stop took me of the Roundabout Archives and I was 20 minutes outside of Brussels to the eager to compare Roundabout’s collection picturesque town of Mechelen where Het with the living archives maintained by Firmament has its offices. European performing arts companies. My PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2015 P A G E 5 La Monnaie—Artists and Archives Dating back to the 1700s, opera has been per- formed in three different venues on the site where the current structure, which opened in 1856, now stands. The huge opera house sits alone but majestic in a bustling square. Its technical and administrative offices are located directly behind in a converted building with seemingly hundreds of subterranean warrens and storage rooms. The opera house is truly a jewel box in deep reds and gold, with lovely decorative motifs throughout. Opposite page: The archives of such a formidable opera company La Monnaie Opera House are beyond impressive (and when I visited, were deep in the final stages of a massive move to Left: La another nearby location to accommodate scheduled Monnaie renovations of the facilities: I saw only a portion of brochure the collection and much of what I saw was already depicting packed up). Director of Archives Jan Van Goethem interior of (who has held the position since the mid-1990s) opera house was an incredible host who provided tours of the rambling Archives spaces, the music library, the set Below:La Monnaie building shops, and the extensive and overwhelm- Director of ingly delightful costume shops (which include Archives, Jan milliners, cobblers, and a small army of artisan Van Goethem holding set model elements P A G E 6 Portraits from the La Monnaie Archives, awaiting relocation to offsite storage designers and seamstresses employed to rendered. Jan shared set models with their make the wonderful costumes and elements stored in flat clamshell boxes, accessories required to mount their many of which dated back well over one numerous productions). hundred years and all still amazingly intact. The Archives contain extensive production- We spent time exploring the workshops related holdings (set and costume designs, where teams of skilled artisans design, scores, photographs, posters, etc.) as well construct, and maintain the set properties as artworks, books, busts, and other and costumes. The ateliers filled with treasures from the near and distant past. centuries-old shoe forms, hat steamers, and Some of the most striking artifacts were all manner of costume-making thrilled me. painted portraits of 19th-century opera Coming from New York, where much of singers, nearly life-sized and beautifully this work is done not in or by theatre, PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2015 P A G E 7 opera, or dance companies themselves, but by outside studios, it was wonderful to see these craftspeople all under one roof collaboratively envisioning and then creating for the stage these awe-inspiring pieces. More about La Monnaie and its history can be found here. The online face of the Archives is virtually a treasure trove of performance documentation from this truly admirable group of artists and archivists who are making and preserving ground- breaking performances. During my visit I was able to attend the starkly modern staging of Richard Strauss’ Daphne at the opera house the night I went was a program of music by Frank proper, as well as an incredible concert held at Martin, inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s Die Weise Flagey, a partner venue. Flagey is a stunning Art von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, with Deco building with a long history in performing musical direction by Daniel Kawka and featuring the arts. It now acts as a multi-disciplinary venue haunting vocals of mezzo soprano Michele Losier. offering cinema, music, and literary events. On offer More information about Flagey can be found here. Above: One of the many cos- tume ateliers at La Monnaie Left: Walls of wooden shoe lasts, La Monnaie P A G E 8 Right: Brusselpoort, Het Firmament's offices Below: Traveling circus tent near Altitude 100/Forest neighborhood in Brussels Het Firmament: Puppets and Beyond Het Firmament’s original mission was to document regional puppetry (the attic office Veerle Wallebroek is the coordinator of a contains hundreds of puppets, some large government-funded project aimed at and displayed standing, but many others preserving records that document all tucked away like sardines in file drawers), manner of performance.