Online Encyclopedias
Encyclopedias are a great place to start your research! They often define key terms and give great overviews of topics, and are usually accompanied by a works cited list that you can use to find other relevant resources.
General Encyclopedias
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Gale eBooks
A great place to begin your research, Gale eBooks offers thousands of authoritative articles published in academic encyclopedias, and written by subject experts. Gale eBooks provides information you can not only trust, but cite in a paper as well. Formerly called GVRL: Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Performing Arts Specific Encyclopedias
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Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance
This encyclopedia provides authoritative and up-to-date information about theatre and performance from ancient Greek theatre to the latest developments in London, Paris, New York, and around the globe. In addition to performances in playhouses, it covers dance, opera, radio, film, television, and popular performance, including carnivals, circus, and public executions. Entries range from short definitions of terms to lengthy considerations of genres and movements. -
Music Online: The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
Music Online: The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music is the first comprehensive online resource devoted to music research of all the world's peoples. More than 9,000 pages of material, combined with entries by more than 700 expert contributors from all over the world, make this the most complete body of work focused on world music. -
International Encyclopedia of Dance
With nearly 2,000 articles written by scholars from fifty countries, the Encyclopedia covers the full spectrum of dance—theatrical, ritual, dance-drama, folk, traditional, ethnic, and social dance. Cultural and national overviews are accompanied by entries on dance forms, music and costumes, performances, and biographies of dancers and choreographers.
Other Useful Guides and Dictionaries
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Dictionary of Literary Biography
"The most important thing about a writer is his writing. Accordingly, the entries in DLB are career biographies, tracing the development of the author's canon and the evolution of his reputation."
The Oxford Companion to American Theatre / Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak, Editors.
A guide to the American stage from its beginnings to the present. Includes entries on playwrights, plays, actors, directors, producers, songwriters, famous playhouses, dramatic movements, classic works, commercially successful plays, and foreign figures that have influenced American dramatic development.
The Continuum companion to twentieth century theatre / edited by Colin Chambers.
A fascinating resource for anyone interested in theatre, it includes overviews of major concepts, topics and issues, surveys of theatre institutions, countries, and genres, biographical entries on key performers, playwrights, directors, designers, choreographers and composers, and articles by leading professionals on crafts, skills and disciplines including acting, design, directing, lighting, sound and voice.