Related Guides
About this Guide
The Theater Research Guide will help you find Theater resources available thru the BU Libraries. It provides information on:
- Finding books and articles (in print and online)
- Background information - guides, encyclopedias, and critical theory sources
- Playscripts, costume/set design and theater production
- Open Access resources including websites and digital collections
- Theater related programs at Boston University
Photoglob Co., Publisher. Genève. Le Théâtre. [Zürich, Switzerland: Photoglob Company, to 1906] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2017660912/>.
Featured Resources
Featured Database: Digital Theatre+
Watch the video for an introduction to Digital Theatre+.
About the Resource: Digital Theatre+ provides access to a wide range of video content, including high-quality theatrical productions, training videos and teaching resources. Students can access work from many theatre companies including the Royal Shakespeare Company, BroadwayHD, L.A. Theatre Works and much more. The platform provides new ways for students to engage with dramatic texts, poetry, and performance.
Additional Resources:
- Digital Theatre+ This link opens in a new window Provides online access to a digital streaming video collection of unique films of current, leading British theatre productions, musicals, and operas. Includes behind-the-scenes documentaries as well as teaching and learning resources to facilitate a deeper understanding of the productions and texts. Learning resources include a detailed introduction, plot summary, character biographies, a relationship map, language analysis, scene study, performance background and historical context for each play. Updates vary.
- Performing Arts Database This link opens in a new window Performing Arts Database locates citations for writings spanning the disciplines of theatre, dance, and music. These writings chiefly originate in subject-specific trade journals, magazines, and more established scholarly journals. Some full-text is included. Content is international in scope with the majority of the original content having been produced in the United States and Europe. Date coverage: Generally 1990s - present.
- OntheBoards.TV This link opens in a new window OntheBoards.tv is a collection of videos of full-length performances by artists working in dance, theater, music and other forms. Performance are filmed in Seattle, Portland, Austin, and New York. The aim of OntheBoards is to "introduce audiences to artistic innovators who are defining the future of dance, theater and music."
- Theatre in Context Collection This link opens in a new window Works by American, European, Asian, and other worldwide dramatists from the past several centuries. In addition to performances, includes documentaries and interviews about theatre, discussing the history of theatre, acting methods, pioneering dramatists and actors, and more.
- Berg Fashion Library This link opens in a new window The Berg Fashion Library includes the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, an e-book collection, and an image database. This database covers all regions of the world with content from pre-history to the present.
- MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window Indexes critical materials on literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore. Includes citations from worldwide publications: periodicals, books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations and bibliographies. Date coverage: 1920s - present.
- Contemporary Authors This link opens in a new window A bio-bibliographical guide to current writers in fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, journalism, drama, motion pictures, television, and other fields.
The Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance by
Ranging from ancient Greek tragedies to the latest developments around the globe, The Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance provides an all-embracing approach that encompasses drama and musical, opera, dance, radio, and non-dramatic performances including circuses and parades. Based on the celebrated two-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, this compact, affordable Companion features more than 2,000 up-to-date entries, covering styles and movements, buildings, organizations, and traditions--with a particularly strong focus on biographies of actors, playwrights, directors, and designers. Editor Dennis Kennedy has significantly updated the timeline of historical and cultural events in the world of theatre and performance, and he has added an appendix of useful weblinks, which are supported and accessible through a companion website. Finally, the book includes many new entries that cover the people and companies who have come into prominence since the publication of the Encyclopedia.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2010
Encyclopedia of Musical Theater by
A lot has happened in the musical theatre over the last ten years. New shows have opened and closed, new talents have emerged, and hit shows have made triumphant returns to Broadway. Now, the acclaimed Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre -- a 1994 Dartmouth Medal honorable mention -- has been fully revised and updated to document such developments with 500 new articles, more than 4,000 revised articles and dozens of color photos. From the dawn of operetta in the 18th century to the present, this set offers an unrivaled amount of information on the people, the songs and shows in America and around the world.
Location: Music Library Reference ML102.M88 G3 2001 and OnlinePublication Date: 2001
The Oxford Dictionary of Dance by
With over 2,600 entries, the second edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Dance is a unique single volume reference on all aspects of dance performance written by two leading dance writers, Debra Craine and Judith Mackrell. The work covers all aspects of the diverse dance world from classical ballet to modern, from flamenco to hip-hop, from tap to South Asian dance forms and includes detailed entries on technical terms, steps, styles, works and countries, in addition to many biographies of dancers, choreographers, and companies. During the last thirty years the boundaries of dance have been radically redrawn. There has been an explosion of new activity within traditional forms like ballet, a stream of new dance languages invented by fresh generations of choreographers, and there is a growing appreciation of cultural dance forms from around the world. Fans today are likely to attend performances as varied as Spanish flamenco, Indian bharata natyam, Japanese butoh, classical ballet, and post-modern dance. With an emphasis on performance - the dance we see in our theatres today - readers will find both fact and analysis on a wide range of subjects, from styles of dance and the history of dance companies and their productions, to dancers, choreographers, and technical terms. With 150 new entries, this new edition charts developments that have occurred over the last ten years, including the rise of new digital technology in the creation and staging of dance and the move to the mainstream of formerly fringe genres such as hip-hop, as well as the arrival of a new generation of dancers and choreographers to the scene.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2010
