LibGuides: Theatre Resources: Background Information &amp; Reference Material

Getting Started with Reference Resources

Background information and reference resources

Background information can help you prepare for further research by explaining concepts related to your topic, especially if you are researching an unfamiliar topic or discipline. Entries in reference resources tend to be short and can help you get started with research on a new topic, identify trends in a subject area, and define unfamiliar terms or people from your readings. Reference resources include encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases and handbooks.

Reference Databases

Biography (Gale in Context)
Indexes information and articles on biographical topics from Gale Group resources, journals, and selected Web sites
Britannica Online
Provides a general online encyclopedia
Credo Reference
Provides full text reference articles
Literary Sources
Provides biographical information, overviews, full text literary criticism and reviews on writers in all disciplines, from all time periods, worldwide

Reference Books: Physical and eBooks

Encyclopedia of the Black Arts Movement by Verner D. Mitchell (Editor); Cynthia Davis (Editor)
Call Number: Ref. NX512.3.A35 E53 2019
ISBN: 9781538101452
Publication Date: 2019-05-15
The Black Arts Movement (BAM) encompassed a group of artists, musicians, novelists, and playwrights whose work combined innovative approaches to literature, film, music, visual arts, and theatre. With a heightened consciousness of black agency and autonomy--along with the radical politics of the civil rights movement, the Black Muslims, and the Black Panthers--these figures represented a collective effort to defy the status quo of American life and culture. Between the late 1950s and the end of the 1970s, the movement produced some of America's most original and controversial artists and intellectuals. In Encyclopedia of the Blacks Arts Movement, Verner D. Mitchell and Cynthia Davis have collected essays on the key figures of the movement, including Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Larry Neal, Sun Ra, Sonia Sanchez, Ntozake Shange, and Archie Shepp. Additional entries focus on Black Theatre magazine, the Negro Ensemble Company, lesser known individuals--including Kathleen Collins, Tom Dent, Bill Gunn, June Jordan, and Barbara Ann Teer--and groups, such as AfriCOBRA and the New York Umbra Poetry Workshop. The Black Arts Movement represented the most prolific expression of African American literature since the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Featuring essays by contemporary scholars and rare photographs of BAM artists, Encyclopedia of the Blacks Arts Movement is an essential reference for students and scholars of twentieth-century American literature and African American cultural studies.

An Actor's Companion: Tools for the Working Actor
A collection of practical acting tips, tools, and exercises, An Actor's Companion is ideal for both the seasoned professionals and actors-in-training. The tips—all simple, direct, and useful—are easy to understand and even easier to apply, in both rehearsal and in performance.Seth Barrish is an actor, teacher, and the co-artistic director of The Barrow Group in New York City. In his thirty-year career, he has directed the award-winning shows My Girlfriend's Boyfriend (Lucille Lortel Award for Best Solo Show, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Solo Show), Sleepwalk With Me (Nightlife Award for Outstanding Comedian in a Major Performance), The Tricky Part (Obie Award, Drama Desk nominations for Best Play and Best Solo Show), Pentecost (Drama Desk nomination for Best Play), Old Wicked Songs (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award and Garland Award for Best Direction), and Good (Straw Hat Award for Best Direction), among dozens of others.
The Complete Costume Dictionary
While there are costume and fashion dictionaries tied to specific countries or periods, none have been comprehensive. In The Complete Costume Dictionary, Elizabeth Lewandowski has collected from a variety of sources—including costume history texts, journal articles, historical publications, autobiographies, biographies, foreign language dictionaries, and contemporary publications—to create a resource that spans the globe, from the earliest record of fashion to the 21st century.Including more than 20,000 fashion and costume terms, this volume also features more than 300 illustrations. The first section of the book is an alphabetical listing of these words with their definitions, period, and country of origin. This volume also contains appendixes that list the terms by country of origin, period, and type of clothing. The book is not limited to the Western World and includes both archaic and current terms.Significantly greater in scope than anything currently available—online or in print—this one-of-a-kind publication is an invaluable resource for costume and fashion historians, textile preservationists, period re-enactors, and history and theatre scholars, as well as theatre professionals.
Historical Dictionary of Contemporary American Theater: 1930-2010
From legends like Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller to successful present-day playwrights like Neil LaBute, Tony Kushner, and David Mamet, some of the most important names in the history of theater are from the past 80 years. Contemporary American theater has produced some of the most memorable, beloved, and important plays in history, including Death of a Salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire, Barefoot in the Park, Our Town, The Crucible, A Raisin in the Sun, and The Odd Couple.Historical Dictionary of Contemporary American Theater presents the plays and personages, movements and institutions, and cultural developments of the American stage from 1930 to 2010, a period of vast and almost continuous change. It covers the ever-changing history of the American theater with emphasis on major movements, persons, plays, and events. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, an extensive bibliography, and over 1,500 cross-referenced dictionary entries. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the history of American theater.
Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical
The Broadway musical has greatly influenced both American and world culture. Shows such as Oklahoma! and Annie Get Your Gun are as American as apple pie, while the long runs of imports such as Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, and Les Misérables have broken records. Shows filled with rock and pop music such as Mamma Mia! and Wicked enthrall audiences, and revivals of beloved shows play an important role in contemporary Broadway culture. Actors Ethel Merman, Yul Brynner, Julie Andrews, Bernadette Peters, and Audra McDonald; composers and lyricists Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Jeanine Tesori; and directors and choreographers George Abbott, Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse, Tommy Tune, and Susan Stroman—to name only a few—have gained national and international recognition by way of the Broadway musical stage.This second edition of Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical contains a chronology, an introduction, an appendix, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1000 cross-referenced entries on Broadway shows, composers, playwrights, directors, producers, designers, actors, and theatres. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Broadway musicals.