Drama and Theater - Directories & Databases

Artslinx
http://www.artslynx.org/theatre/
Execellent site maintained by Richard Finkelstein, a college professor and stage designer, and arts advocate. Hundreds of links to topics such as Theater history, Fight Direction, Stage Management, Shakespeare,Theatre Architecture, and Theatre of Social Responsibility.

Bibliomania - Dramac
"Bibliomania offers you a unique selection of classic drama, hand-picked for quality and variety, and our own Guide to Drama which gives an overview of the history and development of English drama." Full text here includes the works of Shakespeare, Johnson, Wilde, Chekov and more.

Elac-Theatrepedia
http://www.perspicacity.com/elactheatre/library/library.htm
A searchable database encyclopedia of the theater ith descriptions of terms, biographical data on actors, directors, playwrights and critical material on playse.

Find A Play
http://www.playscripts.com/findaplay/
A commercial search engine that allows you to quickly find the publisher of any particular play you search for.

Inter-Play: an on-line index to plays in collections, anthologies and periodicals©
http://www.lib.pdx.edu/systems/interplay/
Provides information on which collections, anthologies, and periodicals specific printed plays may be found. Most of the plays cited are not indexed in the standard printed play indexes such as H. W. Wilson's Play Index (REF PN1625 .P53). For plays by the most familiar authors, you should also consult the Jonathan Edwards Library Catalog.

Lortel Off-Broadway Database
http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm
The Lortel Database is "a searchable database encompassing Off-Broadway production information from the beginnings of Off-Broadway to the present. Each production entry includes all available credits and production information as well as window card photos, actor biographies and photos, and additional interesting facts regarding the production".

Performing Arts Database
http://www.glopad.org
Extensive online collections, including the Designing Shakespeare Multimedia Archive.

Performing Arts Links
http://www.theatrelibrary.org/links/index.html
Another extensive directory of links maintained by Maria Teresa Iovinelli, the Director of the Burcardo Library and Theatre Collection in Rome.

Perseus Project at Tufts
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/startingPoints.html
The Perseus digital library provides full text of the classics, from Greek plays to the collected works of Marlowe, including his Faust, and the First Folio edition of Shakespeare's plays.

University of Washington - Digital Theater Collection
A huge site featuring articles, pictures and photographs and other information. This link will take yo to the index.

The WWW Virtual Library - Theater and Drama
http://www.vl-theatre.com/
Hundreds of links to theater and drama resources in more than 50 countries around the world.

Criticism and Commentary

General Criticism from Mr. William Shakespeare on the Internet
http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/general.htm
Extensive collection of online criticism of Shakespeare and Elizabethan drama. Includes articles such as Critical Shakespeare, by Joanne Woolway, Oriel College, Oxford; Steve.Sohmer's "12 June 1599: Opening Day at Shakespeare's Globe." From Early Modern Literary Studies and older works such as Shakespeare in Hampton Court by Ernest Law
(from the London Illustrated News, April 26, 1919.

The New York Times Theatre Reviews Online
http://www.nytimes.com/library/theater/
Although you will need to sign on for this service, there is no fee for access to many of the current New York Times (NYT) Theatre reviews. Your self-selected username and password can be used for access to the abbreviated NYT online version as well. Remember that the Jonathan Edwards Library carries complete the New York Times, from 1856 to the present, on microfilm.

Peter Brook and Traditional Thought
http://www.gurdjieff.org/nicolescu3.htm
This scholarly paper by Basarab Nicolescu was first published in English in Contemporary Theatre Review, Vol VII.

The Reception of the Texts and Images of Ancient Greece in late Twentieth-Century Drama and Poetry in English
http://www2.open.ac.uk/ClassicalStudies/GreekPlays/
"a Project at the Open University, UK. Includes a data base of modern performances, critical essays and conference publications, and a recently added section of video clips of a Masks workshop. Dr. Lorna Hardwick, Project Director." Numerous critical works are offered at this site.

Shakespeare and His Critics
http://shakespearean.org.uk/
Thirteen different critical essays, some written on victorian productions of Shakespeare's plays. (The Calvert Revivals.)

General

The English Server Drama Collection at Carnegie Mellon University
http://eserver.org/drama/
"This site contains a collection of original plays and screenplays, criticism and links to other sites concerned with theatre. It publishes both classic and contemporary work."

London Theater Guide
http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/
This site from the United Kingdom provides news, reviews (Watch for authorship), backstage tours, photos and more.

New York Public Library For the Performing Arts
http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/lpa.html
The main Web Site for the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center. This site includes selections from the Billie Rose Archive. You can also go to their Links to Electronic Sites to go to other excellent sites featureing online indexes, history sites and sites covering all areas of theater.

Playbill Homepage
http://www.playbill.com/index.php
Playbill, the definitive theaater program and listing publisher's home page.

Playwrites, Lyricists and Composers
http://www.artslynx.org/theatre/authors.htm
Information on theater artists from Aristophanes to Sam Shephard

Talking Broadway
http://www.talkinbroadway.com/
This site provides up to the minute news, interactive discussion, and information about Broadway, and the current theatre scene in Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas and other cities across the United States.

Theater History on the Web
http://www.videoccasions-nw.com/history/jack.html
Extensive site outlining the history of theater, maintained by Professor Wolcott of the University of Washington. (Emeritus)

Yale School of Drama
http://www.yale.edu/drama/
Information on this leading theater institution.

Performance & Stagecraft

Acting An Performance Resources
http://www.artslynx.org/theatre/acting.htm
Organizations, theatersports, improvisation, speech, monologues, theater handbooks, and specific techniques (Alexander, Stella Adler, etc.)

Acting Workshop Online
http://www.redbirdstudio.com/AWOL/acting2.html
A comprehensive site for training, links, and professional information. Includes information on how to audition, outstanding monologues, accent and dialect training, dramatic characterization, finding an agent, and more.

Applied and Interactive Theater Guide (Joel Plotkin)
http://www.tonisant.com/aitg/
Information on the writings and workshops of Augusto Boal, Drama Therapy, Hacktivism (a form of radical theater), History of Theatre, Playback Theatre, Psychodrama, Radical Theatre, Theatre in Education and Training and Development . This site, developed by Joel Plotkin, has a search engine

Backstage Technical Services Training Manual
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~su2bc/infoguides/index.shtml
This site is useful for guidance on safety, lighting, stage management, sound, special effects, terminology, etc. Created by Kris Nuttall at Bath University.

BackstageWorld
http://www.stagelight.se/backstage/
"Backstage World is the web for people working in showbiz and like to look around for the latest equpiment in sound & light industry,pricelists or find out where to rent sound ,light,stage equpiment. Tour / crew info and company list & crew,booking agents,sound&light technician pool, and so on"

Comedy Improve Page
http://www.improvcomedy.org/index.html
Welcome to The Improv Page, a clearinghouse for information about improvisational theatre.

Costume Link
http://members.aol.com/nebula5/costume.html
Over 2,000 unique links are given on this page created for people designing costumes for theater.

Costumer's Manifesto
http://www.costumes.org/
Another commercial costume site.

Costume Source
http://www.milieux.com/costume/source.html
Looking for costumes for a play or do you just want to dress like Henry VIII? This is the site for locating costume resources.

Dramatist Play Service
http://www.dramatists.com/index.asp
For nearly 70 years Dramatists Play Service, Inc. has provided the finest plays by both established writers and new playwrights of exceptional promise. Purchase acting editions of plays and obtain nonprofessional and professional leasing rights to these works, find biographical information on playwrights and track productions around the county.

History of Costumes
http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/history.html
Classic text on line, thethis buite By Braun & Schneide covers the period of

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF SCENOGRAPHERS THEATRE ARCHITECTS AND TECHNICIANS
http://www.costumes.uconn.edu/
An international umbrella organization which establishes and maintains an international exchange of the knowledge and practice of Scenography, Theatre Architecture and Technology together with other relevant and related areas of theatrical technical development.


KMC: McCoys Guide to Theater and Performance Studies
http://www.stetson.edu/departments/csata/thr_guid.html
Extensive links on stagecraft, acting, plays and playwrites, and organizations and associations.

Moving Lights
http://www.moving-lights.com/main.htm
"pages are designed to provide detailed and accurate information about Moving Lights and Controllers. "

Stage Specs Online
http://www.stagespecs.com/store/cat_display.cfm?siteID=2&catID=79
Commercial site providing links to services and products.

Theater Rigging - Clancy
http://www.jrclancy.com/AboutClancy/about.htm
Site for JR Clancy, theater rigging company in business since 1885. Site includes a description of manual and motorized rigging. A tour is provided along with information on round weights, lattice tracks, fusible links, batten, blocks, traction drive winches, lattice track arbor, smoke pockets, and more.

Theater Directors

Stella Adler
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/adler_s.html
Brief biography on Adler, created by PBS.

Antonin Artaud
http://www.antoninartaud.org/home.html
Site dedicated to the work of author of the Theater of Cruelty.

Julian Beck
http://www.livingtheatre.org/Julian%20Beck.html
Biography and photographs on this founder of the once radical, Living Theater. Also see Living Theater.

Beerbohm Tree
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/b#a397
The works of Max Beerbohm Tree..

Herbert Beerbohm Tree
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html
NY Times article.

The Sarah Bernhardt Pages
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~temple/Sarah.htm
The Sarah Bernhardt Pages, information on The Divine Sarah, the plays, her books and books about her, photographs, and all things relating to the great actress.

Biography.com
http://www.biography.com/
Biography.com is the online destination of A&E.s popular, award-winning documentary series, Biography, and the new digital network, The Biography Channel.hort biographies of famous people, ranging from actors and actresses to political leaders and historical.

Edwin Booth
http://search.eb.com/shakespeare/micro/78/51.html
Biography from Britannica Online.

Edwin Booth
http://www.theatredatabase.com/19th_century/edwin_booth_001.html
Biographical information.

Peter Brook
http://members.aol.com/dramaddict/Brook/
Articles, biographical data, books and more.

Harold Clurman
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/clurman_h.html
PBS one page biographer by this extraordinarily important American director.

George M. Cohen
http://www.members.tripod.com/davecol8/
Biography of Cohen

Max Ehrlich
http://www.max-ehrlich.org/
Biographical information on the celebrated actor and cabaret director, Max Ehrlich, and his works, as well as that of the other members of the Westerbork Theater Group (Concentration Camp).

Jerzy Grotowski - Statement of Principles
http://owendaly.com/jeff/grotows2.htm
Principles of the acclaimed, late, Polish director. "Grotowski wrote this text for internal use within his Theatre Laboratory, and in particular for those actors undergoing a period of trial before being accepted into the troupe in order to acquaint them with the basic principles inspiring the work".

Peter Hall
http://members.aol.com/dramaddict/petrhall.htm
Site includes an interview and links to articles and stories about the director.

Moss Hart
http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=6153
Internet Broadway, a commercial sites, page on Moss Hart.

Sir Henry Irving's Obituary
http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Irving.htm
Extensive site with obituary of the Director, actor and manager.

George Kaufman
http://www.comedyontap.com/pantheon/kaufman/kaufman.html
Short tribute page on the director and playwrite.

Charles Kean's Hamlet
http://www3.humnet.unipi.it/nutshell/hamlet/hyptxt/ckean40.htm
Very interesting web site offering a scene by scene account of Kean's Hamlet with text, documents and images.

Sanford Meisner
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/meisner_s.html
One page biography on Meisner, created by PBS.

Jonathan Miller
http://www.ispa.org/ideas/miller.html
Interview given by renowned British author, director, producer, lecturer, and physician Jonathan Miller.

Jonathan Miller
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/2045941.stm
BBC biography of Jonathan Miller.

Trevor Nunn
http://www.finelinefeatures.com/twelfth/filmbios.htm
Biography of the former Directory of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Sir Lawrence Olivier
http://www.laurenceolivier.com/
The official site of the famous actor and director.

Joseph Papp
http://www.music.princeton.edu/~carson/papp.html
What would Astor place have been without the Papp Theater? Biographical material on this director and major figure in New York theater.

Harold Prince
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/pri0bio-1
Interview with this winner of 20 Tonly awards.

Harold Prince: Kennedy Center Honors
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
Biography created by the Kennedy Center.

Max Reinhardt
http://library.lib.binghamton.edu/special/reinhardtintro.html
SUNY Binghamton site, home of Renihardt's archives, this site provides biographical information, as well as images.

Konstantin Stanislavski
http://www.kryingsky.com/Stan/Biography/bot.html
Well constructed page featuring biographical data and photographs.

Stanislavski
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/stanislavsky_c.htmla
PBS page on the director.

Stanislavski's Obituary
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0105.html
Obituary of the famous actor and director from the New York Times.

Lee Strasberg.com
http://www.leestrasberg.com/
Official site of the Actors Studio.

Lee Strasberg Theater Insitute
http://www.strasberg.com/
Yet another official Strasberg site.

Strasberg Obituary
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1117.html
Obituary of the director from the New York Times.

Susan Stroman
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/americasbest/pro.sstroman.html
CNN site features biographical data and sound clips.

Luis Valdez - El Teatro Campesino
http://www.elteatrocampesino.com/
Official site of Teatro Campesino.

Luis Valdez
http://www.sdlatinofilm.com/trends19.html
Brief biographical discussion.

Robert Wilson
http://www.robertwilson.com/
Official site of Robert Wilson.

George C. Wolf
http://www.ntcp.org/compendium/artists/GEORGEC.html
Biographical information on the director.

____________________________________

History By Period

Classical

Didaskalia: Ancient Theater Today
http://www.didaskalia.net/
"Didaskalia is an electronic resource and journal
dedicated to the study of ancient Greek and Roman
drama and its reception". Excellent site complete with a very quick and thorough search engine.

Greek Theater Reconstructions
http://www.theatron.co.uk/
Theatron's project shows the existing site and a computer generated image of what the site may have looked like. Click on each image to enlarge it and read more extensive text.

Middle Ages

Centre for Research in Early English Drama | Records of Early English Drama (REED)
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~reed/reed.html
"REED is an international scholarly project that is establishing for the first time the broad context from which the great drama of Shakespeare and his contemporaries grew. REED examines the historical MSS that provide external evidence of drama, secular music, and other communal entertainment and ceremony from the Middle Ages until 1642, when the Puritans closed the London theatres. " Includes full text of two Modernized Performance Texts, The Castle of Perseverance and the N-Town Plays, as well as All the World's a Stage": WWW Links for Theatre History and Early Music.

French Medieval Drama Database Project
http://www.byu.edu/~hurlbut/fmddp/
Bibliographies, manuscripts and an essay on the role of actors in Medieval France.

Medieval Drama Links
http://www.netserf.org/Drama/
NetSerf's extensive collection of worthwhile links to sites featuring information on medieval productions and props, set design and production, as well as book on plays of the period, the culture of the middle ages, costume, and medieval dance and music.

Middle English English Play Cycles
http://www.public.iastate.edu/%7Egbetcher/373/York.htm
Professors site with chronological information and links to other cites.

York Corpus Christi Pageant Simulator
http://jerz.setonhill.edu/resources/PSim/index.html
"This website, by Dennis G. Jerz, is intended to provide a gentle introduction to the York Corpus Christi Play, and provides an animated map with clock of the route of the play through the city of York.

16th -18th Century & Shakespeare

16th - 18th Century

An Annotated Bibliography of Commedia dell'Arte, Music Hall, Panto, and Other Diversions
http://www.214b.com/
Thoughtfully constructed bibliography, with links to Amazon.com, in the event you wish to purchase some of the works.

Development of Scenic Spectacle
http://www1.appstate.edu/orgs/spectacle/
"A site devoted to the study of Renaissance and Baroque Theatrical spectacle." Discussion of scene changes, trap doors, construction of the stage, lighting and even flying machines from the 16th through 18th centuries.

Theater History - 17th - 18th Centuries
http://library.kent.ac.uk/library/special/html/specoll/resou1.htm
Restoration theater, the London theater and theater personalities between 1600 and 1800 are featured on the University of Kent at Canterbury site.

The World of London Theater--1660-1800
http://www.nwe.ufl.edu/~pcraddoc/lonmen1.html
Nice introduction to this period of theater, with photographs and brief discussions of the culture and society of the time. Includes an essay on Technical Theater During the Restoration Lighting and Scenic Design England 1660-1800.

Shakespeare

American Repertory Theater http://www.amrep.org/past/winter/winter1.html
American Repertory page on The Winter's Tale.

A Midsummer Night's Dream
http://www.lib.washington.edu/Subject/drama/msndconcepts.html
Historical presentations of a Midsummer Night's Dream.

A Midsummer Nights Dream with history of productions http://www.courttheatre.org/home/plays/9899/midsummer/PNmidsummer.shtml
Description and commentary on the play, presented by Chicago's Court Theater. Includes discussion of the Peter Brook production.

British Theater Guide - http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/links/shakespeareindex.htm
This site is an index to links relating to Shakespeare including Shakespeare in performance; Shakespeare's plays and theaters and theater companies specializing in performing the works of Shakespeare. Reviews, articles and links are provided

Complete Works of William Shakespeare
http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/works.html
Online texts of the Bard's works.

Folger Shakespeare Library
http://www.folger.edu/Home_02B.html
Research resources, including a web-based catalog, HAMNET, which includes bibliographical records for most library materials published since 1800.

General Criticism from Mr. William Shakespeare on the Internet
http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/general.htm
Extensive collection of online criticism of Shakespeare and Elizabethan drama. Includes articles such as Critical Shakespeare, by Joanne Woolway, Oriel College, Oxford; Steve.Sohmer's "12 June 1599: Opening Day at Shakespeare's Globe." From Early Modern Literary Studies and older works such as Shakespeare in Hampton Court by Ernest Law
(from the London Illustrated News, April 26, 1919

McGill University's Shakespeare Page
http://www.shakespeare.mcgill.ca/resources/
Extensive and useful page of links to everything from the Globe Theater to online full-text resources.

Scholarly papers submitted to the SHAKSPER Fileserver http://www.shaksper.net/archives/files/index.html
A global electronic Shakespeare with full text of papers, many of scholarly quality. Note: Very slow loading.

Shakespeare and the Players
http://shakespeare.emory.edu/index.html
This site "is a survey through postcards of the many now unfamiliar English and American actors who played Shakespeare's characters for late Victorian and Edwardian audiences"

Shakespearean Actors and Actresses http://www.unibas.ch/shine/actorsgn.html
Useful A - Z guide to actors and actresses, throughout history, who have performed the Bard's plays.

Shakespeare.com
http://www.shakespeare.com/
While this is a commercial site, there is one interesting feature provided here: a reviews area that gives you the opportunity to read reviews of recent productions staged around the country.

Shakespeare's Globe Research Database
http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/
This site contains information on the first Globe Theatre, on the current Globe, and on performances. There are many illustrations provided.

Shakespeare in Europe
http://www.unibas.ch/shine/index.html
A metasite featuring links to reviews, critical texts and works on and about Shakespeare. Also includes a chronology and the Hamlet Pages.

Reed's Shakespeare Resources
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~reed/stage.html#shakesp
Links to numerous resources on and about Shakespeare. Part of the Centre for Research in Early English Drama | Records of Early English Drama page. (See above)

William Shakespeare
http://lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/%7Ematsuoka/Shakespeare.html
Extensive listing of links.

Seventeenth Century Theater
http://www.theatredatabase.com/17th_century/
Links to major playwrites of the period and to pages on Restoration drama.

Touchstone : http://www.touchstone.bham.ac.uk/exhibition/Birmingham/home.html
Welcome to Touchstone, a research tool for Shakespeare research in the United Kingdom. The site is currently maintained by Jim Shaw, Librarian of the Shakespeare Institute Library, in partnership with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and Birmingham Central Library In addition to an enquiry service this site provides an online exhibit, information on Shakespeare in performance and links to associations.

19th - 21st Century

Nineteenth Century

English Actors of the Nineteenth Century
http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/actors/pics.html
Hand tinted photographs of actors including Sarah Bernhardt, Beerbohm Tree, Waller Passmoor and many more.

Nineteenth Century American Theater
http://content.lib.washington.edu/19thcenturyactorsweb/essay.html
Lengthy article with links and photographs.

Shaw Online
http://books.mirror.org/gb.shaw.html
The texts, and plays, of George Bernard Shaw online. Includes Misalliance and Pygmailion.

Shakespeare and the Players
http://shakespeare.emory.edu/index.html
This site "is a survey through postcards of the many now unfamiliar English and American actors who played Shakespeare's characters for late Victorian and Edwardian audiences"

20th Century

American Variety Stage
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/vshtml/vshome.html
This wonderful site "is a multimedia anthology selected from various Library of Congress holdings. This collection illustrates the vibrant and diverse forms of popular entertainment, especially vaudeville, that thrived from 1870-1920. Included are 334 English- and Yiddish-language playscripts, 146 theater playbills and programs, 61 motion pictures, 10 sound recordings and 143 photographs and 29 memorabilia items documenting the life and career of Harry Houdini. Groups of theater posters and additional sound recordings will be added to this anthology in the future".

Footlight Notes
http://footlightnotes.tripod.com/
This site is devoted to the Theater between 1850 and 1900.

Notes on a Colloquy with Edward Albee
http://www.artslynx.org/theatre/albee.htm
Notes from from a lecture by Mr. Albee at The Denver Center for the Performing Arts, on February 16, 1997.

Performing Arts in America - 1875 -1923
http://digital.nypl.org/lpa/nypl/lpa_home4.html
New York Public Library Online Exhibit. "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. Captured in the then new techniques of photography, recorded sound, and film, the performing arts of the early twentieth century come alive as never before, preserved by The New York Public Library and brought to you a century later via the Internet. "

Tennessee Williams
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/williams_tennessee/
Brief biography with links to other sites, by the University of Mississippi.