LibGuides: Theatre: Resources

Best Peforming Arts Databases

The following databases are the most promising when it comes to doing research on particular works, genres, or historical periods film and radio.

Drama Online
Scholarly works and practical guides provide contextual and critical background for theatre. Also includes monologues and plays. Coverage dates: Ancient - present
Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive
Complete runs of major trade and consumer magazines of the entertainment industries from their inception to 2000.
Gale Artemis Literary Sources
All Gale literary resources, including Contemporary Authors, Literature Criticism Online, Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, and Dictionary of Literary Biography. Database has critical essays and articles, biographical information, and critical sources for further research. You can also search a particular publication or electronic resource. Coverage dates: varies
International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text
Articles, books, and book chapters on theatre and performing arts. Coverage dates: 1929 - present
JSTOR
Full text of back issues of journals in many different subject areas. It is especially strong in Arts and Sciences.
Literature Resource Center
Information on literary figures from all time periods. Information includes criticism, biographies, bibliographies, work overviews, Web sites, periodical articles, full-text author's works, and reading lists. Coverage dates: varies
North American Theatre Online
Primary-sources, websites, and streaming media of theatre and drama.
Performing Arts Periodicals Database
Full text. Draws current content from more than 200 scholarly and popular performing arts periodicals,
Shakespeare Survey Online
A yearbook of Shakespeare studies and production. Survey publishes the best international scholarship in English. Each volume is devoted to a theme, play, or group of plays, and contains reviews of that year's textual and critical studies and of the year's major British performances. Coverage dates: 1948 - present
World Shakespeare Bibliography Online
Provides annotated entries for all important books, articles, book reviews, dissertations, theatrical productions, reviews of productions, audiovisual materials, electronic media, and other scholarly and popular materials related to Shakespeare and published or produced worldwide. Coverage dates: 1968 - present

Streaming Media

BBC Shakespeare Plays
Videos of all 37 of Shakespeare's plays. Coverage dates: 1500 - 1700
Alexander Street Press Video
Contains Broadway HD
Drama Online
Inside Drama Online, you can find Globe on Screen.
Theatre in Video
Definitive performances of the world's leading plays, together with film documentaries, online in streaming video. This release representing hundreds of leading playwrights, actors, and directors. Coverage dates: 1936 - 2005

Special Databases

These databases offer primary documents in America and Britain that pertain to elements of stagecraft from different historical periods.

Defining Gender
Defining Gender is a collection of primary source documents that cover the years 1450-1910. Documents include information about leisure entertainment.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online
Digitization and publishing program focusing on primary source collections of the long nineteenth century. This includes British theatre, music, and literature of high and popular culture.

Web Resources

Open Source Shakespeare
Open Source Shakespeare contains Shakespeare's complete works. It is intended for scholars and actors. OSS includes the 1864 Globe Edition of the complete works, which was the definitive single-volume Shakespeare edition for over a half-century. Features include a number of sorting and searching functions both on the home page and inside the plays, side by side sonnet comparison, and a concordance. This particular web page also has a mobile interface.
American Variety Stage
A multimedia anthology of English and Yiddish scripts, playbills and programs, silent films, and early recordings.
Internet Broadway database
Official archival database for Broadway theater information. Features information on current and past productions in the Broadway theaters of New York City, including production statistics, dates, cast, crew and creative staff credits, roles, and related facts.
Broadway World.com
This is an amazing link, especially if you need to know the historical grosses of Broadway shows.
Playbill.com
Offers everything for Broadway theatre--from seating charts, playbills, lists of jobs and castings, current shows, etc.
Global Shakespeares
"The Global Shakespeares Video & Performance Archive is a collaborative project providing online access to performances of Shakespeare from many parts of the world as well as essays and metadata by scholars and educators in the field."

It also offers Essays & Interviews and Scripts listed under Resources.

Tutorials

Humanities & Theatre

Ammie E. Harrison

she/her/hers

Email Me

Contact:

Mary Couts Burnett Library
TCU Box 298400
Fort Worth, TX 76129

(817) 257-5338

Subjects: Citation Tools, English Literature and Composition, Film, TV & Digital Media, Library Basics, Modern Language Studies, Reference, Spanish & Hispanic Studies, Theatre, Women and Gender Studies, Writing