THEATER REFERENCE

Reference Books in History, Biography, Criticism, Cultural Contexts King Library, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

Students looking for library resources in theater will probably have questions and needs in one or more of the following areas. Their questions can in many cases be answered with reference books, but in addition they will want to use the Library's on-line catalog ("Sherlock") to find books, indexes to articles in theater journals, and the increasingly useful range of electronic resources--the Internet, CD-ROMs, and on-line services.

Plays: Plots, Cast, Productions
Plays: Criticism and Reviews
Terms, Facts, Events, Topics
People: Playwrights, Directors, Actors, Designers
History
Theater Companies and Theater Schedules
Technical Information
Literature and the Cultural Contexts
Language Resources

General Introductions and Definitions

Cambridge Guide to Theatre
Brief articles on a wide range of theater topics, people, plays, events. Ref PN 2035 .C27 1995
McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Theatre. 5 vols.
Encyclopedia-length articles about national theater and broad theater topics. Ref PN 1625 .M3 1984
A Chronological Outline of World Theatre
A year-by-year list of major theater events, world-wide, since the Ancient Greeks. Ref PN 2101 .M47 1992

Specialized Introductions and Definitions

Handbook to Classical Drama. Ref PA 3024/.H3
Crowell's Handbook of Classical Drama. Ref PA 3204/.H35
The HCD covers writers and topics, Crowell's covers plays.
A Companion to Medieval Theatre. Ref PN 2152/.C66/1989
Cambridge Guide to Asian Theatre. Ref PN 2860/.C35/1993
Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2nd ed. Ref PN

Plays: Critical Introductions and Summaries

International Dictionary of Theatre: Plays. Ref PN 2037 .I57 1992
Masterplots II. Drama 4 vols. Ref PN 6112.5 .M37
Both the above sources cover plays from all countries and provide page-long summaries and discussions of each play's significance. IDT: Plays also describes major productions.
Cliff's Notes. Use the Desk Reference Guide, an index to all the Cliff's Notes titles. Ref/PN 44 .D47 1990
Crowell's Handbook of Classical Drama. Ref PA 3204 .H35
Good coverage of Greek and Latin plays.

Playwrights: Critical Introductions

International Dictionary of Theatre: Playwrights. Ref PN 2037 .I57 1992
Contemporary Dramatists. Ref/PN
Both these reference books have page-length articles about playwrights, the former about playwrights from all times an countries, the latter from today's English speaking countries.
Ancient Writers. 2 vols. Ref/PA 3002/.A5/1982
European Writers. 13 vols. Ref/PN 501/.E9/1983
Both these reference sets provide lengthy articles about writers that discuss theme and style, cover individual works, and include a good bibliography.
Critical Survey of Drama: Foreign Language. 6 vols. Ref/PN 1625/.C74/1986
Critical Survey of Drama. English Language. 6 vols. Ref/PR PR623 .C75 1985
Handy but not as authoritative as Ancient Writers and European Writers.

Books

List books at Miami (Sherlock) or in other Ohio university libraries (OhioLINK) about authors, plays, and theater topics.
Search by subject, for example:
S = Theater Greece; S = Greek Comedy; S = Oresteia; S = Sophocles

WorldCat

Lists books in libraries throughout the world.
Search by subject, for example:
su: Drama medieval; su: Towneley Plays; su: Hrotsvitha

Bibliographies and Indexes

MLA International Bibliography
Best for literary criticism on medieval and more recent literature; does not cover Greek & Roman. Available on MiamiLINK (under Article Indexes/Arts & Humanities) and also on CD-ROM Network.
IBT: International Bibliography of Theatre
Best for books & articles about theater history, productions, stagecraft. A reference book: Ref/PN 2012/.I57/1982-
Indexes to Current Periodicals
- Periodical Abstracts
- Humanities Abstracts
- Arts and Humanities Citation Index
L'Annee Philologique
Specialized bibliography for Classicists but useful to drama students. Use the sections for individual authors, for example, Sophocles and Seneca. Ref/Z 7016/.A55x.
The years 1974-89 are available on the CD-ROM LAN as DCB: Database of Classical Bibliography.
Shakespeare
- World Shakespeare Bibliography Online. Coming Fall 2000.
- World Shakespeare Bibliography on CD-ROM. Covers 1990-1993. Ask at Consultation Desk.
- MLA International Bibliography. MiamiLINK.
- Essential Shakespeare: An Annotated Bibliography
  PR 2894 .C53 1993. Very useful starting point into the immense body of Shakespeare criticism.
- European Drama Criticism
  Handy but dated list of criticism on European drama, including British. Ref Z 5781 .P2 1977
- American Drama Criticism
  Handy list of criticism and reviews of major productions; kept up-to-date with supplements. Ref PS 332 .E33
- Guide to American Drama Criticism.
  Lists criticism published during 1942-1994. Ref/PS 332 .O841 1995
- Guide to British Drama Explication: Beginnings to 1640. Ref/PR 625 >D545 1996
Theaters and Theater Companies
- Theatre Companies of the World. Ref PN 2052 .T48 1986
- American Theatre Companies. Ref PN 2237 .A42 1986
- Theatre Profiles. Ref PN 2260 .T48
- Playhouse America!. Ref PN 2289 .P535 1991
- Curtain Time: The New York Theatre 1965-1987. Ref PN 2277 .N5 G8
- Encyclopedia of the New York Stage [1900-1957] Ref PN 2277 .N5 L36
- The London Stage [1660-1949] PN 2592 .L6, etc.
Literary and Cultural Contexts
Literary Terms, Concepts, Movements, Groups Literary Criticism: Theories, Approaches Literary Biography: Authors Literary Works: Novels, Poems, Stories, Plays, Essays Language Resources
Cultural Encyclopedias and Guides
- Britannica Online
- Civilization of the Ancient Mediterranean. 3 vols. Ref/DE 59 .C55 1988
- Oxford Classical Dictionary. Ref/DE 5 .O9 1970.
- Dictionary of the Middle Ages. 13 vols. Ref/D114 .D5 1982.
- Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. 6 vols. Ref/CB 361 .E52 1999
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Last updated May 2000.
Contact William A. Wortman.