Welcome to my Research Sources page for Intro to Theatre! Chao Chen, your class research librarian |
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**see also, Finding Videos
Sources for production history of a play (performance/stage history) -- an account of significant productions or adaptations of a theatrical work)
I. Scholarly and Trade Journal Articles
- MLA ( for drama criticism & theater history)
- Performing Arts Periodicals Database
(for reception:
-- "dramatic criticism" in Scholarly journals
-- "theatre reviews" in popular press and trade publications.)- JSTOR
- Project Muse
More Sources For Current Production Reviews
Magazines, Newspapers, and Companies' Websites
- Access World News (rich U.S. regional news)
- Factiva (more international coverage)
- More
Our most frequently requested newspapers:
- New York Times. Please note that you can create your own personal account on the New York Times’ website using your Tufts email address.
- Boston Globe
- The Washington Post: Direct Publisher Access (Current | digital reproduction)
- The Washington Post on Factiva (Current | plain text)
From the professionals in the field:
- HowlRound Theatre Commons
- New York Times: Theatre Arts
- American Theatre by the Theatre Communications Group
- Internet Broadway Database
- the Lortel Archive (Off-Broadway)
- Ticketmaster
For past theatre reviews
Historical Magazines and Newspapers
- African American Periodicals1825-1995
- American Periodicals (1740 - 1940)
- British Periodicals (1680s - 1930s)
- New York Times Online Archive (1851 - three years before the current date)
- Times of London (1785 - 1985)
II. JumboSearch for Books
Note: The samples provided here may be classical plays, but we are actually researching for accounts of significant productions or adaptations, past and current:
Sample findings:
- Antigone on the contemporary world stage
- Vision and stagecraft in Sophocles
- Shakespeare and the American musical
Note: Many of the contemporary plays you are looking at may not have been addressed directly in academic books, yet. However, you can search for books on such topics as "theater and political activism" , "theater and society", and "theater and social change". For examples, these recent titles at Tisch library might be of interests to you:
- Migration and stereotypes in performance and culture. 2020
- Performances that change the Americas. 2022
- Performing care: new perspectives on socially engaged performance 2020
- Privileged spectatorship: theatrical interventions in White supremacy. 2020
- Scenes from the Revolution: Making Political Theatre 1968-2018. 2018
- Shakespeare in a divided America: what his plays tell us about our past and future. 2020
Note: Worldwide Libraries (also known as WorldCat is still a better place to get a fuller picture of books on a topic.)