Contents:

• Find books
• Find background information
• Find articles & essays
• Key scholarly websites

Offcampus Access Databases A-Z Research Guides by Subject | by Course Reference Books Online Library Catalog

Wellesley College Library catalog

Catalogs for Other Libraries in the Boston Area

WorldCat (via FirstSearch) Use WorldCat to find books and videos at other libraries.

General

American Playwrights, 1880-1945: a research and production sourcebook. (Clapp Ref Z1231.D7 A52 1995)

American Playwrights Since 1945: a guide to scholarship, criticism, and performance. (Clapp Ref Z1231.D7 A53 1989)

American Women Stage Directors of the Twentieth Century. (Clapp Ref PN2286.8 .F55 2008)

Asian American playwrights : a bio-bibliographical critical sourcebook. (Clapp Ref PS338.A74 A9 2002)

Black Theater and Performance: a pan-African bibliography. (Clapp Ref Z5784.B56 G7 1990)

Britannica Online

Cambridge Guide to Theatre. (Clapp Ref PN2035 .C27 1995)

Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama. 2 volumes. (Clapp Ref PN1861 .C65 2007)

Critical Survey of Drama. 8 volumes. (Clapp Ref PN1625 .C68 2003)
Excellent starting point for discussions of particular plays and playwrights.

To find biographical information about a playwright: Literature Online (LION) and/or Literature Resource Center

Notable Women in the American Theater: a biographical dictionary. (Clapp Ref PN2285 .N65 1989)

McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama. (Clapp Ref PN1625 .M3 1984)

Theatrical Directors. (Clapp Ref PN2205 .T54 1994)

Oxford Companion to American Theater. (Clapp Ref PN2220 .B6 1992)

The Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre. (Clapp Ref PN2111 .O93 1995)

Oxford Reference Online Premium --- Performing Arts

The Theatregoers' Almanac: a collection of lists, people, history, and commentary on the American theatre. (Clapp Ref PN2266 .H53 1997)

The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre. 6 vols.(Clapp Ref PN1861 .W67 1994)

Costume

The Encyclopedia of World Costume. (Clapp Ref GT507 .Y37 1986)

Handbook of English Costume in the Eighteenth Century. (Clapp Ref GT736 .C8)

Handbook of English Costume in the Nineteenth Century. (Clapp Ref GT737 .C8)

Historic Dress in America, 1607-1800. (Clapp Library & Clapp Ref GT607 .M2)

Historic Dress in America, 1800-1870. (Clapp Library & Clapp Ref GT610 .M2)

National Costumes from East Europe, Africa and Asia. (Clapp Ref GT513 .T5)

Vecellio's Renaissance Costume Book : all 500 woodcut illustrations from the famous sixteenth-century compendium of world costume. (Clapp Ref GT513 .V442)

Finding Plays

Asian-American Drama
"When complete Asian American Drama will bring together more than 250 plays, along with related biographical, production, and theatrical information, so providing a comprehensive overview of this growing field. The collection begins with the works of Sadakichi Hartmann in the late nineteenth century and it is planned to include contemporary playwrights, such as Philip Kan Gotanda, Elizabeth Wong, and Jeannie Barroga."

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
MIT's site..

The EServer Drama Collection
"This site contains a collection of original plays and screenplays, criticism and links to other sites concerned with theatre. It publishes both classic and contemporary works."

Inter-Play: an on-line index to plays in collections, anthologies and periodicals
"Inter-Play provides easy access to the locations of printed plays in collections, anthologies and periodicals."

Literature Online (LION)
Use this to find the texts of plays online.

Ottemiller's Index to Plays in Collections. (Clapp Ref Z5781 D8 1988)

Play Index. 1949-1997 (Clapp Ref Z5781 .P53)

Finding articles, essays, & reviews

Aisle Say: the Internet magazine of stage reviews and opinion
Reviews of U.S. theater productions.

Humanities & Social Science Retrospective (via WilsonWeb 1984-. Check the box for "Humanities Full Text." Note: This database is a mixture of citations and full text, despite its name. Use this to find English-language articles about literature, film, and drama.

JSTOR. -1995.
Use this to find articles in selected scholarly literature journals (ELH,MLN, African American Review, Shakespeare Quarterly,etc.) written prior to about the last five years. JSTOR is an archive of back issues of selected journals.

LexisNexis Academic Domestic and international news, in English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, 1980's to present. An excellent resource for newspaper reviews of theatrical productions.

Literature Online (LION)
Use this to find the texts of plays online, information about playwrights, and critical articles about plays and productions.

Literature Resource Center  Biographies, bibliographies and full-text critical analysis of authors from all genres and eras, including the contents of Contemporary Authors, Dictionary of Literary Biography, and Contemporary Literary Criticism.

MLA Bibliography. 1963- Use this to find articles about literature, film, and drama in all languages.

New York Theater Critic's Reviews. 1944-1996 (Clapp Ref PN1601 .N4)
Reprints of reviews.

New York Times Online 1851-2001.
Exact replica of the New York Times in PDF format.

Project Muse
Use this to find articles in selected scholarly journals (Performing Arts Journal and Theatre Journal, etc.) written in the last two to five years.

Shakespeare Collection Online  Scholarly and historical editions of Shakespeare's works; articles and reference materials on Shakespeare and related topics, 1600 to present

Times of London Digital Archive, 1785-1985
Search for play reviews and other articles by or about British and colonial playwrights.

Other databases may be useful for you, depending on your specific topic and approach. AskUs for some customized suggestions.

Key scholarly websites

The Actor Site, for the aspiring professional actor, links to everything and anything related to the industry.

CESAR A developing reference source to theatrical entertainments and venues throughout France during the 17th & 18th centuries, the period of the ancien regime & the French Revolution. The majority of the content is in French and some English titles.

History of Theatre
Ancient to modern theatre history presented by the Tupelo Community Theatre. The backstage section has technical tips and a glossary. A good introductory site.

The New Improv Page
A gateway to links on improvisational theater.

Internet Broadway Database
This archive is the official database for Broadway theatre information. IBDB provides records of productions from the beginnings of New York theatre until today.

Internet Resources for Theatre maintained by the University of Delaware.

LANIC [Latin American Network Information Center] Performing Arts A University of Texas Internet site.

Netting Theatre - A Web site for actors, directors, playwrights, etc.

Playbill Online
Listings for stage productions in the United States and in London, job postings, Tony Awards, and who's who in theater.

The Puppetry Home Page
Links to information on worldwide traditions of puppetry, and on using puppetry in performance. Also links to puppetry performance companies, organizations, builders, exhibitions and festivals, schools, workshops, internships, scholarships, and awards. Free classified ads for buying and selling puppets.

Theatre History on the Web
A well-organized gateway to links on the history of theater, plays, and production, from classical Greek to modern. Includes links to e-texts for the complete plays of Shakespeare, Greek and Roman plays, and other public-domain plays, as well as links to information on period costume, dance, and music.

WWW Virtual Library: Theatre and Drama
Links to e-texts for selected plays, full-text online theater journals, theater companies, plays, monologues, and books on theater in print, online theater image collections, theater on film, and more.

Local Theatre

Bostix.org
Half-price day-of-show tickets.

Boston Phoenix
What's playing in Boston theaters.

Boston Theater Mirror
Current jobs and stage productions in the metro Boston area.

Wellesley College Theatre Season

Wellesley College Library • WCIS • Danielle Boulay • last modified: July 29, 2009