Barnard Library Subject Guide for Theater

Serge Sudeikin. A poster for the tour of The Bat Theatre in Paris in 1922 .

Major Databases
available with Columbia ID

Art Full Text
Citations, abstracts, and some full text for articles, book reviews, etc. in the arts 1929-present.
Select Art Full Text and/or Art Retrospective on initial search page.
Use " " for a phrase; * for truncation.

Humanities Full Text
Citations for articles, book reviews, etc. in the humanities, from 1984 to the present.
Use " " for a phrase; * for truncation.

International Index to the Performing Arts
1864-present (1864-1998 selectively). Citations and abstracts from 1998-.
Use * for truncation.

JSTOR
A full text database of articles from scholarly journals, excluding the most recent 3-5 years.
Search title or full text - there are almost no abstracts.
Select Language and Literature journals.

LION: Literature Online
English and American poetry, drama, prose, biographies, and secondary sources, from the Anglo-Saxon period to the 20th century.
To find critical articles click on "Search criticism and reference."
Phrase is assumed - use "and" if not a phrase; * for truncation.

MLA Bibliography
Citations for articles, dissertations, books, book chapters, etc. from 1963 to the present.
Use " " for a phrase; * for truncation.

Project Muse
Full-text articles from more than 100 scholarly journals published by university presses in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences.
Use " " for a phrase; * for truncation.

ProQuest Direct
Online journal articles and citations, as well as the full text of the New York Times from 1857 to the present.
Select scholarly materials by clicking on "Databases selected" then select "Research Library."
Two words phrases are assumed to be a phrase; use " " for phrases of more than two words. Use * for truncation.

Major Reference Works
available in Barnard Reference

TITLE	CALL NUMBER
Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800	PN86 .L56
Classical and Medieval literature Criticism	PN681.5 .C57
Nineteenth-Century literature Criticism	PN761 .N56
Contemporary Literary Criticism	PN771 .C59
Twentieth Century Literary Criticism	PN771 .G27
The Reader's Encyclopedia of World Drama	PN1625 .G3 1969
Ottemiller's Index to Plays in Collections: an Author and Title Index to Plays Appearing in Collections Published Between 1900 and 1985.	PN1655 .O8 1988g
The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre	PN1861 .W67 1994
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre & Performance	PN2035 .O92 2003g
Critical Survey of Drama: English Language Series	PR623 .C75 1985
The Cambridge Guide to Theatre	PN2035 .C27 1992
Dictionary of the Theatre: Terms, Concepts, and Analysis	PN2035 .P38 1998g
Shakespeare Lexicon: a Complete Dictionary of all the English Words, Phrases and Constructions in the Works of the Poet	PR2892 .S4 1902
Shakespeare's World and Work: an Encyclopedia for Students	PR2892 .S56 2001
Shakespearean Criticism	PR2965 .S43
Dictionary of Literary Biography	PS129 .D5
Contemporary Authors	Z1224 .C6
Play Index	Z5781 .P55
Literary Index

Design & Production

The Costume Page Over 2000 links to resources on costume and costuming for those who study and/or make costumes: costumers, students, historical re-enactors, dancers, theatrical costumers, writers, researchers, and all those interested in fashion, textile art, and costume history.

Joseph Urban Stage Design Models and Documents Stabilization and Access Project Digitized images of approximately 3,400 rarely-seen images of Urban's stage design documents and drawings.

Russian Stage Design--1906-1930 Images and text about Russian stage design of the period 1906 to 1930.

Educational Sites

Course Web Page for Theater History I (BC3150; Fall 2000) Barnard College course Web page by instructor Shawn Marie Garrett

The Playwriting Seminars A professional manual of the playwright's craft.

Voice+Speech A site which explores the subjects of breathing, phonation, resonation and articulation. Links to other sites on voice, speech, accents, dialects, text, phonetics, etc.

New York

CATNYP The online catalog for the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

IBDB The Internet Broadway Database "IBDB provides records of productions from the beginnings of New York theatre until today."

Lortel Archives: The Internet Off-Broadway Database "The Lortel Archives, also known as www.IOBDB.com (Internet Off-Broadway Database) provides a catalogue of shows produced Off-Broadway."

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Website for one of the worlds most extensive combination of circulating, reference, and rare archival collections in theater.

OffBroadway.com "The Off Broadway Theatre Information Center."

OOBR "The Off-Off-Broadway Review."

Playbill "News, features, performance listings for Broadway, Off-Broadway, London and Regional theatre."

Playtexts Online

Black Drama - 1850 to Present Black drama from Africa, North America, the Caribbean, and other African Diaspora countries. Includes images. Requires CUID.

English Server Drama Collection A collection of original plays and screenplays, criticism and links to other sites concerned with theatre, from Carnegie Mellon University.

English Verse Drama Database Full-text of more than 1700 English plays in verse from the end of the thirteenth to the end of the nineteenth century. Requires CUID.

Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman online.

Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion online.

Puppetry

Amalgamated Puppet Libraries Puppet lending libraries in Boston and Brooklyn.

More coming soon!

Shakespeare

Google Books: Shakespeare Searchable full text and links to Google Scholar, Video, and Images.

Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet A complete annotated guide to the scholarly Shakespeare resources available on the Internet, along with a listing of Shakespeare festivals, a Shakespeare timeline and a Shakespeare genealogy.

OpenSource Shakespeare: an Experiment in Literary Technology Shakespeare texts and concordances.

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Promotes the appreciation of Shakespeare’s works, maintains the five houses in or near Stratford-upon-Avon directly connected with the dramatist and his family, and provides a museum and library of books, manuscripts and records of local historic interest with particular reference to Shakespeare.

The Shakespeare Mystery Who, in fact, was he?

Theater History

All the World's a Stage Web links for Theatre History and Early Music from the Centre for Research in Early English Drama.

Class Acts: The Astor Place Riots and Melville’s “The Two Temples” Article by Dennis Berthold on an important episode in the history of 19th Century American theatre.

Didaskalia: Ancient Theater Today  Resources on the latest developments in Greek and Roman drama, dance, and music as they are performed today.

Medieval Drama Links  A collection of links including texts, articles, books, discussion groups, illustrated material, and information about performance, costumes, music and instruments.

Noh Plays  This site provides the text of thirteen traditional Noh plays from the medieval period, in Japanese and English, along with background information on the Noh style of Japanese theater and a glossary.

Perseus Digital Library A digital library of resources for the study of the ancient world, with images of Greek art and architecture.

Theatre History Sites on the WWW  A huge collection of links to theatre history Web sites, assembled by historian Professor Jerry Bangham of Alcorn State University, Mississippi.

Theatrehistory.com A collection of links on theatre history and current theatre news.

Theatron  A collection of computer models (accessed by clicking on "Projects") of ancient theaters in Europe, including Greece and Rome, as well as images of historic Roman set design.

Other Links

Artslynx International Arts Resources: arts links to theatre, dance and music.

Doollee.com "The definitive guide to modern playwrights & plays."

Library of Congress Performing Arts Reading Room and Internet Resources for the Performing Arts Guide to resources on the Internet, with separate sections for music, theater and dance links.

McCoy's Guide to Theatre and Performance Studies Guide to Internet resources on the theatre, by Prof. Ken McCoy of Stetson University.

Performing Arts in America, 1875-1923 "With visual and audio images drawn from the extensive archival collections at The Library, the site features an authentic look at this past, from the Broadway theater and Tin Pan Alley to the art of dancer Loie Fuller and composer Charles Griffes, all brought to you in original documents."

Performing Arts Links International links from theatrelibrary.org.

Theatre and Drama section of the WWW Virtual Library Pointers to resources in more than 40 countries around the world, for professionals, amateurs, academics and students .

Theatre Resources on the World Wide Web List of resources on the Website of the American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR).

Return to Subject Guides list

Updated 09/04/2007
Jenna Freedman, Reference Librarian