LibGuides: Theater Studies: Primary Sources

Online Primary Sources Related to Theater

Asian American Drama This link opens in a new window
Search for detailed information about Asian American plays
Black Drama This link opens in a new window
Search and find the full text of plays by 200 leading African dramatists from North America, Africa, and the Caribbean
Contemporary World Drama This link opens in a new window
Search in a collection of 1,000 international contemporary plays, from 2000 to present day.
Drama Online This link opens in a new window
Search full texts of plays from across the history of the theatre, ranging from Aeschylus to the present day
Early English Books Online (EEBO) This link opens in a new window
Search digital copies of nearly every work printed between 1473 and 1700 in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and British North America
Early European Books This link opens in a new window
Search digital copies of works printed in Europe before 1701, as well as pre-1701 works in European languages printed outside of Europe
Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Search the full text of English-language titles and editions published between 1701 and 1800
Latino Literature This link opens in a new window
Presents poetry, fiction, and plays written in their original language, English or Spanish, by hundreds of Chicano, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and other Latino authors working in the United States. Click on "Browse Drama" under "Browse"
Nineteenth-Century American Drama: Popular Culture and Entertainment This link opens in a new window
Search for historical plays, melodramas, political satires, black minstrel shows, comic operas, musical extravaganzas, parlor entertainments in the United States from 1820-1900.
North American Indian Drama This link opens in a new window
Full text of plays by American Indian, First Nation, and Pacific Islanders playwrights of the 20th century; information about the plays and their production, and biographical data.
Twentieth Century North American Drama This link opens in a new window
Contain the full text of 2,000 plays written from the late 1800s to the present by more than 300 playwrights from North America.

Audio Drama: The L.A. Theatre Works Collection This link opens in a new window
Find and listen to streaming audio from the curated archive of The L.A. Theatre Works radio theatre company
BBC Shakespeare Plays This link opens in a new window
Find and watch BBC television productions of the entire Shakespeare canon of 37 plays
Drama Online This link opens in a new window
Contains plays from the earliest Greek works through the present day, in text, video, and audio formats. Includes background and contextual works on playwrights, theater movements, genres, practitioners and periods, as well as scholarly monographs, dictionary content, and practical books on acting and stage craft.
Duke has access to the following modules:
--Classic Spring Oscar Wilde Collection
--Core Collection
--Critical Studies and Performance Practice
--The Hollow Crown
--National Theatre Collection 1, 2, 3
--Nick Hern Books Modern Plays
--Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) Live Collection
--Shakespeare Video Collection
--Shakespeare's Globe on Screen
--Shakespeare’s Globe to Globe Festival on Screen 1 & 2
--Stratford Festival Shakespeare Collection
--Theatre Communications Group (TCG) Books Play Collection
OnTheBoards.TV This link opens in a new window
Find and watch streaming videos of performances in dance, theater and the arts
Theatre in Video This link opens in a new window
Find and stream video of definitive performances of the world’s most important plays beginning in the 1930s and progressing through the 20th century
BroadwayHD Collection This link opens in a new window
Search a collection of recorded live theater plays and musicals. Includes 25 performances from the New York theater scene

American Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Search for scanned articles from magazines and journals from 1740 to 1900
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times This link opens in a new window
Search for news articles from the Los Angeles Times from 1881-2015
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times This link opens in a new window
Search for news articles from the New York Times from 1851-2019

More Proquest Historical Newspapers
Atlanta Constitution (1868-1939), Atlanta Daily World (1932-2003), Chicago Defender (1905-1975), Los Angeles Times (1881-1986), New York Times (1851-2004), Wall Street Journal (1889-1990), and the Washington Post (1877-1991)

Times Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
Full-text and full-image articles from the Times of London, 1785-2008

American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series I, 1760-1900 This link opens in a new window
Search facsimiles of 15,000 broadsides printed between 1820 and 1900 and 15,000 pieces of ephemera printed between 1749 and 1900 from the American Antiquarian Society.
Eighteenth Century Drama: Censorship, Society and the Stage This link opens in a new window
Search primary sources and documents that provide social context for almost every play submitted for license between 1737 and 1824
Performance Design Archive Online This link opens in a new window
Search a collection that covers all aspects of theater production design, from the 17th century through to the present day, including scenic and set design, lighting design, sound design, costume design, and makeup.
Shakespeare in Performance This link opens in a new window
Search over 1,000 prompt books of 34 of Shakespeare's plays and the photographs, costume designs, and music scores from 17 particularly important performances.
Victorian Popular Culture: Circuses, Sideshows and Freaks This link opens in a new window
Search for primary sources related to Victorian popular culture. Features materials on circuses, sideshows, and freaks
Victorian Popular Culture: Music Hall, Theatre and Popular Entertainment This link opens in a new window
Search for primary sources related to Victorian popular culture. Features material on music halls, pleasure gardens, exhibitions, scientific institutions and many more

Rubenstein Collections

The Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library will have many items related to the study of theater.

A good place to start searching their collections is the Collection Guides. You can browse by subject and look for theater to see theater-related topics.

Theater Studies

Finding and Using Primary Sources

Librarian for Theater Studies

Online Primary Sources Related to Theater

Rubenstein Collections

Contact Us

Services for...