Primary Sources for American Theater
The Library provides networked access to many more full-text, primary source databases than can be listed here. Others may be located through the Library Catalog and Databases, which contains an alphabetical list of online resources related to Linguistics, Language and Literature as well as Theater, Film and Television
- Asian American Drama This link opens in a new windowOffers searchable full text of plays by Asian American dramatists "together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. Some 50% of these plays have never been published before. The database also includes selected playbills, production photographs and other ephemera related to the plays." - Homepage, viewed February 2, 2006.
- Black Drama, 1850 to Present This link opens in a new window"This edition of Black Drama contains approximately 1,462 plays by 233 playwrights, together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. The database also includes selected playbills, production photographs and other ephemera related to the plays.Some 600 of the plays are published here for the first time, including a number by major authors. "--Homepage, viewed April 3, 2014.
- Ensemble [An Open Database of the Performing Arts]A database of transcriptions and digitized images of early 20th century theater programs collected by the NY Public Library of the Performing Arts. Content expanding as more material is digitized and transcribed.
- Federal Theatre Project Collection This link opens in a new windowThe Federal Theatre Project Collection contains documentation for stage productions mounted by the Federal Theatre Project in the period 1935-39. These include a wide variety of materials: billboards, cast lists, correspondence, costume designs, ground plans, lighting cue sheets, lighting plots, music, photographs, playbills, playscripts and playscript "sides" (a "side" is an individual role or part), posters, production notebooks, programs, property lists, publicity reports and clippings, radio scripts, research reports, reviews, scenarios, set designs, study guides, and technical reports. There are approximately 5,000 playscripts and 2,500 titles ranging from vaudeville to classic theater.
- Latino Literature: Poetry, Drama and Fiction This link opens in a new window"Latino Literature brings together more than 100,000 pages pages of poetry, fiction, and over 450 plays written in English and Spanish by hundreds of Chicano, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and other Latino authors working in the United States. Among the gems of the collection are nearly 800 items (poems, novels, and plays) that have never been published before. Researchers will also find numerous Chicano folk tales and audio files of selected poems and plays. It contains over 133,465 pages." (Homepage, viewed April 3, 2014)
- Mercury Theatre on the AirStreaming audio recordings of radio performances from 1938 to 1940, including Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" broadcast. Some Campbell Playhouse broadcasts are offered as well.
- Museum of the City of New York: Broadway ProductionsAn online archive of the Museum's theater production files--more than 30,000 photographs documenting over 5,000 Broadway productions. [In progress: images are made available here as they're digitized and cataloged.]
- North American Indian DramaFull text of plays by American Indian, First Nation, and Pacific Islanders playwrights of the 20th century; information about the plays and their production, and biographical data. Also includes issues of the Native playwrights' newsletter.
- North American Women's Drama This link opens in a new window"This edition of North American Women's Drama contains 1,517 plays by 330 playwrights, together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more." (Homepage, viewed April 3, 2014) More than 30% of the plays in the collection have never been published before. The database also includes selected playbills, production photographs and other ephemera related to the plays. The plays themselves have been selected using leading bibliographies and with the assistance of our editorial board"
- Playbill Vault This link opens in a new windowA searchable, online archive of Playbill, including covers plus information on plays, theaters, awards, and other content included in the magazine back to 1930.
- Teatro Campesino Online Collection This link opens in a new windowFrom the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives (CEMA) at University of California, Santa Barbara. This collection of 118 videos contains El Teatro Campesino plays, television specials, concerts, interviews, news footage, commercials, and workshops. The series includes the first known film that has a segment about the Teatro, "Huelga," narrated by Cesar Chavez. Other films range from the early actos to television specials on the movie "Zoot Suit." There are films of scenes from plays and whole plays, interviews with Luis Valdez and others, footage of the twentieth anniversary gala of El Teatro Campesino, and a documentary on the history of the Teatro made in 1981.
- Theatre Archive ProjectThe project aims to reinvestigate British theatre history 1945-1968, from the perspectives of both the theatregoer and the practitioner. The audio archive contains interviews with those visiting or working in the theatre in the period 1945-1968. Actors interviewed include Linda Bellingham, Bernard Hepton, Glenda Jackson, Murray Melvin, Joan Plowright, Corin Redgrave and Dudley Sutton. Writers include Trevor Griffiths, Peter Nichols, Ann Jellicoe, Ann Piper and Arnold Wesker. In addition there are interviews with theatre managers, producers, directors and designers, plus many interviews with ordinary theatregoers. The interviews with theatre professionals reveal their first encounters with the theatre, aspects of their work practices and the process of becoming a professional in what were often difficult circumstances. The interviews with theatregoers provide a contextualization of the productions and their reception by the communities at the time and in retrospect.
National Theatre Collection
The CU Library has expanded its collection of streaming theater performances with the addition of the National Theatre Collection. Drawing on 10 years of National Theatre Live broadcasts as well as recordings never previously seen outside of the National Theatre’s archive, the video content includes 30 performances in this initial release. As a supplement to the filmed productions, exclusive digitized archival materials such as photographs, scripts, costume designs, and more will be available to provide behind-the-scenes background and contextual information. The collection features NTC performances of Medea, Frankenstein, Twelfth Night, The Cherry Orchard, Macbeth, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Antigone, and other contemporary productions of canonical plays.
Digital Theatre+
The Cornell community can now view streaming high-definition performances of contemporary British drama on Digital Theatre+. DT+ provides online access to a digital streaming video collection of unique films of current, leading British theatre productions. It 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.
Theater in Video!
This database contains performances of the world’s leading plays and film documentaries on the subject of theater in streaming video. Some plays presented in multiple productions exemplifying various interpretations of the text, and technical and cultural differences among the presentations. Stage work of directors and actors are cross-searchable and available for side-by-side comparison. Interviews with directors, designers, writers, and actors, along with excerpts of live performances, illustrate the development of texts and the productions.