Research Guide: Theatre Studies

The library collection supports the Theatre Studies Program and serves the research needs of students and faculty in this course of study. Search QUEST for print sources in the O'Neill Library Reference areas and General Stacks. In addition there are numerous websites dealing with the subjects: Drama, the Performing Arts, and Theater.
Since Theatre studies may include subject areas other than Performing Arts: see the the Research Guides by Subject webpage. The Step-by-Step Guide to Doing Research may assist some students in starting their assignments. Commercial films of theater and dance productions are available for in-house viewing in the Media Center in O'Neill Library. BC CableTV provides access to the BC Film Channels, BRAVO, and A&E cable channels among others which regularly run feature and documentary films dealing with related subjects. For further information, contact the Subject bibliographer for Theatre, Claudia Semper, semper@bc.edu; O'Neill Library room 313 (617-552-2183).

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DATABASES chosen from the Online Databases list.

• Arts and Humanities Citation Index (ISI Web of Knowledge) --covers more than 1,140 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals in a broad range of disciplines and individually selected, relevant items from over 7,000 of the world's leading science and social sciences journals.
  
• Contemporary Authors --A bio-bibliographical guide to current writers in fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, journalism, drama, motion pictures, television, and other fields.
  
• Contemporary Literary Criticism Select --an extensive collection of critical essays on contemporary authors. Each CLC--Select entry contains a biographical/critical introduction, listing of principal works, and sources for further study.
  
• Dictionary of Literary Biography --Documents the lives and careers of authors from all eras and genres.In addition to providing biographical and critical studies written by scholars and academics, DLB presents bibliographic information about each author's writings as well as sources for further reading.
  
• Editions and Adaptations of Shakespeare (1591-1911) --Scroll down the page to the link to "Individual Literature Collections" Eleven major editions from the First Folio to the Cambridge edition of 1863-6, twenty-four separate contemporary printings of individual plays, selected apocrypha and related works and more than one hundred adaptations, sequels and burlesques from the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
  
• English Drama (1280-1915) --Scroll down the page to "Individual Literature Collections." A combination of Chadwyck-Healey's English Verse Drama and English Prose Drama full-text databases. 4,000 plays by 1,200 authors from the late thirteenth century to the early twentieth century.
  
• Ethnic Newswatch-- news, culture and history from 200 publications of the ethnic, minority and native press. Nearly 500,000 complete articles dating back to 1990.
  
• Expanded Academic Index ASAP (Infotrac) --Use this database to find information on: Astronomy, Religion, Law, History, Psychology, Humanities, Current Events, Sociology, Communications and the General Sciences.
  
• General Reference Center Gold --Use this general interest database to search magazines, reference books, and newspapers for information on current events, popular culture, the arts and sciences, sports, etc.
  
• International Index to the Performing Arts Full Text --covers a broad spectrum of the arts and entertainment industry-including dance, film, television, drama, theater, stagecraft, musical theater, broadcast arts, circus performance, comedy, storytelling, opera, pantomime, puppetry, magic and more. IIPA Full Text draws its current content from more than 200 scholarly and popular performing arts periodicals, and also indexes a variety of documents such as biographical profiles, conference papers, obituaries, interviews, discographies, reviews and events.
  
• Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe A full-text news resource which includes entertainment reviews
  
• Literature Online--a searchable library of English and American poetry, drama and prose.
  
• MLA Bibliography--produced by the Modern Language Association of America, consists of bibliographic records pertaining to literature, language, linguistics, and folklore and includes coverage from 1963 to the present.
  
• Statistical Universe --Statistical data is abstracted and indexed.
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• American Musical Theatre: a Chronicle--Reference Stacks ML1711 .B67 2001
• American Playwrights since 1945 : a guide to scholarship, criticism, and performance--Reference stacks PS350 .A53 1989
• American Theatre : a chronicle of comedy and drama 1969-2000 (Hischak, Thomas S.) -Reference stacks PN2277.N5 H57 2001
• American Theater and drama research : an annotated guide to information sources, 1945-1990 --Reference stacks PN2266.3.S53
• American Theatre History (Taylor)--Reference stacks PN2221.T25x
• Cambridge Guide to Theatre--Reference stacks PN2035.C27 1995
• Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre--Reference stacks PN2035.C63 1992
• Critical Survey of Drama. Supplement [Magill] 6 vols.--Reference stacks PN1625.C74
• Crown Guide to the World's Great Plays: From Ancient Greece to Modern Times--Reference stacks PN6112.5.S45
• Drury's Guide to Best Plays--Reference stacks PN1655.S99D8
• Modern Drama Scholarship and Criticism 1981-1990--Reference stacks PN1851.C372 1997
• New York Public Library Performing Arts Desk Reference--Reference stacks PN1584.N49 1994
• Oxford Companion to American Theatre--Reference stacks PN2220.B6 1992
• Performing Arts, a guide to the reference literature--Reference stacks PN1584.S56x 1994
• Reader's Encyclopedia of World Drama--Reference stacks PN1625.G3
• Tony Award : a complete listing of winners and nominees of the American Theatre Wing's Tony Award : with a history of the American Theatre Wing --PN2270.A93 T6 2001
• World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre,--PN1861 .W67 1994
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• American Theatrical Periodicals, 1789-1967: a Bibliographic Guide--Reference stacks Z6935.S75
• Index to Dance Periodicals--Reference Index range 4
• Index to Full-Length Plays,1944-1964--Reference stacks Z5781.T52
• Index to Plays in Periodicals, 1977-1987--Reference stacks PN1721.K43x
• Ottemiller's Index to Plays in Collections: an Author- Title Index to Plays Appearing in Collections--Reference stacks PN1655.O66x 1988
• Play Index--Reference stacks Z5781.P53
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• American Drama Criticism, supplement III to 2nd. ed.--Reference stacks PS332.A63
• British Humanities Index--Reference Index Range 2
• Drama Criticism (7 vols.)--PN1601.D59
• European Drama Criticism, 1900-1975--Reference stacks Z5781.P2
• Guide to Critical Reviews. 3rd edition--Reference stacks Z5781.S16
• Humanities Index--Reference Index Range 2
• New York Times Theatre Reviews, -- Reference Index Range 4
• Selected Theatre Criticism, PN2277.N5S44
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• Biography Index--Reference Index Range 1
• British Dramatists Since World War II--Reference stacks PR106.B74
• Contemporary Dramatists, 5th edition--Reference stacks PN1625.V5x
• Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television --Reference stacks PN2285.C58
• Notable Women in the American Theatre--Reference stacks PN2285.N65 1989
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• Directory of theatre resources : a guide to research collections and information service--Reference stacks PN2598.5.H68 1986
• Dramatists Sourcebook (2001/2002)--Reference stacks PN2289.D73
• Regional Theater Directory, 2001/2002--Reference stacks PN2289. T54x
• TCG Theatre Directory 2000-2001--Reference stacks PN2289.T54x
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WEBSITES:

Comprehensive sites:

• Academic Info: Drama
  
• Artslynx International Dance Resources
  
• BUBL link to Theatre Studies BUBL is an Internet-based information service for the UK higher education community
  
• Brief Guide to Internet Resources in Theatre and Performance Studies This Guide is maintained by: Ken McCoy, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Communication Studies and Theatre Arts, Stetson University, DeLand, Florida
  
• The Costume Page costuming resources online
  
• New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
  
• SIBMAS International Directory of Performing Arts Collections and Institutions, lists over 7000 international institutions with material relating to the performing arts (theatre, opera, music, ballet, film, circus, radio, television, cabaret, pantomime)
  
• Theatre-Link.com Scott's Theatre-link.com | Playbill Online includes link to Theatre Central site
  
• Voice of the Shuttle: Webpage for Humanities Research see "Music and Dance"
  
• WWW Virtual Library: Theatre and Drama Founded in 1996, the Theatre and Drama section of the WWW Virtual Library now attracts over one million hits a year. Here you will find pointers to resources in more than 40 countries around the world, for professionals, amateurs, academics and students of all ages. Includes link to Theater on Film.
  

• American Society for Theatre Research
  
• Actor's Equity Association---Stage Actor's Union
  
• AWOL-Acting Workshop Online: Acting Links
• American Dance Festival dance videos
  
• Dramatists Play Service was created to foster opportunity and provide support for playwrights by publishing acting editions of their plays and handling the non-professional and professional leasing rights to these works.
  
• Literature Online: Home of English and American literature on the WWW
  
• Library of Congress: Performing Arts Reading Room
  
• Princeton Book Company dance videos
  
• Theatrecopia links for musical theatre fans
  
• TheatrePedia: The ELAC Internet Theatre Library developed by the East Los Angeles College (ELAC) Theatre Arts Department, is "an online theatre-research library containing information about the history, aesthetics, and technique of theatre."
  

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OTHER MEDIA:

• CD-ROM : The Performing Arts in Colonial American Newspapers, 1690-1783, text database and index , Ref PN2237.C67 1997
  
• Manuscripts--in the John J. Burns Library at Boston College, Theatre and Cinema Manuscript Summaries
  Microfilm/Microfiche are on the first floor of O'Neill Library; Keyword search in QUEST --type--> theater and microform
  
• Usenet Newsgroups: rec.arts.theatre.misc | rec.arts.theatre.musicals | rec.arts.theatre.plays | rec.arts.theatre.stagecraft
• Videos
  The Media Center, located on the second floor in O'Neill Library, has several videos on theatre and dance. The audio collection contains musical soundtracks on CDs and spoken word performances on CDs and audiocassettes.
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