Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1995 - 18

The International Organization of Technical Theatre and Theatrical Design

Address to the Opening
of the OISTAT Small Congress
by

Helmut Grosser, President, OISTAT

"Wilat did we want in the very beginning?
What have we accomplished since that time?
The very beginning was in June, 1968. We were in Prague for an
International Theatre Institute Congress. Within the franlework of this
congress we had invited some already existing organizations of
scenographers and theatre technicians. The desire of the then General
Secretary of ITl, Jean Darcante, was to create an international organization in these professional fields.
Present at the Congress were the representatives of Canada, Wally
Russell and Jean-Claude Rinfret; of Czechoslovakia, Ladislav Vychodil
and Dr. Jindra; of East Germany, Hans Gussmann; of West Germany,
myself (representing Prof. Walther nruh, who was arriving a day
later); of Hungary, Ferenc Vajda and Mr. Hunt; of Israel, Arnon Adar;
and of the niled States, Dr. Joel Rubin and Gary Gaiser. The Belgian
association was represented by an observer, Mr. Rene Hainaux. The
national organizations of the niled Kingdom and Soviet Russia were
absent and sent wishes for the success of the plan. The organizations of

What is OISTAT?
An overview
by Richard W. Durst

The presidents of the various national organizations that deal \vith
design and technical theatre were invited by PQ '95 and the Executive Committee of the Organisation Internationale des Scenographes,
Techniciens et Architectes de Theatre (OISTAT) to participate in the
small congress of the OlSTAT, held in conjunction with the PQ.
OISTAT (the most prestigious international organization in our
industry) and the PQ (the premier exhibition of the art and craft of
theatre) were essentially born together and have matured along side
one another. We were invited to help provide direction for the future
as OISTAT embarks on new challenges with new leadership. The
issues we were asked to respond to were not profound, but inlportant in the continuing and evolutionary operations of the organization.
Since OISTAT is not a membership organization, but is, as Chris
Uevaart, Secretary General, says' an association of associations,"
there are no individual members, only the national centers for each
country. They elect or appoint a person as chair of the national

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Argentina, France and Japan intended to apply for inclusion (unfortllnately we are still waiting for Argentina).
In its first session the group discussed and approved the charter,
which had been developed by the Czechoslovakian ITI-Center, with the
help of Mr. Darcante. The OISTT, that was its first nan1e, would join not
only the scenographers and theatre technicians, but also the theatre
architects (some years later we did put them in the new title:
Organisation Internationale des Scenographes, TeciUliciens et
Arcltitectes de Theatre), as \\ell as the theorists and historians in our
fields. The purpose and the functions of the organization were fLxed in
the first paragraph of the charter.
The first presidency, elected in a secret ballot, was Prof. Walther
nruh as president, Dr. Joel Rubin and Ferenc Vajda as vice-presidents.
The pro\~sional general secretal)' in those first months was Prof.
Ladislav Vychodil, then in the first meeting of the Executive Committee,

center to represent them at OISTAT meetings and to be the official
voting delegate for their country. There are currently tltirty-four
nations in OISTAT, consequently thirty-four voting delegates.
During the large congresses of the organization, twelve nations
are elected to be represented on the Executive Comntittee and, logically, the chairs of the centers of those twelve comprise that Executive, along \vith the President and Secretary General (who serves
kind of like an Executive Director). Additionally, each center elects
or appoints a representative to each of the six OISTAT commissions:
Arcltitecture, Education, History and TheOl)', Publication and Communication Scenography, and Technology.
I apologize for the length of this explanation, but the structure
of OISTAT, and SITT's place witltin it was never very clear to me
until this small congress meeting at the PQ '95, and I assume some
of you are as confused about it as I was, so I hope tltis will help in
your understanding. It was crucial for me to be clear about this as
tile issues surrounding the future of the organization were presented
to us. I believe one of tile shortcomings of the international organization has been the lack of defined projects that each of these commissions were to focus upon. I believe that President Grosser and
Secreta I)' General Uevaart are addressing this issue and we are seeing a better defined role for each of the commissions.
O/SUlT, page 56

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