Provides the full-text of biographical and critical materials from Contemporary Authors and Dictionary of Literary Biography and portions from Contemporary Literary Criticism and other Gale literary criticism sets covering the classical period to the present; also provides links to author web sites. For playwrights, the listing of plays often includes the date, city, and theatre of the first performance.
Provides full-text biographies on thousands of individuals--including theatre personnel--from around the globe. Sources include Contemporary Dramatists; Contemporary Theatre, Film, & Television; International Dictionary of Theatre; and some relevant journals.
Biography and Genealogy Master Index (BGMI)
Indexes more than 12 million biographical sketches in more than 3400 reference-type books, including persons from all walks of life.
Biography Index (BI)
Although all volumes of Biography Index are indexed in BGMI, BI provides the actual citation to biographical information in journal articles and chapters in books.
For additional biographical sources, use Biographical Sources for Theater
Academic OneFile (InfoTrac) (1980 to present)
Indexes and, for the most part, abstracts articles for a few thousand journals covering nearly all subject areas. The full-text of many articles is available in the database; in addition, there is a link to Journal Finder in order to determine if the full-text is available in another database. This database indexes thousands of articles on theatre topics, including reviews of play performances. More info
Ebsco Databases (1984 to present)
At the initial screen, choose Academic Search Premier and MasterFILE Premier to search simultaneously popular magazines and scholarly journals. The full-text of many articles is available in the database; in addition, there is a link to Journal Finder in order to determine if the full-text is available in another database. These databases index thousands of articles on theatre topics, including reviews of play performances. More info
ProQuest (dates vary according to database) 
Choose ProQuest Research Library for access to articles in popular magazines and scholarly journals. The full-text of many articles is available in these databases; in addition, there is a link to Journal Finder in order to determine if the full-text is available in another database. These databases index thousands of articles on theatre topics, including reviews of play performances. More info
Lexis-Nexis Academic (dates vary but earliest is 1970's; most beginning dates are later)
The main source for searching newspapers beyond the approximately half-dozen national newspapers and a few North Carolina newspapers. Choose News as the category and then choose from General News, Today's News, and Arts and Sports, with the last specifically containing performance reviews. These indexes cover interviews with theater personnel as well as reviews of performances. More info.
Humanities International Index (1925 to date, but mainly from 1960s to date)
Indexing journals, books, and reference sources in the humanities (including theatre), this database includes journals that publish original creative works (including plays) and interviews with playwrights. More info.
Readers' Guide Retrospective (1890 to 1982)
Indexes popular magazines and high-circulation periodicals by author and subject, including reviews of plays and films and biographical information. More info
International Index to the Performing Arts
Providing current indexing to approximately 200 popular magazines and scholarly journals in the performing arts, this index lists reviews of performances, critical and biographical information, interviews, and some proceedings of meetings. While the indexing of most titles is from around 1996 to date, the retrospective indexing includes about a half dozen theatre titles, e.g. Theatre Arts (1916-1964), Theatre Journal (1949 to date), and Theatre Magazine (1901-1931). More info
MLA International Bibliography (1926 to present)
The Modern Language Association's International Bibliography indexes books, essays, in books, articles from over 3000 journals, proceedings, dissertations as listed in Dissertation Abstracts International, and many other materials. Although it excludes book reviews and performance reviews, it includes many articles on theatrical production, stage history, performance, theory, and literary aspects of plays. More info
Humanities and Social Sciences Retrospective (1907-1984)
Covers hundreds of English-language journals in classics, art, performing arts, philosophy, history, music, and literature. Indexes articles, book reviews, interviews, obituaries, bibliographies, original works of fiction (including dramas and poems), and reviews of plays and television and radio programs. More info
Historical Index to the New York Times (1851 to 1999)
Contains the full-text of articles from the New York Times since it began in 1851! No subject headings or descriptors are used, thus searches are of the title and full-text of the article. (More recent dates are available through other databases; enter New York Times in Journal Finder.) More info
Times (of London) (1785-1985)
Contains the full-text of articles from The Times from 201 years! Since no subject headings or descriptors are used, searches are of the title and full-text of articles. Searches can be limited by date and by broad category of type of article, e.g. Editorial & Commentary, Features, etc. More info
The following print resources also contain relevant information:
ref PN2000.N76
New York Theatre Critics' Reviews (later National Theatre Critics Reviews) (1966-1996 in Jackson Library)
These annually cumulated volumes covering 1966-1996 contain reprints of reviews from magazines and newspapers of plays appearing on Broadway and--during some years--on Off Broadway and in some regional theatres. A wonderfully convenient compilation of performance reviews!
ref PN 2266.S240
Salem, James M. A Guide to Critical Reviews. 3d. ed. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1984- 1991. Part I: American Drama, 1909-1982; Part II: The Musical, 1909-1989; Part III: Foreign Drama, 1909-1977; Part IV: The Screenplay, 1927-1980.
Parts I through III cover plays and musical appearing on Broadway (some Off-Broadway, too) during the dates indicated in the title. Plays are listed alphabetically under the author's name and musicals are simply listed alphabetically by title. For each the opening date and the number of performances are given followed by citations to reviews of the play as they appeared in a select group of American and Canadian magazines and the New York Times. For musicals, additional information is provided: name(s) of author of book on which the musical is based, the composer(s), and persons responsible for staging, sets, costumes, and choreography, when available.
ref PN 2277.N5544
Slide, Anthony, ed. Selected Theatre Criticism. 3 vols. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1985-1986. Vol.1, 1900-1919; Vol. 2, 1920-1930; Vol. 3, 1931-1950.
These volumes contain reprints of reviews from about nine magazines of selected plays appearing in New York City during the time period listed in the title of each volume. Plays are listed alphabetically followed by the names of the playwright and theatre and by the opening date of the play.
North American Theatre Online Plus (NATO)
North American Theatre Online Plus (NATO) North American Theatre Online Plus brings together in one place many primary resources for U. S. and Canadian theatre. First, it is a major reference work containing biographical information about theatre personnel and historical information about play productions, production companies, theatres, characters, and related topics. Included also are playbills, postcards, and scrapbooks. NATO also serves as an index to five separate online databases (Asian American Drama, Black Drama (1850 to Present), Latino Literature, North American Women’s Drama, and Twentieth Century North American Drama) with texts of plays and information related to their performance. NATO is by far the most comprehensive database for historical information about North American drama. More info.
Page Author: Nancy Fogarty
Theatre Librarian
