American
Theatre web sites
This is not, at all, an exhaustive list of American Theatre sites.
If you're looking for anything specific, a simple Google search will probably
help you much more. These are sites that stick out for one of several reasons
- 1) they may be list of valuable links (another reason not to do that here
- no sense reinventing the wheel); 2) they may have a lot of useful images;
3) they may be research or archive oriented (in other words, not a narrative
about a person or theatre or play, but a collection of information; 4) they
may not show up, for whatever reason, in an average search.
For my use, I'm primarily interested in sites with images, since I mostly use
these sites for visual aids in my Theatre History classes. There are many images
from these pages I use to show my students what these theatres/performers/programs/etc.
looked like. My hope is that my reviews will help people to avoid looking at
sites they don't need.
There are, of course, many sites on playwrights and American Theatre companies, most of which can be found with a simple online search. I've decided not to include links to specific historic theatres, since they can be found either through a search or through the first site on this list. My one exception to that is the Chestnut Street Theatre site, since it's so extensive and includes a virtual tour. I also have not included popular theatre sites unless they can't be found through John Frick's very excellent site.
As always, suggestions/corrections are appreciated.
http://www.win.net/~kudzu/history.html - Jerry Bangham's list of links has a whole section on American Theatre. It also contains whole lists of Classic, Medieval, Elizabethan, later English, Illusionistic Stage, and General Theatre links.
http://www.theatrehistory.com/
- theatrehistory.com.
This expansive site has a small section on American Theatre, with a few interesting
links to some actors and relevant articles.
http://www.world-theatres.com/index.html
- List of New York Theatres.
There's a list of every New York Theatre in history that the author is aware
of, along with their dates of operation. I'm not sure where he got his information,
the site doesn't say, but there are links to the companies of many of the current
theatres.
http://home.att.net/~mforder/#home
- 1800s Ephemera.
"This page contains images of various papers found in a box that hadn't
been opened in over 100 years....enjoy!....Mark." It’s amazing, actually,
he's scanned in all of this material. The theatre section has playbills from
theatres like Niblo's and the Olympic from the 1880s, as well as seating plans
for some major theatres. There is also a separate section of Broadsides. I don't
know why he separated them, but make sure not to overlook them. And theatre
isn't the only category of interest, for anyone wanting to give their students
visual images of the Gilded Age. There are baseball cards, insurance papers,
letterhead, and a whole section of photographs, among other ephemera. An image
gold mine.
http://webtext.library.yale.edu/beinflat/surveys.FITCH.HTM
- Clyde Fitch mss Survey (Yale).
Library resource - survey of manuscripts relating to Clyde Fitch held in the
Yale Manuscript Library
http://www.talkinbroadway.com/bway101/2.html
- Broadway 101 (History of the Great White Way).
History of Broadway, by Talkin' Broadway, an internet site about Broadway
http://www.perspicacity.com/elactheatre/library/index.html
- Theatrepedia
Although I don't think this is updated anymore, it still is a rich source for information, particularly on American theatre subjects.
http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/actors/pics.html
- English Actors from Turn of the Century
Many of these performers also toured the U.S. It is well organized and a
good site for photos.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/fedtp/
- The Federal Theatre Project
From the American Memory project of the Library of Congress. Articles, scripts
and images.
http://daviscrossfield.com/cover.htm
- Pictorial Diagrams of NY Theatres 1883.
By Robert Davis, Inc. Theatre Consulting Services "The engravings reproduced
here were published in a guide to New York theaters in 1883; the equivalent
of today's 'STUBS' guide. The guide includes seating plans and box office telegraph
addresses for 18 theaters, a railroad map, and advertising." - very interesting.
http://www.welcometosilentmovies.com/atthemovies/palaces.htm
- The Movie Palaces.
The Movie Palace Locator site is gone, but this one has links to a few of them.
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~jwf8f/507.html
- John Frick's History of American Popular Entertainment class.
His list of vaudeville/variety links is exhaustive. I don't think there's
a single one on the web that can't be found either listed here or through one
of the sites here. I know, I've looked.
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/speccol/exhibits/theatre/early.html
- In the Brilliancy of the Footlights: Creating American Theatre.
This site, by the UVa library, has some terrific images, all enlargeable, of
items from their collection. Definitely worth a look before it disappears.
http://www.abacon.com/brockett/links.html
- History of the Theatre.
This is Franklin Hildy's companion site to his and Brockett's History of
the Theatre. The web sites are organized by chapter, and so of course include
some American Theatre links.
http://www.videoccasions-nw.com/history/cst/cstnuopn.htm
- Chestnut Street Theatre Project.
Philadelphia's Chestnut Street Theatre was the first professional theatre in
this country built from the ground up (i.e. not a renovated building). This
web site contains ground plans and schematics for every aspect of the building.Very
well done.
http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/index.html
- Tony Awards.
Not many images on this site that I noticed - and the ones that are there are
all recent - but the archives are complete if you're doing research.
http://www.louisville.edu/~ncburt01/blacktheatrelinks.html
- African American Theatre Sites.
Maintained by Nefertiti Burton at the University of Louisville, this site only
has a few links, but it's probably a good starting place.
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed-new?id=TruNegr&tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed
- Negro Minstrelsy--Ancient and Modern
A reprint of an 1855 article housed at the University of Virginia Library. The
author, J.J. Trux, is dissatisfied with the state of the art at that time (so
soon after its entrance onto the variety stage!). The URL is long, I know, but
it works.
http://members.tripod.com/FootlightNotes/index.html - Footlight Notes - an online 'zine of sorts put together by John Culme. The site features dozens of photos of performers and productions of all types of popular entertainment in the U.S. from the 1850s to the 1920s.
http://www.eoneill.com/index.htm - Electronic Eugene O'Neill Archive has an online forum, several complete texts, an audio archive, and a production archive with scanned images relating to quite a few O'Neill works.
http://www.homepages.indiana.edu/011802/text/conversations.html
- Interview with Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.
I try to keep these links to those of large image collections or archives, just
for sanity's and clarity's sake, but this is also technologically interesting.
The interview is both transcribed and recorded here, so you can listen or browse.
http://www.tcg.org/ - Theatre Communications Group (TCG) - has a lot of research material on the current state of American theatre.
http://www.americantheaterweb.com/ - American Theater Web - has links to current articles on theatre all over the country.
American Theatre and Drama Society member pages