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THEA 241: Theatre History II: Home

Researching a Play

Finding the themes of a play requires literature research.  Using the SU Library's OneSearch tool can help you find both articles and ebooks about the play.   You can access OneSearch from the library's home page.  Search on the name of the play and the author's name.  You can also use the Modern Language Association (MLA) database to find writings on you play.

OneSearch

Modern Language Association (MLA)

Production History

A production history (also called performance history or stage history) is an account of significant productions or adaptations of a theatrical work. A production history answers several questions:

  • When, where, and by whom was the work written, directed, designed, performed, and adapted?
  • What made the productions significant or unique in terms of style or approach?
  • How were the productions received by critics and audiences? (This is sometimes called reception history.)
  • What changes occurred during the development of the productions?

Production history helps us to appreciate the possibilities inherent in a theatrical work; the changing perceptions of it over time; and the theatrical styles and approaches of specific places and times.

How do you find production histories? Unless someone else has compiled one for you, there’s no single, simple place to find them. You have to piece the history together from several kinds of sources, both primary and secondary.

Secondary Sources

For information on a particular show, consult secondary sources such as these. You can find these sources in books, ebooks and article databases.  These can be found in OneSearch and MLA and sources listed below.

  • Biographies of the playwright or composer
  • Texts of the play (critical introductions and notes often give an account of productions)
  • Websites on the author, the composer, the director, or the work
  • For Broadway production data, search the Internet Broadway Database; for Broadway and Off-Broadway, the Playbill Vault. 
  • Journal articles via e-resources such as:

Primary Sources

Productions can be documented with various types of primary sources. Many of these types of sources can be found online using a web browser like Google.

  • Newspaper Clippings
  • Theatre Reviews
  • Playbills
  • Promptbooks
  • Prints & Photographs
  • Posters
  • Scene and costume designs / artwork

You might also find examples of these in the online library