Working in a producing theatre alongside costume and props makers, stage managers and set designers, what role can an archive have in preserving their work for future generations?

This talk will look at the work of the National Theatre Archive, what it holds and how it makes it accessible to a global audience. It will consider the position of the archive within the theatre and the opportunities and challenges that this brings. The session will cover the role of an active archivist and tackle the issues of ephemerality, memory and absence touching on the field of performance studies.

Erin Lee (National Theatre Archive) is Head of Archive at the National Theatre where she has worked for over 7 years. She completed her MS in Library and Information Science at Syracuse University, NY in 2012 and is currently a PhD candidate at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama exploring how performance and process can be documented.