Programme (booklet)

It is a printed leaflet outlining the parts of the event scheduled to take place, principal performers and background information.

The early playbills were basic, with only enough pages to list the cast members and information on the play's locale and scenes.

This resulted in companies of actors traversing urban streets with a beating drum while announcing upcoming venues.

Beginning in New York City, the first company to specialize in printing theatrical programmes was founded by an Ohio business man, Frank Vance Strauss.

[3] On September 23, 1920, the company, then known as the New York Theatre Program Corporation, advertised its sales at a million and a half per month.

[7] During World War II, British theatre programmes underwent a dramatic change as the government placed restrictions over paper use.

The programme turned back into a single sheet of paper folded over once to efficiently create four available pages for text.

[4] In September 2017, the British Library opened its "In the Spotlight" project, showcasing a portion of its collection of nearly a quarter of a million playbills dating from the 1730s to the 1950s.

[10][11] Oftentimes in European sports, independent companies will publish their own programmes and sell them outside a venue.

In Japan, each major film release gets its own theatrical pamphlet or "souvenir programme", a popular novelty and collectible item.