Collins Library
University of Puget Sound

Dramaturgical Research

Dramaturgical research is the use of theater based information to explore the many facets of a given play: its author, context in our world and the world of the play, production history, critical analysis and interpretation, and sources, influences, and analogues. This page is intended to provide some starting points for dramaturgical research at Collins Library, University of Puget Sound. Students are encouraged to ask a librarian at the information desk on the main floor for additional help. Send comments about this page to Lori Ricigliano. Note: Database access is restricted to authorized users of the University.

Area A: Worlds of the Play | Area B: The Author and His/Her Worlds | Area C: Our World and the Worlds of the Play | Area D: Production History | Area E: Drama Criticism | Area F: Images and Sounds | Area G: Sources, Influences & Analogues 

Links to other UPS Dramaturgical Research Web Pages: Vinegar Tom  | Three Sisters | Seagull | Henry V

When doing research on the world of the play, look for information about:

• economic environment--class, wealth and poverty
• political environment--the relationship of the characters to the form of government under which they live
• social environment--the mores and social institutions under which the characters live
• cultural environment--the arts, architecture, sports, fashion, popular culture
• historical environment--events in history

Good starting points for information about the world of the play include:

• SIMON, the library's online catalog of books and other materials
  • Do a keyword search using terms such as economic, political, or social, and combine it with the time period and/or geographical location of the play's setting
    • Example for Chekhov's The Seagull:
      Soviet Union and social
      
• Databases used to access magazines, journals, newspapers, and books about the environment of the play:
  • Academic Search Elite
  • Academic Universe
  • Research Library Complete
  • Humanities Index
  • Readers' Guide Abstracts
  • Social Sciences Index
  • America: History and Life
  • Ingenta
    
• Reference Sources: Subject Encyclopedias
  • Examples:
    Encyclopedia of the United States in the Twentieth Century, used to explore the world of The orphans' home cycle by Horton Foote
    Bateman Concise Encyclopedia of Australia, used to explore the world of Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker
    Cambridge Encyclopedia Of Africa, used to explore the world of Cloud Nine by Caryl Churchill
    
• Reference Sources: Chronologies of Important Events
  • Examples:
    Chronicle of the 20th century / Reference D422.C53
    Timetables of history / Reference D11 .G78
    Historical tables, 58 BC-AD 1985 / Reference D11 .S83
    
• Social Histories
  • Do a subject heading search in SIMON using the following terms:
    [country]--social conditions
    [country]--social life and customs
  • In SIMON, do a title search using the word daily life

When doing research on the playwright and his/her world, look for information about:

• the playwright's influences, life experiences, dominant themes
• social, political, philosophical, and moral attitudes of the day

Good starting points for information about the author and his/her world:

• SIMON, the library's online catalog
  • Search the playwright's name for biographies, autobiographies, collected letters, and general studies
    • Examples:
      Miller, Arthur as author or subject
      Dramatists, American -- 20th century -- Biography
      
• Databases which provide access to newspapers, journals, and magazines
  • Academic Universe
  • Newspaper Source
  • Academic Search Elite
  • Readers' Guide Abstracts
  • Wilson Biographies Plus
   
• Reference sources, such as:
  • Contemporary authors / Reference Z1224.C6
  • Contemporary dramatists / Reference PR106.V5
  • Dictionary of literary biography / Reference call number varies [check SIMON]
  • International dictionary of theatre / Reference PN2035.I49
  • Twentieth-century German dramatists, 1889-1918 / Reference PT 666.T86
  • Chicano writers / Reference PS 153 .M4C48
  • British dramatists since World War II / Reference PR 106 .B74

When doing research about the world of the audience, look for information about:

• the general character of society
  • Example:
    An American audience in the 1990s may be concerned with the state of the economy, racial tensions, the assertion of family values, AIDS, and the protection of the environment.
• the variable nature of any specific audience at a play
  • Examples:
    white middle class, Generation X, feminist, or conservative
• contemporary events that are comparable to those in the world of the play
  • Example:
    A parallel can be drawn between the issue of corporate responsibility in Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" and the manufacturer of the unsafe cars by the auto industry such as the Chevrolet Corvair by General Motor in the 1960s.

Good starting points for information about the world of the audience:

• SIMON, the library's online catalog
  • Example:
    Search the subject National characteristics, American
• Newspapers, magazines, and journals
  • Newspaper Source
  • Readers' Guide Abstracts
  • Academic Search Elite
  • Ingenta
  • Washington Newspapers
  • Academic Universe

Good starting points for finding information about production history include:

• Theatre reviews appearing in newspapers, magazines, and journals
  • Newspaper Source
  • NY Theatre Critics Reviews / PN 2000 N76 Reference
  • Academic Search Elite
  • Readers' Guide Abstracts
  • MLA Bibliography
  • Humanities Index
  • Arts & Humanities Search
  • Washington Newspapers
  • Academic Universe
  • TribNet: Tacoma News Tribune
  • Seattle TImes

 

• Stage histories
  • SIMON, the library's online catalog:
    • Do a subject heading search of the playwright, e.g., Brecht, Bertolot 1898 1956 Stage History
    • Do a subject heading search of the theatre company, e.g., Royal Court Theatre
    • Do a keyword search using the phrase stage history
    • Do a subject heading search using the words Theaters--Stage Setting and Scenery or Theater--Production and Direction
   
• Biographical sources
  • Examples:
    Search the playwright's name as subject: O'Casey, Sean 1880 1964 Biography
    Search the playwright's name as author: Hellman, Lillian

When doing research on drama criticism, look for:

• Critical sources by the playwright
• Critical sources about the playwright

Good starting points for drama criticism include:

• The preface of a published play
• Interviews, commentary, and analysis published in newspapers, magazines, and journals
  • Academic Search Elite
  • Newspaper Source
  • MLA Bibliography
  • Arts & Humanities Search
  • Humanities Index
  • Academic Universe
  • Washington Newspapers
   
• General studies of individual playwrights found in books and chapters of books
  • SIMON, the library's online catalog
    • Subject Search Examples:
      Shakespeare, William 1564 1616 Criticism And Interpretation
      English drama--Early modern Elizabethan, 1500-1600
     
• Bibliographies list important works on a topic and can save time when doing research
  • Example:
    Modern Drama: a checklist of criticism / Z 5781 A35 Reference
   
• Compilations of Criticism
  • Examples:
    Contemporary Literary Criticism, / Reference PN 771 C59
    Twentieth-century literary criticism / Reference PN771 .C5
    Library of literary criticism series / Call number varies [check SIMON]

• SIMON, the library's online catalog
  • Combine your keyword with pictorial
    • Example: birds and pictorial works
  • Use sounds as a subject heading
  • Limit keyword search to material type:
    • film & video
    • music recordings
    • nonmusic recordings
  • Do a subject heading using the following terms:
    • costume
    • photographs
    • pictures
    • furniture
    • interior decoration
    • architecture--history
    • decoration and ornament
   
• Indexes to reproductions and illustrations
  • Art Index
    Search tip: Limit search to reproductions in Advanced Search.
  • Illustration Index / Reference N7525.V3
  • Index to art reproductions in books / Reference N7525 .H48
  • Photography index: a guide to reproductions / Reference TR199 .P37
  • World painting index / Reference ND45 .H38
  • Bettmann portable archive; a graphic history of almost everything, presented by way of 3,669 illustrations culled from the files of the Bettmann Archive / N4000 .B4
  • Grove's Dictionary of Art Click on the link for the Bridgeman Art Library to access more than 35,000 images of art.
   
• Web Sites
  • A major search engine, like Google, allows you to limit your search to pictures or sounds.
  • Digital Librarian Images: Provides links to collections of images
  • Yahoo's Picture Gallery
  • Art Images by Period Digital Image presents a database of graphics from Greek, Roman, Renaissance, baroque, and modern art periods.

Good starting points for information about sources, influences and analogues:

• Books in SIMON have subject headings which include sources and influences
  • Examples 
    Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Sources
  • Shakespeare William 1564 1616 Influence
• See also sources listed in Area A: Worlds of the Play  and Area B: The Author's World

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Content Contact: Lori Ricigliano
created 8.97, revised 1.03

 Copyright 2000, University of Puget Sound. All rights reserved.
URL: http://library.ups.edu/research/dramarsch.htm