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: theatre in Europe and Cambridge and sources and click on KEYWORD Anywhere.
In many ways, research guides are like road maps: they indicate the roads or paths available to take you where you need to go in your research process. When you are beginning a research project, it's a good idea to check a guide first. Two are described here.
Theater Studies Research Guide (Yale)
This is the most comprehensive scholarly web site for theatre research since it incorporates both online and print resources. Be patient and explore the wealth of information at this site.
Ken 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.
Boolean Searching using AND, OR, and NOT
These web pages explain how to search online databases effectively and efficiently.
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 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
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 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. These databases index thousands of articles on theatre topics, including reviews of play performances. More info
ProQuest Direct (dates vary according to database)
Indexes and abstracts articles in popular magazines, scholarly journals, and newspapers. 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
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 Bibliography of Theatre and Dance (IBTD)
Covering the early 1980s to date, the International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance indexes theatre and dance articles in magazines and journals, books, chapters in books, and dissertations. The citation is followed by a sentence or two—or perhaps only phrases—describing the content of the material. Many of the materials are not in English, though there is no way to limit to English only articles. 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
Full text of scholarly journals covering the humanities and social sciences. More info on Project MUSE (ejournals)
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.
Historical Abstracts (1967 to present) & America: History and Life
Indexes and abstracts journals, books, and dissertations on modern history (1450 - present) for all regions of the world. The best source for finding journal articles on American and 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 Science 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
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.Indexes 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 PN2205.S720
---. Stage Deaths: A Biographical Guide to International Theatrical Obituaries, 1850-1990. 2 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1991.A companion volume to Stage Lives (above), Stage Deaths indexes obituaries from 9 sources: The Clipper, The Era, Boston Transcript, The Times (London), New York Dramatic Mirror, New York Times, The Stage, Variety, and the Los Angeles Times. Names of theatre personnel are listed alphabetically (with any aliases included) with the following information: name of father, name of mother, name of spouse, birth and death dates and places, type of theatrical work done, citations to the obituaries. Occasionally, a book length biography is also listed.
Volumes Containing 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 onlineVolumes 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.
For further sources, please use the more comprehensive Biographical Sources for Theatre.
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
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. Also onlineThis 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.)
Contacts
If you need to make an appointment with a reference librarian to gain individual assistance with your research topic, please contact MARK SCHUMACHER at 334-3215 or Mark_Schumacher@uncg.edu
Page Author: Nancy Fogarty
Theatre Librarian
