Theater and Dance Research Guide 

What's Here

Yale has many videos of stage productions, dance performance, operas, movies based on plays, performance-related documentaries, and instructional materials. There are two major sources:

• DVDs and Videotapes
• Videos Online

The format currently affects how you find the video, because not everything is listed in Orbis.

This page also contains information on:

• Catalogs of Plays on Film or Video

YSD Productions

There is a special collection of videos of student productions at the Yale School of Drama and a smattering of other performances mainly at Yale.  See Videos from the YSD Collection for further information.  The collection itself is at Manuscripts & Archives.

DVDs and Videotapes

These videos are listed in Orbis. Most of the videos are at Sterling Memorial Library and at the Film Study Center. Some are in other libraries.

These searches will include videotapes, DVDs, laserdisks, and Blu-Ray.

To find videos that Yale doesn't have, please see the page on "Finding Films and Videos at Yale and Beyond" in the Yale Research Guide for Film Studies.

There are two ways to search for videos in Orbis: through limits and through an additional Keyword.

Option 1: Seach for Videos Using Orbis Limits

This is the more comprehensive approach.

1. Search for the keywords (preferably through an Advanced search)
2. Click on the Post Limit button
3. Go to the Item Type section and select "Projected Medium"
4. Click the Set Limits button

Remember to clear the limits before you do another Orbis search.

If you use Option 1, it's best to do an Advanced Search, which allows you to restrict a search to a particular field (e.g., author, title or subject).

Option 2: Search for Videos Using Keywords

This is easier than the Limit approach, but it will miss the online videos, since those are considered electronic resources rather than videos. (Go figure.) It also misses film formats. Do a Keyword search for the author, title, geographic origin or subject, and add the word "videorecording" (without the quotation marks) to the Keywords. "Videorecording" is the generic term for DVDs, videotapes, laserdisks and other physical formats.

If you use Option 2, a Simple Search for the keywords is usually adequate because the results are immediately limited. An Advanced Search may nevertheless produce superior results.

Examples of Orbis Keyword Searches:

In the following examples, "videorecording" is in square brackets to indicate it should be added in Option 2 (without the brackets); for Option 1, leave the term out.

For videos of plays by a specific author:

shakespeare [videorecording]

"Shakespeare" brings up the movie Shakespeare in Love, which is about the Bard but not by him. To improve your search, use Advanced Search, limit the playwright's name to the Author field, and if you are using Option 2, put "videorecording" in the second search box.

For videos of a particular play:

"romeo and juliet" [videorecording]

If you limit "Romeo and Juliet" to the Title field, you can eliminate productions based on Romeo and Juliet such as West Side Story.

For videos of plays from a particular country or region:

"american drama" [videorecording]

You may be able to improve your search limiting "american drama" to the Subject field

For videos on a subject:

theater france [videorecording]

This is a situation in which you will almost always want to limit the subject terms to the Subject field. But be aware that most videos of a performance do not have "theater" anywhere in the record.

For videos involving a certain actor or director:

"bloom claire" shakespeare [videorecording]

You may need to use the "Long" view in Orbis to see the actor's name in the cast list.

Videos Online

Currently, one must search each database directly in order to find what videos it contains.  The titles are not listed in Orbis.

Dance in Video

Dance in Video currently includes 150 performances covering a wide variety of classical and contemporary dance forms, as well as forerunners of modern concert dance. More dances will be added; the target is 250 performances available online.

Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library

HIDVL is an online archive of video documenting socially and politically oriented performance in the Americas. Some of the performers and companies presented are Danny Hoch, El Teatro Campesino, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Pregones Theater, Split Britches and Yuyachkani, plus work by Richard Schechner. The easiest way to browse is through the Artist Profiles.

Theatre in Video

Theatre in Video contains more than 250 performances of plays and over 100 film documentaries (more than 500 hours total). One can search by title, theater, dates and various other ways.

Catalogs of Plays and Dance Works on Film or Video

American plays and musicals on screen: 650 stage productions and their film and television adaptations. Thomas S. Hischak. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2005.

SML Reference, PS338.M67 H57X 2005

Music Stacks, ML2054 H673 A5

Dance on camera: a guide to dance films and videos. Ed. Louise Spain. Lanham, Md.; London: Scarecrow Press; New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 1998.

LSF GV1595 D342X 1998 (LC)+

Great American playwrights on the screen: a critical guide to film, video, and DVD. Jerry Roberts. New York: Applause Theatre & Cinema, 2003.

Bass and Arts Library stacks, PS338.M67 R63 2003

In Medias Res: The Performance Media Database

A database of videos, sound recordings, CD-ROMs and other resources. Currently under construction. When it opens it will have information about the resources, vendor (if any), and reviews.

More theatre: stage to screen to television. Alvin H. Marill. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1993.

SML Reference, PN2189 M32X 1993

More theatre: stage to screen to television, 1993-2001. Alvin H. Marill. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 2003.

SML Reference and stacks, PN2189 M32X 2003

More theatre III : stage to screen to television, since 2001. Alvin H. Marill. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 2008.

SML Stacks, PN2190 .M37X 2008

Recorded plays: indexes to dramatists, plays, and actors. Comp. Herbert H. Hoffman. Chicago: American Library Association, 1985.

Arts Library Reference and SML Reference PN1701.5 +H64 1985

Video versions: film adaptations of plays on video. Ed. Thomas L. Erskine and James M. Welsh. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2000.

Bass Stacks PN1997.85 V53 2000