Theatre

Directory of theatre history websites, including production and design sources.

Anthology and guide to English literature of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Seventeenth Century, Restoration and Eighteenth Century. Includes sections on medieval drama and Renaissance drama.

(REED) is an international scholarly project that is establishing the context from which the drama of Shakespeare and his contemporaries grew. REED has worked to locate, transcribe, and edit historical documents containing evidence of drama, secular music, and other communal entertainment and ceremony from the Middle Ages until 1642, when the Puritans closed the London theatres. Along with twenty-seven collections of records in print, REED is building a dynamic collection of freely available digital resources for research and education. See the digital publication site, "REED Online," in the link below.

Homepage of the above link.

A search engine of every playbook produced in England, Scotland, and Ireland from the beginning of printing through 1660, provides information about the original playbooks, their title-pages, paratextual matter, advertising features, bibliographic details, and theatrical backgrounds. Not full-text.

From the Library of Congress-American Memory Project. A multimedia anthology of materials which includes scripts, playbills, recordings, film clips, photographs, and other memorabilia.

From the Library of Congress-American Memory Project. Includes images of items selected from the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) Collection.  Featured here are stage and costume designs, still photographs, posters, scripts, and documents selected from the FTP Administrative Records. The FTP was one of five arts-related projects established during the first term of President Franklin Roosevelt under the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

New York Public Library's searchable database of 16,000 visual and audio images captured in the then new techniques of photography, recorded sound, and film. These objects reflect the performing arts of the early twentieth century representing archival materials from the Broadway theater and Tin Pan Alley to dancers and composers.