Aegis 2019
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To Keep or Not to Keep: Theatrical Ephemera >>> Lindsay Lisanti Throughout history we as theatre participants and theatre makers have been obsessed with trying to preserve the past. Ephemera is a physical memento or token that represents a temporary or ephemeral event, like a performance of a play. “At the most basic level, the Oxford English Dictionary defines ephemera as: “lasting only for a day” and “one who or something which has a transitory existence” (Davis 3). The typical types of theatrical ephemera that are prevalent are the playbill, or handbill, broadside, and theatrical poster or advertisement. All of these aforementioned pieces have become a tradition and highly expected for playhouses to provide for the viewer to receive or buy. An issue has arisen in the modern day about the correct way to organize, present, and preserve theatrical ephemera that has been collected throughout history; they are not created to last. A scholar, Kristy Davis, has stated that “ephemera was the transient paper material that was never intended to be kept” (Davis 3). A playbill or a broadside has the purpose of providing the audience member with the information about the production that they seek in that one-time moment before they view the performance. Since collectors and historians of today strive to hold onto theatrical ephemera, then why do many audience members discard their playbills after performances? Why do some feel the need to keep these pieces of history that weren’t created with the intention to last? The sorting, preserving, and collecting of theatrical ephemera is paramount for the historian because the ephemera give a cultural snapshot of the time. Luckily, the increasingly digital world makes this once seemingly daunting task of cataloging much more approachable.
Figure 1
Figure 2: Broadside from the Hay-Market Theater, London, 1853