Research Guides: Theatre: Articles and Reviews

Databases

Gale Literary Sources This link opens in a new window
Critical scholarly resources in literature and the humanities, including critical analyses, biographies, and bibliographies. Full text to e-books and articles in Gale Virtual Reference Library, Literature Resource Center, Scribner Writers Online, and Twayne’s Writers Online.
Humanities International Complete This link opens in a new window
Provides full text journals, books, and other published humanities sources from around the world.
Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003 This link opens in a new window
The Illustrated London News Historical Archive provides access to the entire run of the Illustrated London News from its first publication on 14 May 1842 to its last in 2003.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Full text scholarly articles and e-books in many disciplines. Most recent 3-5 years full text not included. Access to JSTOR Arts & Sciences I-VII and Life Sciences archive collections. Journal subscriptions to The College Mathematics Journal, 2006-; The William and Mary Quarterly, 2001-; The American Mathematical Monthly 2006-. All e-books in JSTOR are digital rights management-free (DRM-free).
The Advanced Search of all collections is the default. If you do not want to search all of the collections at JSTOR, scroll down and check one or more collections to search.
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Subject index for Humanities and interdisciplinary scholarship including books, articles, and websites published on literary theory, criticism, dramatic arts, folklore and linguistics. There is full text access to over 1,000 of the most used journals and articles, some foreign language articles and documents dating back as far as 1881. The database also includes records and links to full text in JSTOR and Project MUSE. The VWU subscription to the MLA International Bibliography also includes access to the MLA Directory of Periodicals database, which provides detailed information on more than 6,000 journals and book series that fall within the scope of the bibliography, as well as the MLA Thesaurus which includes names of persons, languages, groups, genres, stylistic and structural features, themes, sources, influences, processes, theories and other related topics.
While this database is not all full text content, users still can obtain the articles using the Check for Full text link or through Interlibrary Loan.
New York Times with Index This link opens in a new window
Full text coverage from 1851-2019 of the largest daily metropolitan newspaper in the United States. New York Times has been published since 1851.
Times (London) Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
The Times (London) Digital Archive, 1785-2014 is one of two digital archives included in Gale Primary Sources. This cross-search interface provides access to both The Times Digital Archive and The Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003. Access to the Sunday Times (London) is not included.

How to Search for Reviews

In the Humanities International Complete database, scroll down the the Advanced Search Options.
From the Document Type list, select Entertainment Review.
In the search box at the top of the page, type in the name of the production using quotation marks around the title. Ex. "Death of a Salesman"
If you would like to limit your results to a production by a particular director, try typing the director's name into the second search box (again using quotation marks to narrow your results).
If you would like to exclude movie reviews of the title, click the downward arrow next to the word AND and select NOT. Then in the box, type: film or movie or motion picture or cinema.
Click Search.

This search strategy also works in the Academic Search Complete database.

Newspapers

The Village Voice
Founded in 1955 as the nation’s first alternative newsweekly with a tradition of no-holds-barred reporting and criticism. The recipient of three Pulitzer Prizes, the National Press Foundation Award, and the George Polk Award, the Voice remains a vigilant investigative watchdog and a go-to source for coverage of New York’s vast cultural landscape.
Library of Congress' Chronicling America
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1777-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.

Writing for Theater

The Writing Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's handout Writing for Drama, has explanations of the kinds of writing you may be asked to do in this discipline.