Emerson College Library: Theatre: Media & Images

Theatre in Video

Theatre in Video, Performance, and Design This link opens in a new window
Contains performances and related material of the world's leading plays and film documentaries on the subject of theater in streaming video. Some plays presented in multiple productions exemplifying various interpretations of the text, and technical and cultural differences among the presentations. Includes footage and interviews with playwrights and directors.
North American Theatre Online This link opens in a new window
Collection covering all aspects of the Canadian and American Theatre, including books, people, theatres, productions, and production companies. Some full text. Includes images of ephemera like stills, postcards, and posters. Also contains video clips of performances.
On the Boards TV This link opens in a new window
The mission of On the Boards is to introduce audiences to international innovators in contemporary dance, theater and music while developing and presenting new work by promising performing artists in the region. Streaming videos of performances are available in high def and standard video.
Music and Performing Arts This link opens in a new window
More than 4,000 recorded and filmed performances from around the world.

Performance & Theatre Images

Global Performing Arts Database
Includes authoritative, detailed, multilingual descriptions of digital images, texts, video clips, sound recordings, and complex media objects related to the performing arts around the world, plus information about related pieces, productions, performers.
19th Century Actors Photographs
610 cartes-de-visite studio portraits of entertainers, actors, and actresses who performed on the American stage in the mid- to late 1800s.
Prior and Norris Troupe Photographs
230 photographs and ephemera relating to the career of Pat Prior and Effie Norris documenting their life on the road while performing on the American vaudeville circuits around the turn of the century, 1886-1915.
J. Willis Sayre Photographs
9,856 images collected by drama critic and theater promoter J. Willis Sayre; autographed portraits of actors, vaudeville performers, movie stills, singers, dancers, musicians, comedians and acrobats.
Let's go to the Circus! Photo Essay from Wisconsin Historical Society
Take a visual trip back in time to see what the circus was like from the 1860s to the 1960s. A wide range of circus activities are depicted in this selection of over 100 photographs.
Milwaukee Repertory Theater Photographic History
Visual chronicle of the artistic productions of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater in the years 1977-1994. The collection presents 1,800 images documenting 195 performances during 17 seasons.
Bunraku Collection
Photographs of live bunraku theater performances from the second half of the 20th century.
"Loose Women in Tights:" Images of Femininity in Early Burlesque Performance
Online exhibition with samples from the Charles H. McCaghy Collection of Exotic Dance from Burlesque to Clubs.
Robert Breen/ANTA Theatre Collection
Details the work of Robert Breen, the driving force behind the reformation of American National Theater and Academy (ANTA) in 1946 and a staunch supporter of its eventual successor, the National Endowment for the Arts.
The New Deal Stage: Selections from the Federal Theatre Project, 1935-1939
Over 13,000 images of items, including stage and costume designs, still photographs, posters, and scripts for productions.
Federal Theatre Project (FTP) Materials Collection
Thousands of poster, costume, and set images.

NYPL Theater Images Collections

Marquees, 1997-2001: New York City Theatre Photographs by Christopher Frith
1,717 color photographs of Broadway theater marquees and theater facades from 1997 to 2001 by Christopher J. Frith.
On Stage and Screen: Photograph File of the Billy Rose Theatre Collection
Tens of thousands of photographs of actors and actresses, in character and as themselves, from the 19th century to recent years.
"Queen of Off-Broadway:" Lucille Lortel Collection Photographs 1902-1998
An appreciative selected collection of eighteen memorabilia photographs from the papers of Lucille Lortel (1900-1999), the woman regarded as the founder of Off-Broadway, the second wave of little theatre in America.
Theatre Productions and Players, 1900-1957: Vandamm Studio Photographs
The thousands of items in this digital presentation are a sampling of an archive of more than 75,000 images of theatrical personalities and productions. Images in the current presentation represent glass plate and acetate negatives primarily.
Uniforms and Regimental Regalia: The Vinkhuijzen Collection of Military Costume Illustration
Over 20,000 prints, drawings, watercolors, and printed book and magazine illustrations of military costume as well as military medals, regalia, insignia, coats of arms, and regimental flags, from most times and places except the United States.
Yiddish Theatre Placards: Buenos Aires and New York
Placards from the two leading centers of Yiddish theater in their respective heydays: New York, 1890s-1910s (64 images), and Buenos Aires, 1930s-1940s (28 images).

Theatre

Theatre in Video

Performance & Theatre Images

NYPL Theater Images Collections

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