Theater Arts Research Guide

Americans for the Arts is the nation's leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education. They are dedicated to representing and serving local communities and to creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts.

The American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) is a U.S.-based professional organization that fosters scholarship on worldwide theatre and performance, both historical and contemporary.

The Dramatists Guild of America is the membership association of playwrights, librettists, composers, and lyricists writing for the stage in the United States.

SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 performers and media professionals across 25 locals in the United States who work in film and digital motion pictures, television programs, commercials, video games, corporate/educational and non-broadcast productions, new media, television and radio news outlets, as well as major label recording artists

The United States Institute for Theatre Technology provides an environment for design, production, and technology professionals in the performing arts and entertainment industry to connect, create, share, and communicate their craft.

E-versions of Shakespeare’s plays taken from the Folger Shakespeare Library editions.

Housed in the Rare Book and Special Collections Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, this is a rare collection of original materials on the theatre comprising over 5000 items from more than 150 productions in England and the United States. These materials include costume and set designs, sketches, notes, photographs, prop lists, storyboards, and swatches of fabric.

From the Library of Congress American Memory Collection. English- and Yiddish-language playscripts, theater playbills and programs, and media materials documenting the history of the vaudeville era.