Basic resources covering library catalogs, article databases, textbooks, reference works such as encyclopedias and dictionaries and local special collection venues to aid in production research.
54-281 Foundations II: 20th Century Productions
Databases for Theatre
History Research Guide
Barnette, Jane. Adapturgy : The Dramaturg's Art and Theatrical Adapatation.
Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press.
HUNT STACKS-4 (Stacks 4th Floor) PN2053 .B319X 201
Georgelou, Konstantina, Efrosini Protopapa, and Danae Theodoridou. The Practice of Dramaturgy: Working On Actions in Performance. Amsterdam: Valiz, 2017.
HUNT STACKS-4 PN2053 .P733x 2017
Library Catalogs
Cameo Carnegie Mellon University Libraries catalog
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Catalog has the most comprehensive public music collection in the city.
Pittcat The University of Pittsburgh library catalog
WorldCat to verify the existence of materials in the holdings of hundreds of libraries nationwide and internationally for resources CMU Libraries don't have, and to get citation information for using Interlibrary Loan.
Basic Reference
Textbooks
Chemers, Michael M. Ghost Light : An Introductory Handbook for Dramaturgy.
Southern Illinois University Press, 2010.
HUNT FA-REF PN2053 .C44X 2010
Trencsényi, Katalin. Dramaturgy in the Making: A Users Guide for Theatre Practitioners. London, UK : New York: Methuen Drama, 2015.
HUNT STACKS-4 PN1660.5 .T84 2015
Criticism
Cody, Gabrielle H. and evert Sprinchorn. The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.
HUNT FA-REF PN1861 . C65 2007 (2 volumes)
Critical essays on individuals, plays, and types of drama from 1860 to present; cites first production of plays; emphasis placed on cultural context of dramatic works and their authors; appendices include synoptic outline of contents, directory of contributors. Bibliographies. Extensive index.
Hawkins-Dady, Mark, ed.and Leanda Shrimpton, picture editor. International Dictionary of Theatre.Chicago and London: St. James Press, 1992. 3 volumes
HUNT FA-REF PN2035 .I49 1992
Plays Volume 1: Detailed information about play publication and production. Includes date of first production, translations and bibliography;critical summary of each play.
Playwrights Volume 2: Detailed information on life and work; critical summary; bibliography
Actors, Directors and Designers Volume 3: Detailed information on life and work, critical summary; bibiliography.
New York Theatre Critics' Reviews
HUNT FA-REF PN2000 .N76, 1940-1995 (Look for the red binders directly behing the Arts Reference Desk.)
Facsimiles of newspaper reviews. Sometimes provides detailed information about the production.
Magill, Frank N. Critical Survey of Drama : English Language Series. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Salem Press, 1985.
HUNT FA-REF-1 PR623 .C75 1985 6 vols.
Biographical summaries; critical essays examine representative plays and identify themes and characteristics employed by English language dramatists.
Magill, Frank N. Critical Survey of Drama : Foreign Language Series. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Salem Press, 1986.
HUNT FA-REF-1 PN1625 .C74 1986, 6 vols. with 1987 supplement
Biographical summaries; critical essays examine representative plays and identify themes and characteristics employed by more than 170 non-English speaking dramatists.
Bibliography
MLA International Bibliography database
Venerated reference database for finding citations to books, book chapters, periodical articles, and dissertations in all languages for all periods from the Middle Ages to present.
Carpenter, Charles A. Modern Drama: Scholarship and Criticism, 1981-1990: An International Bibliography. Toronto, Buffalo and London: Modern Drama and University of Toronto Press, 1997.
FA-REF-4Z5781 .C37 1997
Credo Reference
Cross disciplinary encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, quotations. Includes Cambridge Guide to Theatre; Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre; Shakespeare's Theatre: A Dictionary of His Stage Context; Dictionary of Fashion and Fashion Designers; Martial Arts of the World and more. Also links to Bridgeman Art Library image database.
Oxford Reference Online (ORO)
Language and subject dictionaries. Titles include: A Dictionary of Shakespeare; Oxford Companion to Shakespeare; Oxford Companion to American Theatre; International Encyclopedia of Dance; Oxford Dictionary of Dance; Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance; Concise Oxford Companion to Theatre
Article Databases
For more databases for articles, media, images and archives go to Databases for Theatre
or CMU Research Databases A-Z
To check to see if CMU Libraries have access to journals in print or electronically link to Journal Search.
Theatre-dedicated article databases and online archives you need to know about up front:
International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance with Full-Text
Scholarly research database for theatre and dance studies.
Performing Arts Periodicals Database (formerly International Index to the Performing Arts)
Articles covering the arts and entertainment industry - including dance, drama, theater, stagecraft, musical theater, circus performance, opera, pantomime, puppetry, magic, performance art, film, television and more.
Coverage: 1864-current
Performance Design Archive Online
A collection that covers all aspects of theater production design, from the 17th century through to the present day, including scenic and set design, lighting design, sound design, costume design, and makeup.
Dance Online: Dance Studies Collection
Primary and secondary full-text materials to support informed performance, pedagogy, and scholarship in 20th and 21st century dance through photographs, correspondence, magazines, dance notation and reference material.
Berg Fashion Library
Articles covering all aspects of world dress and fashion throughout history.
These article databases have a wider scope but are staples for theatre research:
ProQuest
Mega-database that searches many interdisciplinary databases together - journals, newspapers, magazines; also industry reports. Start here to find reviews of plays and musicals.
Google Scholar
Open access to full-text scholarly literature.
JSTOR
Full-text access to important academic journals in all disciplines
Lexis-Nexis Academic (full-text)
Business, legal and general medical/health information; continually updated news items, background information on current issues, industry news and financial information, law reviews, federal case law; access to quick information through online reference resources and directories.
Will soon be replaced by:
Nexis Uni featuring more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources, including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790.
Literature Resource Center
Database for research on literary topics, authors and their works in all genres, disciplines, time periods and regions worldwide.
You can also search by content type: biography, multimedia, news, literary criticism, primary sources, literary work, and topics.
MLA:International Bibliography (Distributed in FirstSearch)
A reference database for the critical study of language, literature, and folkore. Provides citations to books, book chapters, periodical articles, and dissertations in all languages for all periods beginning with the Middle Ages. Look for the SFX button to find full-text and related resources in each bibliographic source cited.
Current humanities and social science journals from a variety of university presses.
Dissertations and theses from around the world, from 1861 to the present, with full text for most added since 1997.
17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers
Search and display the text of 1,000 pamphlets, proclamations, newsbooks and newspapers. Most of the newspapers are from England, Ireland, and Scotland, with a handful from the British colonies in the Americas and Asia.
18th Century Journals: A Portal to Newspapers and Periodicals, c1685-1835
Contains unique and extremely rare eighteenth century periodicals between 1685 and 1835. Subjects include class and social structure, domestic and foreign affairs, colonialism & empire, literature, drama, theater, music, economics, the industrial revolution, slavery, and much more.
19th Century U.S. Newspapers
Search and display pages from 500 U. S. newspapers from the 19th century.
19th Century British Library Newspapers
Search and display the full text of 48 (forty-eight) 19th century newspapers from England, Scotland, and Ireland.
Eight Centuries (formerly 19th Century Masterfile)
Contains citations and some full text from 19th and early 20th century periodicals, books, and government documents.
African American Studies Center
Combines Oxford University Press scholarly reference works in one online resource focusing on the lives and events shaping African American and African history and culture.
America History and Life
Citations and some abstracts to journal articles, dissertations, and book and media reviews on United States and Canadian history from prehistory to the present; HA contains citations and some abstracts of journal articles, books, and dissertations on world history from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada).
Harpweek
Pages of Harper's Weekly from 1857-1912 as scanned images. Users can browse by date or literary genre. Searches can be done by occupation or role in society, by searching any combination of four indexes: subject; illustrations; literature and publishing; advertising, or by full text.
Literature Resource Center
Database for research on literary topics, authors and their works in all genres, disciplines, time periods and regions worldwide.
You can also search by content type: biography, multimedia, news, literary criticism, primary sources, literary work and topics.
MLA International Bibliography
Venerated reference tool for finding citations to books, book chapters, periodical articles, and dissertations in all languages for all periods from the Middle Ages to present.
Project Muse
Current humanities and social science journals from a variety of university presses.
News footage covering the years leading up to and during the Second World War.
World Newsreels Online
Captures full runs of many of the key international newsreels produced during the early twentieth century. Newsreels are in English, French and Japanese.
Plays Online
Alexander Street Press full-text collections contain information about plays, playwrights and productions with selected visual material
Twentieth Century North American Drama is a growing full-text database, currently containing 850 plays including the complete works of major playwrights as well as plays by emerging playwrights. Searchable by keyword, author, play title, characters, scenes, subjects, years, productions, theaters, and companies. Additional information on playwrights, theaters, companies, productions and performances is included along with a selection of playbills, posters and other ephemera.
Asian American Drama
Contains the full-text of 250 plays by Asian American playwrights. It is searchable by author, play title, characters, scenes, subjects, years, productions, theatres, and companies. The database also contains playwright biographies, details on productions, theatres and theatrical companies, as well as production photographs, selected playbills and other information related to the plays.
Black Drama
Contains the full-text of 1200 plays by black playwrights. It is searchable by author, play title, characters, scenes, subjects, years, productions, theatres, and companies, including related resource and biographical information.
Contemporary World Drama
New work from Alexander Street Press existing playwright partners alongside work from up-and-coming playwrights from around the world, including recently produced world premieres and previously unpublished works from every continent.
North American Women's Drama
over 1,500 full-text plays by women from colonial times to the present. Allows in-depth browsing and searching; includes detailed information on related productions, theaters, production companies and and more. Plays were selected by the Alexander Street Press editorial board using recognized play bibliographies and in consultation with other scholars and playwrights.
Other Play Databases
Drama Online
1550 plays: classic to contemporary; L.A. Theatre Works audio plays; Globe on Screen streaming video and essays.
Early English Books Online
A searchable full text database of over 95,000 titles published between 1475 and 1700. Over 125,000 titles anticipated (new titles are added each year). Searchable by author, title, subject & imprint information. Documents can be viewed online and or downloaded in PDF format (Adobe).
Eighteenth Century Collections Online
Scanned images from a diverse collection of 18th century printed material including books, directories, Bibles, sheet music, advertisements, sermons; collections on the French Revolution and works by woman writers; editions of the works of Shakespeare. Fields covered include history, literature, religion, law, fine arts, science and more.
Play Index database
Includes classic drama, one-acts, pageants, radio and television plays from 1949 to the present published individually or in collections; search for subject, style, genre and cast type ; includes very brief plot summaries, musical, cast and scenery requirements.
Lists of Plays Published in Magazines (pre-1980)
Chicorel Theater Index to Plays in Anthologies, Periodicals, Discs, and Tapes . New York: Chicorel Library Publishing Co., 1970-.
HUNT FA-REF-4 PN1655 .C43X, VOL.1-3 (4th floor Hunt Library)
The Drama Scholars' Index to Plays and Film Scripts: A Guide to Plays and Film Scripts in Selected Anthologies, Series, and Periodicals . Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1974.
HUNT FA-REF-4 Z5781 .S17, 3 Vols
Indexes foreign language scripts, translations; 18th- and 19th- century anthologies and collections as well as modern film scripts.
Keller, Dean H. Index to Plays in Periodicals. Rev. and expanded ed. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1979.
HUNT FA-REF-4 Z5781 .K43 1979 (4th Floor Hunt Library)
Indexes thousands of plays in hundreds of periodicals, by playwright or title.
Patterson, Charlotte A. Plays in Periodicals: An Index to English Language Scripts in Twentieth Century Journals. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1970.
OFFSITE BY REQUEST Z5781 .P3
Lists 4,000 plays in 97 English language journals published between 1900 and 1968.