Research Guides: Irish Studies: Literature, Film and Theatre: Theatre: Finding Articles and Reviews

General databases

General databases contain content from a variety of subject areas and publication types. This will allow you to look at your research from a wide perspective. Be sure to use the search refinements each database may offer including:

date,
document type, and
source type

ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Central is a large, multidisciplinary database with over 11,000 titles, with over 8,000 titles in full-text. It serves as the central resource for researchers at all levels in all markets. Over 160 subjects areas are covered extensively in this product including business and economics, health and medical, news and world affairs, technology, social sciences and more.
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Online collection of dictionaries, encyclopedias, biographical sources, quotations, bilingual dictionaries, and measurement conversions covering topics from the arts to the sciences.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR provides access to scholarly journals, primarily in the humanities and social sciences. In addition to journal articles, users can access book chapters, ebooks, and primary source documents.
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
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Provides full-text access to high quality humanities, arts, and social sciences journals from scholarly publishers.
Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window
Dissertations and Theses Global contains indexes, dissertations and some theses. Full-text is available for many dissertations and theses, including those from NYU.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Google Scholar is a central search for scholarly literature. It covers disciplines and sources, peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations.
Biography in Context This link opens in a new window
Online biographical reference database in the fields of literature, science, business, entertainment, politics, sports, history, current events and the arts.Biographical information on over one million people throughout history, around the world.
Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text access to dictionaries, language reference, Islamic studies and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press.

Theatre-Specific Databases

Performing Arts Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window
Performing Arts Periodicals Database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 210 international journals in the performing arts dating from 1864 to the near present.
Cambridge Companions Online This link opens in a new window
Cambridge Companions are lively, accessible introductions to major writers, artists, philosophers, topics and periods. All are collections of specially commissioned essays, shaped and introduced to appeal to student readers. Together the chapters add up to a systematic critical account of, for example Plato, Luther, Jane Austen, Tom Stoppard or Stravinsky, the French Novel or Jewish American Literature, and each title is supported by reference features such as a chronology and guide to further reading.
Drama Online This link opens in a new window
Drama Online contains full texts and full-length filmed performances of plays ranging from Aeschylus to the present day, with supplementary material including first night program texts, critical analyses, and images from the Victoria and Albert Museum's archive of production photos. Includes the Core Collection, Critical Studies and Performance Practice, Nick Hern Books Modern Plays, National Theatre Collection, RSC Live Collection, and Aurora Metro Books, among others.
International Bibliography of Theater & Dance with Full Text This link opens in a new window
The International Index to Performing Arts Indexes journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, and monographs in theatre and the performing arts and covers 1984 to present.
Theatre in Context Collection This link opens in a new window
O’Dell’s Annals of the New York Stage, the Oxford University Press Companion series, and Greenwood’s American Theatre Companies series are just a few of the many in-copyright sources included in the Theatre in Context Collection. Placed alongside thousands of playbills, posters, photographs, and related theatrical ephemera, users will be able to paint a more comprehensive picture of the life and evolution of dramatic works.

Streaming Video

Drama Online This link opens in a new window
Drama Online contains full texts and full-length filmed performances of plays ranging from Aeschylus to the present day, with supplementary material including first night program texts, critical analyses, and images from the Victoria and Albert Museum's archive of production photos. Includes the Core Collection, Critical Studies and Performance Practice, Nick Hern Books Modern Plays, National Theatre Collection, RSC Live Collection, and Aurora Metro Books, among others.
Digital Theatre Plus This link opens in a new window
Digital Theatre Plus offers full-length filmed stage performances of classic and modern plays, along with interviews and workshops with playwrights, directors, designers, actors, musicians, and others involved in the playmaking process.
Theatre in Video This link opens in a new window
Theatre in Video offers filmed productions of plays as well as documentaries on theatre topics.
Theatre in Video: Volume II This link opens in a new window
Theatre in Video Volume 2 offers more filmed productions of plays as well as documentaries on theatre topics.

Finding Articles and Theatre Reviews

Below you will find links to some of the key theatre databases as well as news and newspaper databases. Many individual databases will allow you to limit your search to specific document types (i.e. reviews), so be sure to take advantage of this feature to refine your searches.

Historical Abstracts
Covers the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history, history of education, and more. Indexes more than 1,700 academic historical journals in over 40 languages. Publication dates of coverage: 1955 to present.
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Covers the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history, history of education, and more. Indexes more than 1,700 academic historical journals in over 40 languages. Publication dates of coverage: 1955 to present.
Historical Newspapers (Proquest)
Search the archives of major U.S. and African American Newspapers. Includes: Atlanta Constitution (1868 - 1942),Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003), Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988),Chicago Tribune (1849 - 1986),Christian Science Monitor (1908 - 1995),Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1986),New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993),Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002),The Chicago Defender (1910 - 1975),The New York Times (1851 - 2005),The New York Tribune (1841-1922),The New York Tribune (1900 - 1910),San Francisco
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Search the archives of major U.S. and African American Newspapers. Includes: Atlanta Constitution (1868 - 1942),Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003), Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988),Chicago Tribune (1849 - 1986),Christian Science Monitor (1908 - 1995),Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1986),New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993),Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002),The Chicago Defender (1910 - 1975),The New York Times (1851 - 2005),The New York Tribune (1841-1922),The New York Tribune (1900 - 1910),San Francisco Chronical (1865-1922),The Wall Street Journal (1889 - 1991), andThe Washington Post (1877 - 1992).
International Index to the Performing Arts
International Index to the Performing Arts Full Text (IIPAFT) is a dynamic resource for the performing arts that provides indexing and abstracts for more than 210 international journals.
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International Index to the Performing Arts Full Text (IIPAFT) is a dynamic resource for the performing arts that provides indexing and abstracts for more than 210 international journals.
Irish Times (1859-2007) and the Weekly Irish Times (1876-1958)
This full text resource offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue of both the Irish Times (1859-2007) and the Weekly Irish Times (1876-1958). The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.
JSTOR
Provides access to an archive of important scholarly journals, primarily in the humanities and social sciences. Please note that for many titles, the most current issues are not available through Jstor.
Lexis Nexis Academic Universe
Provides access to full-text newspapers (U.S. and some international), news wires, transcripts, and trade journals.
New York Times, 1980 to present
Full-text coverage of the New York Times, 1980 to present.
Project Muse
Project MUSE is a unique collaboration between libraries and publishers providing 100% full-text, affordable and user-friendly online access to high quality humanities, arts, and social sciences journals from scholarly publishers.
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Project MUSE is a unique collaboration between libraries and publishers providing 100% full-text, affordable and user-friendly online access to high quality humanities, arts, and social sciences journals from scholarly publishers.
ProQuest
ProQuest Central is the largest multidisciplinary database with over 11,000 titles, with over 8,000 titles in full-text. It serves as the central resource for researchers at all levels in all markets. Over 160 subjects areas are covered extensively in this product including business and economics, health and medical, news and world affairs, technology, social sciences and more.
More information less...
ProQuest Central is the largest multidisciplinary database with over 11,000 titles, with over 8,000 titles in full-text. It serves as the central resource for researchers at all levels in all markets. Over 160 subjects areas are covered extensively in this product including business and economics, health and medical, news and world affairs, technology, social sciences and more.

Performing Arts Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window
Performing Arts Periodicals Database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 210 international journals in the performing arts dating from 1864 to the near present.

MLA International Bibliography
Provides about 2 million records for books, book chapters, and journal articles published on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics. Provides online, full-text access to many of those articles. Covers items published from around 1920 to the present. NOT INCLUDED: Reviews of literary and scholarly works.

Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
The Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive offers digitized primary sources for studying the history of the film, music, theater, and broadcast industries from 1880 to the near present. Magazines include American Cinematographer, Back Stage, Billboard, Broadcasting, Hollywood Reporter, Mix, Musical Express, Radio and Records, Reggae & African Beat, Spin, Stage, Variety, and Writers Guild of America.