A.C. Buehler Library: ENG 336 Contemporary Literature: Drama: Database sources for play/production info

American Theatre

American Theatre is a great source for conversations about productions, directors, plays, actors, etc. While not scholarly, it is analytic.

There's a couple of ways to get at American Theatre articles.

Issues available in Academic Search Complete--look for the "search within this publication" link to start a search: American Theatre

Or you can find some free content on the American Theatre website.

The American Theatre Reader by American Theatre Magazine Staff (Editor)
ISBN: 9781559363464
Publication Date: 2009
A compendium of the best essays and interviews from twenty-five years of American Theatre magazine. This one-of-a-kind collection includes work by more than a hundred artists, critics and theatre professionals. Included here are pieces by critics such as Frank Rich of the New York Times and Eric Bentley, the revered author of The Life of the Drama; commentaries from leading playwrights including Tony Kushner, Wallace Shawn and Suzan Lori-Parks; and the thoughts of directors such as Hal Prince (West Side Story, Phantom of the Opera, Sweeney Todd) and Des McAnuff (Jersey Boys). The result is a unique insiders' view of modern American theatre and an intimate look at the people, plays and events that have shaped it over the past twenty-five years.

Books

Many of your plays are significant in the "canon" and so will have books or book chapters written about them that should have information about productions. Also search for your authors, a good biography of a playwright should contain information about the productions of the plays.

Bluejay Search This link opens in a new window

Databases

Some of the following databases will have production and analysis information about plays, biographical information about playwrights, and reviews of plays published in press sources.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Provides abstracts from over 12,500 periodicals in the social sciences, humanities, general science, multicultural studies, and others, with full text articles from 8,500 titles, including more than 7,300 that are peer-reviewed. Almost every topic of study is covered. The database is updated daily, and includes searchable cited references from more than 1,400 journals.
Chicago Tribune This link opens in a new window
Gets you to the full text (excluding advertisements) from 1985-date. To see the full text of the Tribune from 1849-1990, go to ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
An electronic archive of journal titles in a variety of disciplines, often going back to the first issue of a journal's existence. In addition, a collection of over 1.8 million digital images of paintings, photos, architectural works, sculptures, and design pieces from around the world from all time periods.
Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
Combines a variety of key literary resources, including MLA International Bibliography, Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature, Contemporary Authors Online, Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, Scribner Writers Series, Twayne's and the Dictionary of Literary Biography.
New York Times This link opens in a new window
Allows you to access the full text from 1980-present. For information on setting up a free account to NYTimes.com, see this page: https://library.elmhurst.edu/newssources
Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
An online library of over 325 journals from 120 scholarly publishers. Some full text dates back to 1993. Journals in this collection cover primarily the arts and humanities, and the social sciences.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune This link opens in a new window
Includes every issue from 1849-1990. For current issues, use Chicago Tribune, which provides access to articles from 1985-present.