Theatre Resources
General Resources
Primary Documents
Costumes & Sets
Shakespeare
- http://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?action=index - Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia - "The Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia on the WWW was a project begun by Gaetan Charlebois, a theatre editor with Hour Magazine (Montreal), in 1993. The idea of the project is to keep an ongoing, highly accessible, database of information about Canadian actors, playwrights, directors, producers, designers, theatre organizations and institutions, composers and plays available to the world."
- http://www.ibdb.com/index.php - Internet Broadway Database - "IBDB provides a comprehensive database of shows produced on Broadway, including all 'title page' information about each production. IBDB also offers historical information about theatres and various statistics and fun facts related to Broadway."
- http://www.imdb.com/ - Internet Movie Database - IMDB provides information about actors, production information, reviews, video clips, images, and plot summaries from films, television shows, and awards shows.
- http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/ - Internet Off-Broadway Database, Lortel Archives - "The Lortel Archives, also known as www.IOBDB.com (Internet Off-Broadway Database) provides a catalogue of shows produced Off-Broadway." With records dating back to 1958, this database contains listings for almost 6,000 shows, with more added daily.
- http://www.bls.gov/soc/2010/soc272010.htm - Occupational Outlook Handbook, Actors, Producers, and Directors - Read more about the nature of the work; training, other qualifications, and advancement; employment; the job outlook; projections; earnings; wages; related occupations; and browse sources of additional information.
- http://www.loc.gov/performingarts/ - Performing Arts Encyclopedia - "The Performing Arts Encyclopedia (PAE) is a guide to performing arts resources at the Library of Congress. Users can find digitized items from the collections; special Web presentations on topics and collections; articles and biographical essays; finding aids to collections; databases for performing arts resources; information on concerts at the Library; and a special Performing Arts Resource Guide which contains entries for hundreds of Library collections, Web sites, databases and exhibits." Enter search terms or browse the Performing Arts Resource Guide. Not all collections are available in digital format online.
- http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/t/theater/index.html - Theatre News at the New York Times - Current theatre happenings, news, and reviews published in the New York Times; for additional access to NYT articles use the library's newspaper access (from the library homepage click "Newspapers, Videos, and TV" then "Times,Washington Post, L.A. Times, Christian Science Monitor."
- http://www.tcg.org/tools/index.cfm - Theatre Communications Group Tools & Research - Search through Theatre Profiles to find information on upcoming or past productions within a specific theatre, explore their annual survey results of theatre facts, learn more about new productions, job prospects and employment outlook information, research projects, arts education, and professional development opportunities.
Primary Documents
- http://americantheatrearchiveproject.org/ - American Theatre Archive Project - The American Theatre Archive Project (ATAP) supports theatre makers in archiving records of their work for the benefit of artists, scholars, patrons, and the public.
- http://www.elta-project.org/search.html - East London Theatre Archive - "The project clustered and digitised collections of theatre ephemera from different theatre museums, organisations, venues and private collectors. 3,368 archive items were digitised, creating circa 15,000 images and related metadata, which are made available online."
- http://www.glopad.org/pi/en/index.php - Global Performing Arts Database - "GloPAD (Global Performing Arts Database) records include authoritative, detailed, multilingual descriptions of digital images, texts, video clips, sound recordings, and complex media objects related to the performing arts around the world, plus information about related pieces, productions, performers, and creators."
- http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/browse/ListSome.php?category=Performing%20Arts,%20Music - Library of Congress, American Memory - "American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience." Select one or more of the performing arts collections to search or broaden your search by using this link to explore the entire American Memory collection (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html).
- http://www.loc.gov/pictures/ - Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Online Catalog - "The collections of the Prints & Photographs Division include photographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings. While international in scope, the collections are particularly rich in materials produced in, or documenting the history of, the United States and the lives, interests and achievements of the American people."
- http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/vshtml/vshome.html - Library of Congress, American Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment Collection - "The American Variety Stage is a multimedia anthology selected from various Library of Congress holdings. This collection illustrates the vibrant and diverse forms of popular entertainment, especially vaudeville, that thrived from 1870-1920. Included are 334 English- and Yiddish-language playscripts, 146 theater playbills and programs, 61 motion pictures, 10 sound recordings and 143 photographs and 29 memorabilia items documenting the life and career of Harry Houdini. Groups of theater posters and additional sound recordings will be added to this anthology in the future."
- http://sounds.bl.uk/Arts-literature-and-performance/Theatre-Archive-Project - Theatre Archive Project - This archive has interview transcripts available in full-text online.
- http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/phl - Philbrick Library Collection of Theater Letters - "Many of the greatest names in English theater, David Garrick, Edmund Kean, Sarah Siddons, the several members of the Kemble family, Henry Irving, and Ellen Terry, among many others, are represented here in original manuscripts, published memoirs, biographies, and portraits. There are important editions of Shakespeare, including the second Folio (1632) and prompt books, and good scholarly books on theater history as well." Search this collection using keywords, or browse by subject heading or author.
Costumes & Sets
- http://theatrical-scenery.info/ - Database of Shows and Theatres - This database provides "access to over 6,000 Programme Fronts as well as some Photographs of Scenery on Stage." Search by theatre, city/town, show title, year, or builder (some primary documents available in digital format).
- http://www.history.org/history/clothing/intro/index.cfm - 18th Century Clothing, Colonial Williamsburg - This website provides an introduction, information on women's clothing, men's clothing, children's clothing, African American clothing, milliner shops, and costume design.
- http://www.elizabethancostume.net/ - Elizabethan Costume Page - This in-depth page provides an introduction to Elizabethan costume, research, images, costume patterns, examples of hats & headwear, colors & fabrics, dress accessories, detailing & decoration, and other helpful web links.
Shakespeare
- http://shakespeare.mit.edu/ - The Complete William Shakespeare - This site has offered Shakespeare's plays and poetry to the Internet community since 1993.
- http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/index.html - Internet Shakespeare Editions - Learn more about Shakespeare's plays & poems, life & times, performance information, and browse a wide range of resources.