Web Sites
Search the Web
Search Engines, Directories, Evaluating & Citing Websites
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.
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."
American Variety Stage
Part of the American Memory Project at the Library of Congress, this web site covers Vaudeville and popular entertainment from 1870-1920. Included are playscripts, theatre playbill and programs, motion pictures, sound recordings, photographs, and Houdini memorabilia. Also a part of this American Memory Project is the Federal Theatre Project Collection. A similar site at the New York Public Library--Performing Arts in America, 1875-1923-- is not yet as well-developed.
Playbill Online
Playbill is the single best web site for connecting to information about Broadway and Off-Broadway. Many items of information are provided such as headline news, casting information, and financial information about the ticket sales for the previous two weeks. Many links are provided to individual theaters for viewing the seating chart, reading a summary of the play currently in production , buying tickets, etc.
Yahoo: Performing Arts and Yahoo: Theatre
Yahoo is a commercial (.com) search directory which organizes theater websites into approximately 36 helpful categories such as Actors and Actresses, Directing, and Theater Companies.
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.
This website, created and maintained in Jackson Library, links to searchable websites and databases, to sites that provide information about grant giving agencies, and to a list of print resources available in Jackson Library--including materials on how to write and submit grant proposals.
