Subject Guide: Theatre

The Library's Subject Guides help you find resources that are specialized for certain areas of study. There are many other resources available which provide generalized information--not specific to one topic or area. To see more of these general resources, see the Subject Guide: General page.

Theatre Department Homepage

Fine Arts Liaison - Lareese Hall

Online Resources

Databases provide information about journal, magazine and newspaper articles.

Browse Theatre Databases

• International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance
  Index, abstracts, and full text for articles and other publications on all aspects of theater and performance.
• International Index to the Performing Arts
  An index, containing abstracts, to international articles in journals and periodicals about the preforming arts.
• Play Index
  Provides information on where to find published plays.
• Shakespeare Collection
  A collection of materials supporting literary, textual, historical, and performance studies of Shakespeare.
• ArtSTOR
  A digital image database; includes set designs and costume images.
• New York Times Archive (1851-2005)
  Full page images of the New York Times newspaper, dating from 1851 through 2005.
• The Times (London) Digital Archive
  Complete digital edition of The Times (London), 1785-1985.

Reference Materials

Reference materials provide background information on a people, terms and concepts.

General Works:
• Oxford Reference Books Online / Performing Arts Section
  Online access to seven of Oxford's performing arts reference books. You can search all seven books, or select one to search.
• International Dictionary of Theatre  DEN REF PN2000 .I474
       Vol. 1: Plays
       Vol. 2: Playwrights
       Vol. 3: Actors, Directors, & Designers
• McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama  DEN REF PN1625 .M3 1984
• World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre  DEN REF PN1981 .W67 1994
• Continuum Companion to Twentieth-Century Theatre  DEN REF PN2035 .C65 2002
• Dictionary of the Theatre: Terms, Concepts & Analysis  DEN REF PN2035 .P2913 1998
• Critical Survey of Drama  DEN REF PN1625 .C68 2003
• Columbia Encylopedia of Modern Drama  DEN REF PN1861 .C65 2007


Works on Stage & Costume Design:
• Encyclopedia of Stage Lighting  DEN REF PN2091 .E4 B66 2003
• The Historical Encyclopedia of Costumes  DEN REF GT510 .R3313 1988
• 20,000 Years of Fashion; The History of Costume and Personal Adornment  DEN REF GT510 .B6713 1967a
• Survey of Historic Costume  DEN REF GT580 .T67 2005
• The Complete Fashion Sourcebook  DEN REF GT596 .P393 2005
• An Illustrated Dictionary of Historic Costume: From the First Century B.C. to c. 1760  DEN REF GT510 .P48 2003
• Costume Language: A Dictionary of Dress Terms  DEN REF GT507 .D38 1994
• Encyclopedia of Furnishing Textiles, Floorcoverings and Home Furnishing Practices 1200-1950   DEN REF NK1710 .E39 2007

Web Resources

Here are a few web sites we think you might find useful:

• American Theatre Wing: Theatre References
  Type person's name in search box. Look for biography entry in addition to other useful information.
  
  
• Internet Broadway Database
  IBDB was created by the Research Department of The Broadway League, the national trade association for Broadway. Type your person's name in to bring up a list of productions they have been involved with.

• Librarians' Index to the Internet: Performing Arts Page.
  A directory of over 900 sites relating to the performing arts, subdivided by topic.
  
  
• The Costume Page
  
  
• Selections from the Federal Theatre Project 1935-1939
  13,000 images of stage and costume designs, still photographs, posters, and scripts from the Federal Theatre Project Collection at the Library of Congress.
  
  
• Variety.com
  Use the web site to search for full text reviews of productions--back to 1900. Under "Latest News" click "Reviews."