Dr. Monika Deželak Trojar, researcher at the SAZU (Slovenian Academy of Science and Art), is the project manager of the postdoc research about Jesuit plays (dramas). During her research she discovered, among others, 26 jesuit dramas from the 17. and the 18. century. The dramas were created and played at the old Jesuit College of Ljubljana. The dramas are in Latin, German and Slovene language. Dr. Deželak found the documents at the Auersperg Family Archive in Vienna.

Dr. Deželak Trojar writes about this valuable discovery:

Discovery of manuscripts and periochae* of the former Jesuit college in Ljubljana

The research showed that the Jesuits in Ljubljana (between 1597 and 1773), as well as in other colleges throughout Europe, paid great attention to the preparation of theater performances. Their theatre dramas were closely linked to their educational activity. The students acquired rhetorical and linguistic knowledge by practicing theatre plays and were therefore well trained in public speaking. The performances were performed at least once a year, often more. Most were intended for a wider audience. Jesuits in Ljubljana organized school and religious performances and processions. School performances were associated with the beginning and the end of school year, carnival time, visits of important personalities, major anniversaries and events of the city. Religious performances belonged to the pastoral life and were associated with the celebration of the most important religious festivities.

The research led to the discovery of new primary dramatic material of the Ljubljana Jesuits. Among other, the discovery of twenty-six manuscript dramatic texts, six printed and six manuscript periohas of dramas created in the Ljubljana College of the Society of Jesus between 1640 and 1672.

The documents have been preserved in the Auersperg Family Archive, which is part of the House, Court and State Archives in Vienna, Austria. Twenty-five periochae, eleven or twelve summaries of passion processions (one of which is preserved in two copies) and one manuscript dramatic text have been preserved in the Seminary Library in Ljubljana. Most of the mentioned material, created between 1647 and 1713, has survived to present thanks to historian Janez Gregor Dolničar (1655-1719) who kept a collection named Miscellanea. Five printed periochae from 1674–1708 have been preserved at the Austrian National Library in Vienna, and two (from 1725 and 1727) remained among the material of the National and University Library in Ljubljana. The discovery of this documentation is of inestimable value for Slovenian theatrical history and the history of the Jesuit order in Slovenia. Based on this discovery, it will be possible to reconstruct a new, complete chapter about the beginnings of theater in Slovenia.

* Periochae (Greek and Latin) are theatrical sheets with summaries of the content of a play. Often periochae contained also the names of people who performed the plays.