Theatre

An overarching guide for all things theatre at Kansas State

Library Research Guide

Dramaturgy - Providing insight

The databases listed here are not necessarily theatre related themselves, but will be very useful for conducting background contextual research for a play, whether for yourself in constructing a script analysis or to provide to a director or audience.

Historical Research

America: History & Life
Publication Dates Covered: 1964 - present Simultaneous users: 6 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Indexes and abstracts for approximately 1,800 journals in the field of United States and Canadian history. Full-text coverage for more than 280 journals and more than 80 books. Contains citations and links to book and media reviews. Can search by time period.
JSTOR
Paid for by K-State Libraries
A full-text collection of journals ranging from history to business to literature to science and mathematics. Coverage begins with the first issue of a title, but the most recent three to five years of each title are usually not available. The full article text is searchable. Images are available for searching as well.
New York Times, Historical
Publication Dates Covered: 1851-2021 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Digitized version of The New York Times since its first issue in 1851. Search the full text of articles to find articles on a wide variety of topics. Full name of the database is ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times with Index.
Times Digital Archive
Publication Dates Covered: 1785-2019 Paid for by K-State Libraries
The complete issues of more than two hundred years of The Times of London are available for keyword searching by users, including articles, advertisements, and illustrations. Coverage of specific events and trends can be reviewed, providing a contemporary view to modern researchers.

Cultural Context

Arts & Humanities Citation Index – Web of Science
Publication Dates Covered: 1975 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
To search this index, select the "Editions" pull-down menu above the search boxes. Be sure only Arts & Humanities Citation Index is selected. In addition to searching by keyword, subject, author, etc. for articles in over 1,800 journals, a “cited reference” search can be conducted to see how frequently and where an article has been cited.
ICPSR: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research
Paid for by K-State Libraries
The ICPSR data archive houses research in the social and behavioral sciences. It hosts specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields. ICPSR also collaborates with U.S. statistical agencies and foundations on data stewardship and creating thematic data collections.

ICPSR requires the creation of a free personal account using your K-State email to download data and access full site features. If you are on-campus, please use the link above to access ICPSR and create an account. If you are off-campus, please use this link to create your account, then access ICPSR content using the link above.
Oxford Art Online
Paid for by K-State Libraries
Formerly Grove Art Online, this is the definitive encyclopedia for the arts and design. This portal to Oxford art reference products includes cross-referenced articles and links to art images in galleries and museums. Articles are scholarly and include bibliographic references. This database contains Grove Art Online (the entire text of The Dictionary of Art), The Oxford Companion to Western Art, the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, and The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, and is continually updated.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Simultaneous users: 6. Paid for by K-State Libraries
Over 60,000 biographies of men and women who have impacted British history and culture worldwide from the Romans to the 21st Century. Includes over 11,000 portraits.
Oxford Music Online
Paid for by K-State Libraries
Formerly Grove Music Online, this is the definitive encyclopedia for all things musical. It contains The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, New Grove Opera, and New Grove Jazz. Composer articles include biographies, works lists, and bibliographies of sources. Other articles cover topics such as musical genres, specific performers or ensembles, and theoretical and musicological vocabulary. For more concise entries Oxford Music Online also includes The Oxford Dictionary of Music and The Oxford Companion to Music.

Literary and Theatrical Styles

Play Index
Simultaneous users: 1 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Find more than 31,000 plays by their author, subject, title, style, genre, cast type, and more. Database includes plot summaries and monologues. Can limit results to plays with a specific number of male and/or female roles, music requirements, and scenery requirements. Updated weekly.
Project Muse
Publication Dates Covered: 1995 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
Full-text scholarly journals in the humanities, arts, and social sciences. Titles include the most widely held and heavily used core titles from noted academic publishers. Subjects include literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, mathematics and others.
MLA (Modern Language Association) International Bibliography
Publication Dates Covered: 1926 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
This is the largest and most comprehensive database for literary criticism in all languages. Also covers folklore, linguistics, and film studies. Includes journal and book articles, books, and dissertations. Does not index book reviews in literary journals.
Literature Resource Center
Paid for by K-State Libraries
Provides researchers with unbounding literary resources to support their literary responses, literary analysis, and thesis statements through a wide variety of scholars and critics that ensure all views and interpretations are represented through up-to-date biographies, overviews, full-text criticisms, audio interviews, and reviews on writers from all eras. Use this resource to analyze authors and works throughout time.
Theatre In Video: Volume I
Paid for by K-State Libraries detailed description
Search more than 250 of the world’s most important plays and more than 100 video documentaries. Bookmark specific scenes, monologues, and staging examples for use in papers and course reserves.
Arts & Humanities Citation Index – Web of Science
Publication Dates Covered: 1975 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
To search this index, select the "Editions" pull-down menu above the search boxes. Be sure only Arts & Humanities Citation Index is selected. In addition to searching by keyword, subject, author, etc. for articles in over 1,800 journals, a “cited reference” search can be conducted to see how frequently and where an article has been cited.