'DAS STRITTIGE GEBIET ZWISCHEN WISSENSCHAFT UND KUNST'. ARTUR KUTSCHER UND DIE PRAXISDIMENSION DER MÜNCHNER THEATERWISSENSCHAFT

This study examines the foundation and the first developments of Theatre Studies at the University of Munich, focusing on Artur Kutscher (1878-1960), who delivered the first lectures and seminars in Theaterwissenschaft at the LMU in 1909. After first overviewing learning theories, the concept of practice for the first German theater scholars, and the current discussion on the relationship of research between theory and practice in Performance Studies, the thesis contends that Kutscher conceived theatre research as an investigation about, through and into practice. Based on Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger’s theory of situated learning, the study aims at demonstrating that the so-called Kutscher-Kreis (Kutscher Circle) turned out to be a well-structured Community of Practice, i.e. a group of people informally bound by a joint enterprise and by a shared repertoire of communal resources, who engage in and contribute to the practices negotiated by all members.