Research Guides: Theatre: Getting Started

Welcome to the Theatre research guide! Use this guide as a starting point for your research in this subject area.

Highlighted Resources

American Broadsides & Ephemera, 1760-1900
Explore centuries of American history through rare broadsides, playbills, posters, music programs, menus, ephemera, and more.
Part of America's Historical Imprints.
Digital Theatre+
Offers full-length filmed stage performances of classic and modern plays, along with interviews and workshops with playwrights, directors, designers, actors, musicians, and others involved in the playmaking process.
Digital Theatre+ is built to work across all major browsers, screen sizes and input methods. The platform is accessible for those with visual impairments, as well as being fully navigable by keyboard.
Nineteenth Century American Drama: Popular Culture and Entertainment, 1820-1900
Contains historical plays, melodramas, political satires, black minstrel shows, comic operas, musical extravaganzas, parlor entertainments, adaptations of novels and many others.

Biography Index Retrospective 1946-1983
An archive index covering notable individuals from antiquity through 1983. Indexing and citations include book reviews, interviews, obituaries, diaries and memoirs.
Gale Literature Resource Center
Find up-to-date biographies, overviews, full-text criticisms, audio interviews, and reviews on writers from all eras.
Oxford Reference
Oxford Reference contains short-entry and general reference to more in-depth articles on specialized subjects from entries across Oxford University Press’s Dictionaries, Companions and Encyclopedias.
While we do not have access to all of the titles in the full collection, the default search covers the titles that Davidson owns.

Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
Covers the music of the world's peoples and includes an overview of each region of the world, a survey of its musical heritage, traditions, and themes, and a description of specific musical genres, practices, and performances. Also includes over 300 audio recordings.

Cambridge Companions Online
Cambridge Companions are a series of authoritative introductions to major writers, artists, philosophers, topics, and periods.
Note: Choose "Only search content I have access to" below the search box when searching to limit results to collections Davidson owns.