This page presents selected completed research projects associated with the Department of Theatre Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. The archive reflects the Department’s research activity across theatre history, bibliography, performance documentation, archival studies, cultural heritage, and interdisciplinary humanities research.
The projects listed below were developed within European, national, and university-funded frameworks and document important contributions to the study, preservation, and interpretation of theatre and culture in Greece and beyond.
Archival Research and Cultural Heritage: The Theatre Archive of Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio
The ARCH project focused on the study, documentation, digitisation, and dissemination of the archive of the internationally acclaimed Italian theatre company Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio. Hosted by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the project brought together academic staff, researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, as well as specialists in archival studies, informatics, communication, visual design, and audio-visual media.
The project examined primary archival material related to the company’s artistic activity, including manuscripts, programmes, posters, notebooks, correspondence, photographs, sound recordings, and video material. Its purpose was both scholarly and documentary: to support research in theatre genetics and cultural documentation, while contributing to the preservation and wider accessibility of a major European theatre archive.
Cultural Transfer and “National Character” in Nineteenth-Century Greek Periodicals
This research project examined the role of nineteenth-century Greek periodicals in the formation of cultural identity, literary discourse, and national self-definition. It explored the ideological, aesthetic, and cultural debates reflected in the periodical press of the time, with particular emphasis on literary production, theatre reception, and cross-cultural transfer.
The project investigated how concepts such as national literature, otherness, imported literary models, language debates, and the revival of ancient traditions were negotiated through the periodical press. It approached nineteenth-century print culture as a privileged field for understanding how modern Greek identity and cultural discourse were shaped.
Cultural interchanges: literary genres, aesthetic and ideological trends.
The reception of theatre genres: authors, ideological and aesthetic currents, drama theory, poetic theatre, prose theatre, and music theatre.
Cross-cultural relations and transfers: national literature between the foreign and the local.
Research Project on Greek Theatrical Bibliography
This project aimed at the tracing, registration, and evaluation of scientific sources, books, studies, articles, and doctoral theses written in Greek and related to modern Greek and world theatre, with particular relevance to Greek theatre scholarship. It also examined foreign-language bibliography on Greek theatre studies.
The resulting database adopted the ISO 690 international bibliographical standard and was developed in Microsoft Access. It included extensive classification fields and led to a substantial bibliographic research tool for undergraduates, postgraduates, doctoral students, theatre scholars, and researchers of modern Greek studies.
Performance Records and Documentation of Ancient Greek Drama in Greece – Digitization of Relevant Audio-Visual Data
This project aimed to create a database of Ancient Greek drama performances according to scientifically approved documentation and computerisation standards for the registration, collection, and preservation of relevant audio-visual material.
Its objectives included the design of the database, digitisation of performance-related material, the completion and verification of the existing archive, and the preparation of performance records for future publication. The project was promoted by the Ancient Drama and Theatre Research Laboratory (ADTRL) of the Department of Theatre Studies.
“Semele” Ancient Theatre Database
“Semele” was developed as a systematic database and information-management environment for ancient theatre, covering archaeology, literature, and bibliography. It approached ancient theatre as architectural heritage, theatrical practice, literary production, and cultural activity across the wider Greek-speaking world.
The project organised and archived data according to specifically designed standards and thematic axes, including architectural monuments, painted monuments, and sculpture monuments. Its central database and management application were designed to support structured input, image documentation, source indexing, bibliography, and multi-criteria research.
Research Projects Funded by the University of Athens Research Committee
The following projects were supported within the KAPODISTRIAS funding framework and reflect the breadth of the Department’s research interests, including theatre history, bibliography, dramaturgy, translation, archival studies, and modern Greek literary and cultural history.
