Theatre Arts: Get Started
Guide to research and library resources for students in theatre classes
In this Guide
This guide is designed to help students do research for theatre classes, whether they are researching plays, acting, or stagecraft. This first page provides information on finding articles and books related to theatre.
Use the tabs above to navigate through the other pages of the guide:
- Dramaturgy - Getting to know the context portrayed in your play.
- Find Plays & Criticism - Find plays, monologues, theatre reviews, and criticism of plays.
- Job Resources - Resources on finding a job in theatre, local and national theatre companies, and theatre associations.
- Cite Sources - Tips and tools for citing sources and avoiding plagiarism.
- Get Help - Get help from a librarian 24x7, get support from a tutor, or find a handout or tutorial to help you with your research.
Chicago Theater Balcony View by Chris Smith. Used under CC BY-NC-SA.
Introduction to the Library Website and Library Services
This 5:26 video provides an overview of the library website and highlights some of the Library's most popular collections and services.
Find Articles
- Digital Theatre + This link opens in a new windowThis database features musical and drama productions for Theatre and the Performing Arts. It includes exclusive productions from Broadway HD.
- Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new windowFull text for more than 4,500 scholarly social sciences, humanities, general science, education and multi-cultural journals. 3,700 are peer-reviewed.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowFull text of over 1000 scholarly journals in the arts and sciences, from their earliest issues up to 3-5 years ago. Does not include current issues of the journals. Video tutorials are available.
- Fine Arts (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new windowWhile it says it's Fine Arts and Music, this does contain a number of valuable theatre journals, so is worth searching.
- Pop Culture Studies (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new windowFocused on issues in popular culture. Provides useful information for any researcher in a social science, history, art or liberal arts course. A collection of more than 100 subject-appropriate full text periodicals.
Find Books, Articles, DVDs, and more
Digital Theatre+
- Digital Theatre + This link opens in a new windowThis database features musical and drama productions for Theatre and the Performing Arts. It also includes interviews, production design videos, script writing, acting workshops and more.
Find Theatre Videos
- Academic Video Online (AVON) This link opens in a new windowOver 64,000 scholarly videos in multiple subject areas including anthropology, business, counseling, film & cinema, health, music and dance, news and current affairs, science, and much more. Programs include documentaries, interviews, performances, news, raw footage, and archival materials. Note: Some video content in Alexander Street Video, such as Sony Classic Pictures content, is protected by DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology. Due to this DRM requirement, certain videos will not play on Apple devices or the Safari browser as they lack the technology required to play protected video.
- Digital Theatre + This link opens in a new windowThis database features musical and drama productions for Theatre and the Performing Arts. It includes exclusive productions from Broadway HD.
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new windowThis collection contains over 300 online streaming videos related to theater including plays, history, criticism, and production and design.
- Kanopy Streaming Videos This link opens in a new windowFantastic collection of streaming videos organized by subject, for academic research as well as general interest. You can find relevant videos under Playwriting and theatre, Film Studies, drama, and performance art. You can also search.
Theatre Journals
The following list includes scholarly journals (research and criticism) and trade journals (for people working in theatre) about theatre:
Chat with a Librarian
Need to talk to a librarian? Use our chat system. Click the button to open the chat window.
Chat with a Librarian!Catalog Searches
The following links will take you to books, videos and other library materials on that topic in the library catalog:
