Guides: Drama and Theater Research Guide: Web Resources

Evaluating Web Resources

Since anyone can put anything on the web, you will need to evaluate what is high quality information and what is not.

The following guides can assist you in evaluating web resources:

Web Resources

American English Dialect Recordings: Center for Applied Linguistics Collection
Contains recordings documenting North American English dialects. Includes speech samples, linguistic interviews, oral histories, conversations, and excerpts from public speeches. The survey's documentation covers social aspects of English language usage in different regions of the United States. Recordings were collected from 43 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and parts of Canada, between 1941-1984; the bulk were recorded between 1968-1982. Some transcriptions are included.
American Variety Stage
Doollee
Early Modern London Theatres (EMLOT)
Allows users to view what direct use has been made, over the last four centuries, of pre-1642 documents related to professional performance in purpose-built theatres and other permanent structures in the London area. EMLOT is a work-in-progress; the first phase of work has concentrated on the theatres north of the Thames, particularly those lying outside the city’s walls in the Middlesex and Westminster areas. EMLOT does not include play texts.
Inter-Play
*This resource is no longer updated, but it is still helpful for finding plays in older anthologies.
New York Public Library: Performing Arts: Theatre
Offers an annotated 'Best of the Web' list of links relevant to theatre and performing arts.
Performing Arts Encyclopedia at the Library of Congress
Information about the Library's collections of scores, sheet music, audio recordings, films, photographs, and other materials. Users can find digitized items; special Web presentations on topics and collections; articles and biographical essays; s; databases of performing arts resources; information on concerts at the Library; and a special Performing Arts Resource Guide which contains entries for hundreds of Library collections, Web sites, databases and exhibits.
REED: Records of Early English Drama
Records of Early English Drama at the University of Toronto.
Survey of English Dialects: British Library Archival Sound Recordings
Includes 288 extracts from the Survey of English Dialects, a nationwide survey of the vernacular speech of England. Recordings may be browsed by county or by date.
The Art of Ancient Greek Theater (Getty Villa Exhibitions)
Provides information relevant to the Getty Museum's 2010-2011 exhibition on The Art of Ancient Greek Theater. Includes a brief summary of Ancient Greek theater, a list of relevant publications, links to art from the exhibition, and a list of exhibition events including an audio recording of a lecture on Art and Performance in Classical Greece.
The Federal Theatre Project Collection at the Library of Congress
Contains images of digital items selected from the Federal Theatre Project Collection at the Library of Congress. These documents were part of the WPA Federal Theatre Project mounted by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration from 1935-1939. Includes resources on play productions, play scripts, and administrative documents. The collection is currently not searchable, although users are able to browse through materials.
The Internet Broadway Database (IBDB)
IBDB provides a comprehensive database of shows produced on Broadway, including all "title page" information about each production. IBDB also offers historical information about theatres and various statistics and fun facts related to Broadway. Information is derived primarily from theatre programs, with supplemental information taken from newspaper and magazine reports, theatrical text books, interviews with theatre professionals, and Broadway League archives.
The Internet Off-Broadway Database (Lortel Archives)
A catalog of shows produced Off-Broadway, including complete seasons back to 1958 and selected earlier productions. Includes title page credits, original cast members and replacements, awards won, and number of performances for each production, as well as information about Off-Broadway theatre spaces and theatre companies. The database does not contain information on general management companies, obtaining scripts, or contacting theatres and individuals.
The Speech Accent Archive
The speech accent archive uniformly presents a large set of speech samples from a variety of language backgrounds. Native and non-native speakers of English read the same paragraph and are carefully transcribed. The archive is used by people who wish to compare and analyze the accents of different English speakers.
Visual Accent & Dialect Archive
VADA is an archive of video clips from around the world, providing both aural and visual information about an accent or dialogue.

Playbill News

Google Books

Search for books available online as part of Google Books' collection. Google Books will also direct you to copies held in CUA or other nearby libraries.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar allows you to search scholarly literature from many different sources, including theses, books, abstracts and articles. Google Scholar can also help you find the full text of scholarly articles either on the web or published in book format in CUA or other nearby libraries.