Introduction to Theatre

Actors

To determine which actors have won awards, here are the official databases from the associations:
Academy Awards Database
Emmy Awards Database
Tony Awards Database

The CBC Library does not routinely purchase book length biographies of actors; these may be found in the public libraries. Numerous biography reference articles may be found in print at the CBC Library, as well as in some of our online databases such as the ebrary title, New Biographical Dictionary of Film by David Thomson (Knopf, 2004), and the Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Also try searching ebrary by keyword (name) or using a subject search such as Motion picture* AND Biography.
ProQuest holds many newspaper and magazine articles on actors; you may find you get better results by changing the search to 'person' and either searching last name first or using the 'look up' feature.

Stage Directors

On Reference Reserve for Drama

• From Belasco to Brook : representative directors of the English-speaking stage / Samuel L. Leiter.
  PN2597 .L45 1991
• From Stanislavsky to Barrault : representative directors of the European stage / Samuel L. Leiter.
  PN2570 .L45 1991
• Great stage directors : 100 distinguished careers of the theater / Samuel L. Leiter
  PN2205 .L44 1994

Reference

• Fifty key theatre directors / edited by Shomit Mitter and Maria Shevtsova
  PN2053 .F54 2005
• Theatrical directors : a biographical dictionary / edited by John W. Frick & Stephen M. Vallillo.
  PN2205 .T54 1994

Online - our Oxford Reference Online database holds several useful titles, including the Search for this in Oxford Reference: Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance; try searching it together with the other Search for this in Oxford Reference: Performing Arts titles.

Playwrights - The CBC Library's general biography resources mentioned above will also be useful for information about playwrights. In addition, playwrights are literary authors and are covered in literature reference sources. One database that we offer that contains many playwrights is ProQuest Learning: Literature.  We also have substantial print reference in literature; for instance, you will find reference articles about Tennessee Williams in:

• American National Biography, volume 23 - Reference CT213 .A68 1999
• Dictionary of Literary Biography, volume 7 part 2 - Reference PN451 .D52 1981
• Critical Survey of Drama, volume 5 - Reference PR623 .C75 1985

These are just a few of the titles from our print reference collection (consult a reference librarian for more), but you may also find the Search for this in Oxford Reference: Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature and Search for this in Oxford Reference: Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature useful, searched simultaneously with the Literature titles in Oxford Reference Online. Many of the playwrights listed are included in books in our Main collection - their writings, and scholarly analysis of their lives and writings; try a keyword or subject search of our Library Catalog. Articles may be found in EBSCOhost.  

The Richland Public Library includes the Biography Resource Center and the Literature Resource Center among their databases; the first may be useful for all three assignments, the last for the playwright presentation. All CBC Students may gain access, and even non-residents will have the fee waived if they show proof that they are a current student.


links updated 5/22/2013 cs