This session brings together Simon Sladen (Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Performance at the Victoria and Albert Museum), Jo Elsworth (Director of the Theatre Collection at the University of Bristol), and Robyn Greenwood (Exhibitions and Collections Officer at the RSC) to discuss the management and function of theatre archives and collections. We will consider the challenges of documenting the liveness of performance, the relationship between the archive and the physical space of the theatre, and how the archive might be used to engage with broad and diverse audiences.