Semi-stagione
Semi-Stagione ( Italian ; about "half-season") is a form of theater operation. The term refers to a hybrid between Repertory Theater and Stagionesystem (or En-suite game operation ) especially in the opera, but also in the spectacle.
In the German-speaking area and in Eastern Europe, the big theaters are traditionally operated in the repertoire system: a different production can take place almost every evening because the in-house ensembles have a large repertoire . The individual repertoire performances, however, have hardly been rehearsed and the premiere can be a long time ago. As a result, the assistant directors are challenged to ensure the quality of the performances in the absence of the directors .
In semi-stagione mode, past productions are resumed, which is rare in the stagione system, but these performances are not spread over the entire season , but are combined into blocks, preceded by a phase of resumption rehearsals. This allows travel costs to be kept low when many guest actors are involved in the production, and the conversion costs remain lower because the set can remain on the stage for several days instead of constantly being set up and dismantled. In addition, the quality of the performances can be better monitored.
In the last twenty years many theaters with a pure repertoire system have developed into semi-stagione operations. This has to do with cutting costs, decreasing the subscriber audience and downsizing the number of dedicated ensembles.