theatre

From 1680 to 1793, the Comédie-Française, a French theatre troupe founded by Louis XIV, kept meticulous records for each of its performances. At the end of every show, the troupe’s secretary wrote down the cost of tickets, the total sales for each section of the theater, even how much was spent on wine for the rehearsal dinner. In a sense, these registers -- each one recorded on a preprinted one-page form -- acted like a proto-database, collecting metadata for every play ever performed by the Comédie-Française.

Planning is currently underway for the Collaborations: Humanities, Arts & Technology (CHAT) Festival, which will take place in North Carolina in February 2010. The CHAT Festival is designed to jump start a statewide movement into digital arts and humanities and position UNC-Chapel Hill and Research Triangle Park as leaders in the use of new technologies in collaborative scholarly research and education.