Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1978 - 6

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At the 5th Congress of OISTT at Hamburg, Germany, this past July,
Joel Rubin concluded his third and final term as President of the
international organization. Printed below is his report to the Congress
on July 18, 1978.-eds.
It seems only yesterday that I stood by the side of Prof. Walter
Unruh and listened as he called the first Congress of OISTT into
order. And yet next year, in 1979, it will already be time to mark the
first ten years of our official existence.
I think it can be said that we have achieved a great deal in these
years. If we have not always fulfilled every task and every objective,
we have at least kept our goals and purposes in mind. We have, in
fact, provided a continuous forum for study of contemporary scenography, theatre technology and theatre architecture. Without any
question the knowledge of what is happening internationally is much
improved over these last years. The existence of our national centers
has created new possibilities for publications both nationally and
internationally-there are in fact twice as much journals being published regularly today in our fields of interest as there were ten years
ago; and this implies the desire on the part of us all to provide more
information and better communication.
We have recently joined efforts with the Scandinavian theatre centers and their remarkable book, an international technical and scenographic dictionary. This book is called Theatre Words, and in the
form envisionep by our Publications Commission and the book's
editor, Mrs. Luterkort of Sweden, the new edition will be published in
10 languages with the mutual sponsorship of the Scandinavian nations and OISTT. I do not think we can even begin to envision the
possibilities for communication that will be made available upon
publication of this book-possibilities not only in publication but in
the exchange of theatre personnel and productions between the
member nations of the world. Each of our national OISTT centers
must now cooperate toward this book-first in arranging and checking translations; second, in subscribing now to a number of copies in
order to guarantee the printing order; and third, to insist within your
own national center of UNESCO that UNESCO contribute to the costs
of editing and publication in order to keep the selling price of the
book as low as possible.
I believe our most important contribution over these last years has
been to arrange an almost continuous series of international meetings, almost forty in number now, in nearly a dozen countries, dealing
with one or more areas of interest; meetings in scenography, in
theatre architecture, in theatre technic, in theatre training and theatre
publication.
I believe that in these international meetings, whether large or
small, whether they met their fullest promise or not; in them has been
our greatest opportunity for improving understanding and international relationships.
One often hears in such meetings, whether national or international, that the program was not very good, or the speakers were
not lively, or the accommodations were not proper, or whatever the
complaint is-I think we have all learned to disregard such complaints for the most part, since we all resolve that the next meeting
should be better, and we all seem to come to the next meeting as
well. In an international sense we are here to meet and talk with each
other, and that is really the most important activity of the meeting,
regardless of the subject or program. It is easy to be frustrated with a
lack of progress, or a lack of replies to letters, or the fact that it takes
an enormous amount of time and energy to accomplish even the
slightest task-the fact is, that there is progress being made, that
there is better understanding, that we do have more international
exchange.

I believe that in OISTT we can offer ourselves another compliment
after all these years as well. In spite of governmental politics, in spite
of changing economies, and the lack of cooperation that governments as governments engage in-we have kept the OISTT nearly
free of politics, we have kept it truly international in scope and
understanding, and we have maintained our meetings as open
ground where all theatre artists are free to meet and exchange views.
I believe that this too is no small accomplishment. The temptation to
dissolve into partisan politics is easy, but it often sounds the death
bell for international organizations. I have not always agreed with the
policies of certain ministries of culture toward freedom of artists, or
even attitudes toward culture in general, but in spite of such disagreements we have always, in OISTT, met in an atmosphere of
freedom, regardless of where we were meeting.
It has been my pleasure to have had the opportunity of serving you
as President for the last several years. I value the cooperation you
have given to me, I value the understanding you have given to me. I
am particularly grateful to the Secretariat of OISTT for their devotion
to the principles of OISTT throughout the years. I am thankful to my
fellow members of the Executive Committee for the support they
have always provided. I am in fact particularly grateful for the friendships made with all of you, for to me that has been another major
reward in being a member of this organization. Good luck and good
health to us all, and thank you, most sincerely for the privilege of
working with you.
Joel Rubin

Foreign Journals
Bauten der Kultur 2 (1978)
Editor: Helga Forster
Rekonstruktion des Brecht-Hauses Berlin, Horst Mobius; Rekonstruktion des ehemaligen Volkskammergebtiudes Berlin, Sonja Punitharelu; Weideraufbau des Schauspielhauses in Karl-Marx-Stadt,
Peter Albert. Ralf Brautigam, and Gerd Franke; Bericht Uber die 15.
Tagung der BUhnentechniker und-ausstatter der DDR, Dieter Drause
and Gerd Franke; Das Staat/iche Puppentheatre Budapest, Maria
Siklos; Rekonstruktion der BUhnenbeleuchtungsanlage im Puppentheatre Berlin, Siegfried Gebhardt; Das Forschungsinstitut fUr
materiell-technische Basis der Kultur in Sofia, Nikola Veltschev;
Neuererbewegung in den Theatern und Kulturhausern, Rolf Hessen mOiler.
BiJhnentechnische Rundschau (S pecial Issue, 1978)
Editor: Helmut Grosser
Zu diesem Heft "Zum Werke, das wir ernst bereiten. ...., Helmut
Grosser; Theaterdekoration und Zeitsti/ (1921), F. Ahlers-Hestermann; Moskauer Theaterrevolution (1924), Max A. R. BrOnner; Regie
und Inszenierung von Dramen Shakespeares auf der GuckkastenbUhne (1924), Wolfgang Hoffmann-Harnisch; Der Wandel im
BUhnenbild (1927), Dr. E. Gunderath; Die Dekoration (1927), August
Strindberg; Das Theater der Gegenwart auf der Deutschen Theaterausstellung in Magdeburg (1927), Carl Niessen; von modernen theaterbau, unter berUcksichtigung des piscator-theaterneubaues in berlin (1927), Walter Gropius; Der entfesselte BUhnenraum (1927),
(Continued on p. 27)

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1978