Theatre Research: Databases

Theatre and Literature

• MLA International Bibliography -- the gold standard for literary and drama research.
• Literary Reference Center -- great database for drama research.
• Literature Criticism Online -- great database for drama criticism and excellent source for getting a sense of a given play's historical and social context.
• Literature Resource Center-- excellent database for drama research.
• Art Index -- small database, but great source of information for artistic aspects of theatrical works and productions.
• Films on Demand - great for film clips of performances or discussion of stagecraft. (for example, type in "Paul Robeson").

Biographical and Historical

• Biography in Context -- excellent resource for biographies of actors, directors, and other important figures in theater.
• America: History and Life -- great source for legacy of actors, playwrights, theatrical ideas and innovations, focused on USA and Canada.
• Historical Abstracts -- world history from 1450 to present (except USA and Canada). Great source for international and non-western theatre history.

Design and Technologies

• Applied Science & Technology Full Text -- great resource for information on stage lighting and theatrical production technologies.
• GreenFILE -- great resource for green design for theatrical stage and buildings.

General Scholarly Research

• Academic Search Complete  -- database with articles about many disciplines, including art, business, education, policy, and more. Good resource for interdisciplinary topics including Theatre. Note: choose "Academic Search Complete" from alphabetic list of databases.
• EbscoHost Research Databases - portal to all Ebsco databases, including Academic Search Premier. Using a smartphone? All Ebsco databases are also available in streamlined mobile platform.
• JSTOR - Online archive of full-text scholarly journal articles. Journals go all the way back to the first issue of publication, even centuries ago in some cases (great for historical context). Full-text articles stop at a rolling cutoff of six years ago. Current articles are available in the library's other databases.

Scholarly Reference databases with useful information:

• Credo Reference - database with scholarly encyclopedias and references resources.
• Gale Virtual Reference Library - database with scholarly reference resources published by Gale Research.
• Oxford Reference Online - database with scholarly reference resources published by Oxford University Press.

How to find more Databases:

From library’s home page:
 -> Databases,
 -> click on any letter
 -> choose from alphabetic list.