Drama and Theater

Before you even begin looking for resources, spend a few minutes developing a research plan. This can help you focus your ideas and help determine where you should start.

• Look at the assignment
  • What are you being required to create?
  • How many resources do you need?
  • Do you need scholarly sources?
• What are the key topics?
  • Playwright
  • Play 
  • Production
  • Costume
  • Historical Context
• Is your topic interdisciplinary?
  • Should you look at other databases if your topic overlaps with art, history, or another topic?
• Visuals
  • Do you need to analyze or include images?
• Consider your format
  • Are you performing?
  • Are you providing critique?
  • Are you analyzing?

If you are looking for a specific piece play, script or production, gather as much information as you can about it. Any piece of this information can not only help you find the work, but the information can also be used as keywords when you are looking for more information about the work or production.

• Title
• Playwright
• Date or Approximate Date (or publication or specific production)
• Theater or Production Computer
• Location of Production (Country, City, etc.)

Theater is always being created and shared. It probably won't be possible to find scholarly information about contemporary works, but that doesn't mean there is no information available. 

If you need to find information about a living playwright or current production, try a few of the following techniques:

• Visit the playwright or theater's personal webpage, Instagram, or Twitter
• Contact the playwright or theater directly (Never hurts to try!)
• Search for the playwright or production on Google or Wikipedia (This is one instance where these are great tools!)
• Look for the playwright or production in their hometown or local newspaper
• Search contemporary theater blogs

When you search for articles, books, and other information, you need to use keywords. Below is a list of keywords or categories of keywords that could be used in the library databases. You can use this on their own or mix and match them to narrow your results.

• Acting
• Actor Name
• Auditions
• Broadway
• Costume OR Costuming OR Wardrobe
• Costume Design 
• Costume Designer
• Direction
• Drama (Specific Dramatic Style or Country)
• Dramatic Criticism OR Criticism OR Review(s)
• Dramatists
• Dramaturgy OR Dramaturge 
• Improv OR Improvisation
• Lighting
• Method
• Monologues
• Musical Theatre OR Musicals
• One-Act OR Two-Act Play
• Performance
• Performing Arts
• Play Title
• Playwright OR Specific Playwright
• Production
• Sets
• Scene Design OR Stage Design
• Script
• Shakespeare
• Stage OR Staging 
• Stage Direction
• Technical Theater
• Theater OR Theatre
• Theater Name