Given the evanescent nature of live performance, theater studies are highly dependent on access to personal or institutional archives that hold some photographic, audiovisual or textual materials that can help reconstruct or carry out an in-depth formal analysis of a certain theatrical event. In the context of a new archival scenario transformed by digital technologies and the internet, many theater researchers are getting involved in archive-related projects to socialize documents they have come in contact with during their studies or to document ongoing creative processes. In this talk, we will examine some of these projects that are currently being developed in Argentina and Chile. While briefly presenting the theatrical experiences documented by the materials these archives hold –all of which have explored the intersections of theater, community and politics– we will discuss some of the specific tensions between theater and the archive and we will look into the possibilities for theatrical research within the frameworks of digital humanities and open science, considering how some lines of work like database and archive creation can contribute, not only to a wider democratization of knowledge and cultural heritage, but to a more rigorous, accountable and diverse scholarship.
