Begin your research using the Library Catalog.
Books covering theater and stage generally are in PN2000-PN2999. Specifically, general histories of the theater similar to your textbook are in PN2100s. Books covering a particular playwright are usually in the call number for a particular country’s literature; therefore, use the name of the playwright to find books by (AUTHOR) or about (SUBJECT) that particular person.
Currently Cambridge University Press is publishing a series of documentary histories of theatre in Europe. Each volume has a separate title and call number. To view the titles in the series, enter the following keyword search in the online catalog: kw theatre in Europe and Cambridge and sources and click on KEYWORD Anywhere.
International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance (1985 to present)
Sponsored by the American Society for Theatre Research and the International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts in cooperation with the International Federation for Theatre Research, this database is the most comprehensive source for locating articles, books, chapters in books, dissertations, and miscellaneous other materials published in the field of the theatre research.
Academic OneFile (1980 to present) 
Indexes and, for the most part, abstracts articles for a few thousand journals covering nearly all subject areas. The fulltext of many articles is available in the database; in addition, there is a link to Journal Finder in order to determine if the fulltext is available in another database. This database indexes thousands of articles on theatre topics, including reviews of play performances. More info
Academic Search Premier
(1984 to present)
The fulltext of many scholarly articles is available in this database; in addition, there is a link to Journal Finder in order to determine if the fulltext is available in another database. This database indexes thousands of articles on theatre topics, including reviews of play performances. More info
ProQuest
Direct (dates vary according to database)
Choose ProQuest Research Library for access to articles in popular magazines and scholarly journals, ABI/Inform for access to articles from publications dealing more with business, and ProQuest Newspapers for articles from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and some North Carolina newspapers, including the News and Record. The fulltext of many articles is available in these databases; in addition, there is a link to Journal Finder in order to determine if the fulltext is available in another database. These databases index thousands of articles on theatre topics, including reviews of play performances. More info
MLA International Bibliography (1963 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
Periodicals Archive Online (PAO) (dates vary: from Volume 1 of journals to early 1990's or date journal ceased publication)
Provides the fulltext of over 300 journals in the humanities and social sciences, including articles on theater and drama. More info
Early English Books Online (EEBO) (1475-1700)
Reproduces in digitized format all known printed English language books (over 125,000) including novels and plays as well as books of history, religion, politics and other topics. In addition, some other materials such as pamphlets and broadsides are also included. (Remember spelling was not standardized in those days—no spell check existed—and even some individual letters of the alphabet were printed differently from the way they are printed today.)
Full text of scholarly journals covering the humanities and social sciences. More info on Project MUSE (ejournals)
Historical Abstracts (1967 to present)
Indexes and abstracts journals, books, and dissertations on modern history (1450 - present) for all regions of the world except North America. The best source for finding journal articles on non-North American history and also useful for architectural history including theater, cultural history and ethnic groups. Does not include book reviews. More info
Humanities and Social Sciences Retrospective (1907-1984)
Covers hundreds of English-language journals in archaeology, classics, art, performing arts, philosophy, history, music, linguistics, literature, and religion. 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
World Shakespeare Bibliography (1961 to present)
Provides annotated listings for books, journal articles, dissertations, reviews of books and theatrical productions, electronic media and other scholarly and popular materials related to Shakespeare; international in coverage. More info
A type of union catalog for academic, public, and special libraries listing books, titles of journals and newspapers (not articles within journals or newspapers), manuscripts, musical scores, visual materials, computer files, internet resources, sound recordings, and maps. It indicates which libraries own a specific title. Indexed subject headings make searching for similar materials quite easy. More info
There are three main types of biographical sources:
Begin your search for biographical information by doing a subject search in the online catalog or WorldCat, a type of union catalog of thousands of libraries, including the Library of Congress, to determine if there is a whole book about the person. If not, use an index described below.
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.
Provides the fulltext 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.
Specialized
ref PN2285.W42
Wearing, J. P. American and British Theatrical Biography: A Directory. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1979.Indexs approximately 170 volumes of biographies published prior to 1979.While a few of these are general sources, such as the Dictionary of American Biography, most are sources devoted to persons in the theatre. Begin most searches for a biography of theatre personnel here.
ref PN2205.S730
Bryan, George B. Stage Lives: A Bibliography and Index of Theatrical Biographies in English. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1985.Part I lists books or dissertations of collective theatrical biographies, other collective biographies which include stage lives, and individual biographies or autobiographies. Part II lists the names of the biographees and refers the user to the volume(s) which contain biographical information.
ref PN2035.I48
International Dictionary of Theatre. Washington: St. James , 1992-1996.
Vol. 1, Plays; Vol. 2, Playwrights; Vol. 3, Actors, Directors and Designers.
Also online
Volumes two and three of this set provide biographical information. For playwrights there is brief biographical information, an extensive listing of their plays, and a bibliography listing books and articles of criticism. Most important, though, is the signed critical evaluation of the playwright's work written especially for this volume. For actors, actresses, directors, and designers, there is brief biographical information, a list of their productions, including film and television as well as theatre (listed chronologically) followed by a bibliography of critical materials. Again, the most important material is the signed critical evaluation of the person's work.
ref PN 1625.M3 1984
Hochman, Stanley, ed. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama. 2d ed.
5 vols. New York: McGraw Hill, 1984.
Covering performance (theatre) as well as literature (drama), this multi-volume set is a standard, important reference for theatre students. Included are survey articles, mainly of countries (American Drama, Chinese Theater, Comedie-Francaise, etc.); however, the majority of articles are names of playwrights with the following information for each: biography, critical analysis of creative achievement, brief plot summaries of major plays, lists of other plays, and a bibliography of primary (collected editions and anthologies) and secondary materials. Entries for types of plays such as comedy of manners and existentialism are under the names of authors who developed or used the type; therefore, except when looking for the names of a playwright, it is essential to use the index or Play Titles List. The last volume also contains an excellent glossary of theatre terms and throughout the volumes are excellent black and white photographs from productions.
ref PN 2035.C27 1995
Banham, Martin. The Cambridge Guide to Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1995.Covering world theatre, this volume includes entries for individual countries, names of theatre personnel, theatres, acting companies, genres of theatre such as feminist theatre and expressionism, and a wide range of other terms such as theatre design and boys companies. The entries are signed but there is no bibliography accompanying the entries. No entries for play titles are included.
ref PN 2035.O94 2003
Kennedy, Dennis, ed.The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre & Performance. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2003.This two-volume work emphasizes theatre and performance internationally. Arranged alphabetically by the term discussed, the entries include biographies (about 45% of the text), concepts, theories, brief histories of theatre in some cities and in a few countries (mainly African and Asian), buildings, and material elements. A thematic table of contents precedes the entries, listing entries under one or more of these eight categories: Concepts and theories; Styles and movements; Other historical themes; Cities, regions, linguistic traditions; Organizations and institutions; Buildings and material elements; Media issues; and Biographies. Following the text of the entries are a timeline of events in theatre history, a selective bibliography of some of the most important books and journals relating to theatre history, and a list of dramatic titles mentioned in the entries. (No play is listed as an entry in the text.)
Book Stacks PN 1625.E54
Enciclopedia dello spettacolo. 9 vols. Roma: Casa Editrice le Maschere, 1954-1962.Although the articles are written in Italian, this monumental work includes names of theatre personnel, plays, musicals, etc. and dates that can be helpful even if one cannot read the language. In addition, many wonderful photographs are included. Its coverage is from antiquity to mid-twentieth century of topics in theatre, opera, ballet, motion pictures, vaudeville, the circus and related areas. Particularly strong is the coverage of theatre personnel, as well as other topics such as acting companies and theatres. Articles are signed, provide list credits, and are accompanied by a bibliography.
Texts of Plays
There are three straight-forward approaches to locating the text of a play using the Library Catalog.
- Enter the title or author in the library catalog.
- Do a KEYWORD search in the library catalog. For many anthologies of plays, the library catalog provides access to "contents notes." Only the KEYWORD search will retrieve these texts listed in the library catalog.
- Check one of the titles below, or similar ones located near these, to determine if the play is located in an anthology that does not have "contents notes" in our catalog. (Older anthologies do not have contents notes nor do annuals such as The Best Plays of [the current year]).
ready ref PN1655.O880 1988
Ottemiller's Index to Plays in Collections: An Author and Title Index to Plays Appearing in Collections Published between 1900 and 1985. 7th ed., rev. and enl. Metuchen, NJ: 1988.Provides author and title indexes to 1,350 anthologies published between 1900 and 1985 containing 6,548 plays.Play Index (1949 to present)
Indexing many anthologies and listing individual publications of plays published 1949 to date, this index is the first tool to use to locate a play not found in the library catalog. In addition to the expected author and title indexes, this database also has an index by subject and cast of characters (mixed cast, female, male, and number of each). For the main entry of each play-under the author's name, there is a one or two sentence summary of the play.ref PN 1627.K37 1991
Karp, Rashelle S. and June H. Schlessinger. Plays for Children and Young Adults: An Evaluative Index and Guide. New York: Garland, 1991; Supplement, 1996.Arranged alphabetically by title, the following information is listed for each play: author, number of cast by sex, settings, summary of the plot, recommendation about the play, playing time, source for obtaining the play, and subjects covered by the play. Appropriate indexes are included.
Contains 235 plays by 67 female playwrights but eventually will contain more than 1,500 plays. Included for some plays are playbills, production information, and a few facts about specific theatres and companies.
Early American Imprints Series I (1639-1800) Early American Imprints Series II (1801-1819)
Series I provides the digitized texts of all known existing books, pamphlets, and broadsides printed in America from 1639 through 1800, including playbills and texts of plays. Series II provides the same type of digitized texts for 1801-1819.
Dramatists Play Service: The Play Finder
This publisher's catalog website allows searching of plays by cast (sex and number) and by type of play (full length, short, or musicals), as well as by title and author. Search results produce a list of plays meeting the searcher's specified criteria and display a brief summary of the play. The UNCG Library owns most of these plays published by Dramatists Play Service.
Theatre Bibliographies
Bibliographies on a topic often can save a researcher much time because they compile in one place many sources on a topic. Below are five examples found in the theatre section of the Reference Department; however, most bibliographies are in the Book Stacks and can be located using the online catalog.
ref PN 2581.A760 1970
Arnott, James Fullarton and John William Robinson. English Theatrical Literature, 1559-1900: A Bibliography. London, The Society for Theatre Research, 1970.This volume lists English (including Scottish and Irish) printed materials (excluding most playbills and programs) on the theatre from the beginning to 1900. Materials are categorized under the following broad headings with subheadings for each of these sections: Bibliography, Government Regulations of the Theatre, The Morality of the Theatre, The Arts of the Theatre, General History, The London Theatre (general and individual theatres), The Theatre Out of London (general and individual towns), A National Theatre, Opera, Irregular Forms: Pantomine, Music Hall, The Amateur Theatre, Biography (collective and individual), Theory and Criticism, and Periodicals. While there are author and titles indexes, there is no subject index; accordingly, the reader must browse the table of contents in order to locate the appropriate chapter for research needs. This volume is essential to use when researching any aspect of British theatre prior to 1900.
Theatre Web Sites
Search the Web
Search Engines, Directories, Evaluating & Citing WebsitesKen McCoy's A Brief Guide to Internet Resources in Theatre and Performance Studies
This site is the most important online scholarly guide to online resources for theatre research. Be sure to read the introduction first.American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR)
As its name states, ASTR focuses on research. (The group is a sponsor of the annual International Bibliography of Theatre Research described in the Bibliographies section of this guide.) This website provides an excellent list of categorized web sites relevant to the theatre; particularly useful is the section on Academic Resources.Theatre Library Association (TLA)
Focusing on "the collection, preservation, and use of performing arts materials," TLA maintains a website with an excellent list of "Related Theatre Resources."
Contacts
If you need to make an appointment with a reference librarian to gain individual assistance with your research topic, please contact one of the following librarians:
For topics dealing with French, Spanish, or Italian drama or theatre, contact MARK SCHUMACHER at 334-3215 or Mark_Schumacher@uncg.edu
Page Author: Mark Schumacher
Theatre Librarian
