Theodor Lobe’s employment practice in Wrocław: A data-driven analysis of work migration and ensemble retention at the Stadttheater and Lobe-Theater (1867–1872)
Jorit Jens Hopp
j.hopp@campus.lmu.deLudwig-Maximilians-Universität (Germany)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3484-9120
Abstract
This article discusses employee migration and retention at the Stadttheater and Lobe-Theater in Breslau between 1867 and 1872. Using the methods of historical network research, visual analysis, and basic statistics, the author analyses data from theatre almanacs, historical studies, and biographical encyclopaedias to examine Theodor Lobe’s employment practices and the development of institutional ties during his five years of managing the Stadttheater and Lobe-Theater, as well as retention rates in various staff positions. He demonstrates that rather than relying on family or personal networks, Lobe recruited his ensemble primarily from an established pool of local theatre professionals. The articles reveals that almost half of the ensemblemainly lesser-known performersremained at the theatre for only one season, while choir members or established soloists tended to work longer. The author makes the caveat that a five-year period is too short to enable observing the development of a broader mobility field, although the data suggest the emergence of a single institutional bond that strengthened the exchange between theatres during this period.
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Keywords:
theatre historiography, digital humanities, migration, network research, visual analytics, German-speaking theatre, Theodor LobeReferences
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Authors
Jorit Jens Hoppj.hopp@campus.lmu.de
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Germany
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3484-9120
JORIT JENS HOPP - Research Fellow and PhD candidate in the ERC project T-MIGRANTS. He studied Theatre Studies and Economics in his Bachelor’s degree and did his Master’s in Theatre Studies with a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes at LMU Munich. Meanwhile, he worked as a student assistant for faculty, as well as in the ERC projects Developing Theatre and T-MIGRANTS and as an editorial assistant for the peer-reviewed Journal of Global Theatre History. His research interests lie primarily in the field of theatre as a (global) institution, migration history and in the connection between theatre (studies) and the digital world.
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