Centre for South African Theatre Research

From ESAT
Revision as of 16:07, 6 September 2010 by Centaps (talk | contribs) (Created page with "CESAT was an archive and documentation centre as well as a research facility and clearinghouse, which derived from the National Documentation Centre for the Performing Arts (...")
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

CESAT was an archive and documentation centre as well as a research facility and clearinghouse, which derived from the National Documentation Centre for the Performing Arts (1971-1978). In 1979, on the retirement of the documentation centre's second head, Rinie Stead, the HSRC appointed Temple Hauptfleisch as head and researcher with a new commission to expand it into a far more active research centre. It was then renamed CESAT and, while it continued collecting archival material on South African theatre and performance under the curatorship of Astrid Schwenke (née Schüler) and Joey Fourie, the centre then also undertook a number of specific research projects. These included studies of research methodology in the performing arts by Temple Hauptfleisch and Eunice Reynecke(e.g. Hauptfleisch 198* and 198*, Reynecke 198*), studies on the history of theatre (e.g Rinie Stead’s unpublished history of the National Theatre Organisation (1980), Hauptfleisch 1984a, Schwenke, 198*), studies on the sociology of theatre and theatre attendance (e.g Hauptfleisch 198*, 198*, 198*) and source guides on theatre in general and on specific topics (e.g. Viljoen, 198*, Hauptfleisch, Schuler and Van Greunen, 198*). The Centre also undertook focussed research on theatre in education over an extended period, with Paddy Terry and Temple Hauptfleisch as researchers in this field and served as secretariat for the SA Association for Drama and Youth Theatre (SAADYT), editing and publishing the SAADYT Journal for a number of years. Between 1986 - 1987 the Centre also provided the editorial offices for the newly launched South African Theatre Journal (SATJ), edited by Temple Hauptfleisch and Ian Steadman. In 1988 Temple Hauptfleisch left the Centre for an academic position and to found the Centre for Theatre and Performance Studies (CENTAPS) at the University of Stellenbosch Drama Department. Eunice Reynecke briefly took over the headship, but in 1989 the HSRC closed down the centre and transferred the documentation to the National Film Archives in Pretoria. (See also: National Documentation Centre for the Performing Arts) (See Hauptfleisch 1985)