Ritz Library: Theatre: Websites

Theater Websites

Performing Arts Encyclopedia -- Library of Congress
The Performing Arts Encyclopedia (PAE) is a guide to performing arts resources at the Library of Congress. The PAE provides information about the Library's unsurpassed collections of scores, sheet music, audio recordings, films, photographs, and other materials. Users can find digitized items from the collections; special Web presentations on topics and collections; articles and biographical essays; finding aids to collections; databases for 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. (In the latter, each entry describes the resource and provides a link to it if there is an online finding aid or Web site available.
New York Public Library -- Performing Arts
Resources on theater & dramatic arts from the New York Public Library
Internet Broadway Database (IBDB)
IBDB was created by the Research Department of The Broadway League, the national trade association for Broadway. The League has collected relevant Broadway information and statistics for many years. In 1996, the Research Department began to organize and expand the League's data collection in order to produce a website that would serve as a comprehensive history of Broadway for the benefit of League members, press, theatre professionals and enthusiasts. 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.

Theater Organizations

Professional societies and organizations often provide valuable information on their websites: publications, news, workshops, and competition announcements.

American Association of Community Theatre (AACT)
AACT is a national community theatre organization, whose chief goal is to enable community theatres across the country to become the cornerstones of the creative life of their communities—to provide quality entertainment, intellectual stimulation, challenge and opportunity, and to be worthy contributors to an improved quality of life for the communities which they serve.
Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE)
The Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) is a comprehensive non-profit professional membership organization. Founded in 1986, ATHE serves the interests of its diverse individual and organizational members, including college and university theatre departments and administrators, educators, graduate students, and theatre practitioners. The Association’s web site is www.athe.org.
An advocate for the field of theatre and performance in higher education, ATHE serves as an intellectual and artistic center for producing new knowledge about theatre and performance-related disciplines, cultivating vital alliances with other scholarly and creative disciplines, linking with professional and community-based theatres, and promoting access and equity.
Dramatists Guild
Long before playwrights or musical theatre writers join the Dramatists Guild, they often struggle professionally in small-to-medium-sized theatres throughout the country. It is essential, therefore, that dramatists know their rights, which the Dramatists Guild has defended for nearly 100 years. In order to protect the dramatist's unique vision, which has always been the strength of the theatre, s/he needs to understand this fundamental principle: dramatists own and control their work.

Full Text of Plays

Listed below are websites where the full text of some plays can be found. Please keep in mind that most plays are copyrighted material and therefore may be unavailable for free online. If you need help finding a play, please contact the reference staff via the LiveChat service.

Project Gutenberg
A collection of 50,000+ electronic books available for free.
Screenplays
The full text of Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw and The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde can be found here.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (MIT)
The complete text of all of Shakespeare's works -- plays, poetry, prose writings -- can be found here.

Evaluating Information on the Open Internet

THINK before you use a website for your project!

If you are only using Google and Wikipedia, you may not be finding the best information available on your topic.
If you are being asked to use scholarly resources, Search RitzDiscovery or visit Getting Started with Research.
If you are unsure whether or not you can use a particular website, review this guide from Johns Hopkins U on Evaluating Information.
The website links included on this page have been reviewed and selected by a librarian.
Need help citing a website?