La trasmissione del patrimonio teatrale attraverso il digitale. L’archivio del Teatro della Tosse

This thesis investigates the complex relationship between theatrical institutions and the documentary heritage they produce, an issue of growing relevance in both Archival Studies and Performance Studies. Theatre, inherently ephemeral and often intangible, generates documentation that resists traditional archival categorization due to its hybrid nature and the theatrical practice of reusing production materials across multiple stagings. Focusing on the case study of the Teatro della Tosse in Genoa (1975–present), the research highlights how such institutions blur the boundaries between historical and current records, resulting in an unstructured accumulation of materials and limiting their accessibility and valorization. The thesis proposes a prototype for a digital theatre archive, developed through five case studies (one per decade of the theatre’s activity), with the aim of offering a scalable model for similar institutions. The project seeks to contribute both to the archival field and to the operational practices of contemporary theatre organizations.