Theater and Dance Research Guide 

What's Here

Acting, directing and stage management are areas of both professional training, and scholarship or analysis (such as the history of acting and acting theories).  The two aspects interact: actors and directors often read (say) theories of acting, such as Method Acting, and theories about acting and directing often emerge from practice.

A topic related to directing as a profession is producing for the theater.  Many heads of theater companies both direct and produce, and the topics are placed together in Orbis (Library of Congress) subject headings.  But see the Theater Management/Production page for further resources.

This page explains various ways to find materials on both topics in Orbis by using Subject searches.

• Acting and Directing in General
• Actor Training and Skills
• Professional Association Websites

Acting and Directing in General

The following subject headings will include books on practical, theoretical and historical aspects of acting, directing and stage management.

For information on the work and/or lives of particular actors and directors, see Biographical Information.

Actor Training and Skills

Here are the main subject headings for aspects of professional acting:

• Acting--Study and teaching
• Method (Acting) [the heading for Method Acting]
• Monologues
• Acting--Auditions [includes collections of monologues]
• Musicals--Auditions
• Acting--Vocational guidance
• Improvisation (Acting)
• Acting--Technique
• Stage fright
• Stage fighting
• Movement (Acting)
• Voice culture
• English language--Dialects [sources on accents]
• English language--Australia--Pronunciation [sources on accents]
• Voice--Care and hygiene

See the pages on Sound Media and Videos to locate training/instructional materials.

Of possible use:

British Sound Archives: Accents and Dialects

Has samplings of accents from around England (does not include Scotland, Ireland or Wales), including many rural and urban locations, going back to the 1950s.

Proper Elizabethan Accents

"Meant for the faire worker, but suitable for the scholar... " Created for participants in Renaissance Faires, this site includes a short bibliography of sources for the study of Elizabethan language and some "fairly cheezy soundclips" to demonstrate proper pronunciation.

Professional Association Websites

Actors Equity

League of Resident Theatres

Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers

Theatre Communications Group