Abstract

How do new media and social networks transform the daily life of theatres and acting companies, and their relationship with their public? The Web and Facebook have become an almost unavoidable meeting point for everyone interested in the performing arts, particularly in their most innovative and experimental forms - for artists and cultural organizations, operators, theatre enthusiasts or «simple» theatre-goers. In Italy, the most fertile theatrical landscape is constituted by small- and medium-size groups and nonprofit companies that, already affected by a static cultural market, are now enduring the economic crisis and cuts to public funding. This article discusses the results of research that investigated the organizational life of twelve theatre companies that regularly inhabit the web and the online activities of thirteen public theatres; in particular, it illustrates the concrete transformations engendered by online interactions in the daily work of cultural enterprises.