African American Theater

Preparations for Research

A. Production of a Play (performance history):
The original production, a particular noteworthy production, or, significantly varying productions of the play; considering some basic elements in a production, including:

–the Venue of the production
–the Costumes
–the Set design
–the Lighting design
–How each of them individually or all of them collectively work together to produce a certain interpretation, create a certain impressions, affect the show?

B. You focus on the play as literary works or as cultural artifacts?
Examine the contextual questions about the play:

1. The time period in which the play was written
2. The playwright's biography and other works
3. Contemporaneous works of theater (plays written or produced by other artists)
4. The language of the play, plot and conflict, character, nonverbal language
5. What particular theoretical or critical question that the play engages?

Sources:

Writing Center at UNC (handouts)

Barnet, Sylvan. A Short Guide to Writing About Literature. 11th ed. New York: Longman, 2009.


A Broad Range of Possible Research Paper Topics:
1. Themes from plays (racism, identity politics, colorism); 2. A specific era like the Harlem Renaissance or the Black Arts/Black Power movement; 3. A specific group like African American women playwrights, directors, actors, designers, etc. 4. The relation of African Americans to broader American, European, and Pan-African forms.

1. Dictionary of Literary Biography

2. Contemporary Literary Criticism--Select

3. Oxford Reference Online

(Literature in the English speaking world, Including The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre & Performance; social, political, religious history; history of ideas; all periods.)

4. Textbooks on Course Reserves.

5. More References

Thematic Guide to Modern Drama. Stacks: PN1861 .A235 2003

The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama. PN1861 .C65 2007

The Oxford Dictionary of Plays. PN1625 .P38 2005

The Cambridge Guide to Theatre

Critical Survey of Drama. Ref. PN1625 .C68 2003

Consult the latest volume of the set for its Geographical Index to Dramatists and Categorized Index to Dramatists

Drama Criticism. Ref. PN1601 .D59 2005

Consult the latest volume of the set for its Cumulative Topic Index and Cumulative Nationality Index

Modern Drama Scholarship and Criticism, 1966-1990: an International Bibliography. Ref. PN1851.Z99 C37 1997

6. Social and Historical Contexts

Oxford African American Studies Center (online)

Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History: the Black Experience in the Americas. Ref. E185 .E54 2006.

7. Movements

The Cambridge companion to the Harlem Renaissance. Stacks: PS153.N5 C345 2007

The Harlem Renaissance: an Historical Dictionary for the Era. Oversize: NX511.N4 H37 1984

A Sourcebook of African-American Performance: Plays, People, Movements. Stacks: PN2270.A35 S68 1999

Avant-garde Performance & the Limits of Criticism: Approaching the Living Theatre, happenings/Fluxus, and the Black Arts Movement. Stacks: PN2297.L5 S45 2005

The Black Arts Movement: Literary Nationalism in the 1960s and 1970s. Stacks: PS153.N5 S56 2005

The Black Power Movement: Rethinking the Civil Rights-Black Power Era. Stacks: E185.61 .B6 2006

African American and Pan-African Theaters

Profiles of African American Stage Performers and Theatre People, 1816-1960. Ref. PN2286 .P46 2001

The African American Theatre Directory, 1816-1960: a Comprehensive Guide to Early Black Theatre Organizations, Companies, Theatres, and Performing Groups. Ref. PN2270.A35 P48 1997

African American Writers. Ref. PS153.N5 A344 2001

Best literature by and about Blacks. Ref. PS153.N5 R53 2000

Black Theatre and Performance: a Pan-African Bibliography. Ref. PN2969.Z99 G7 1990

African American authors, 1745-1945: bio-bibliographical critical sourcebook. Ref. PS153.N5 A32 2000

Black theatre: the making of a movement. Tisch Media Center: FDV4947

Black playwrights, 1823-1977: an Annotated Bibliography of Plays. Stacks: Z1231.D7 H37

The Concise Oxford Companion to African-American Literature (online)

Readings on Course Reserves.

WorldCat (catalogs of libraries worldwide)

Procedure Note:

1. Verify if Tufts Library has the book you need.

2. Use ILliad (interlibrary loan service) to request non-Tufts books.

Prev Next

Path of Discovery in the Catalogs

1. Find a title/author (assigned readings/Course Reserves);

2. Note the descriptive language of the Catalog record.

3. Use that language in further searches

e.g. Click on subject/author in the record to see further results and related topics.

Title	*Black Theatre USA: Plays by African Americans: 1847 to Today* / edited by James V. Hatch, Ted Shine.
Publisher	New York: Free Press, c1996.
Subject	American drama -- African American authors.
	African Americans -- Drama.

A More Subject Browse on Broad Topics:

African American Theater

African Americans Drama

black theater

A Subject Browse on a playwright in book Catalog:

Wilson, August (last name first in subject search)

Compare with a Keyword Search:

"Auguest Wilson"

A Keyword Search for contemporary playwright

"Maishe Maponya"

Some playwrights are found in a chapter of a book (on broader/general topics) rather than in a monograph (books on a singular subject/author):

Theatre and Change in South Africa

“A truly living moment”: acting and the Statements plays / Brian Crow -- “The many individual wills.” From Crossroads to Survival. The work of Experimental Theatre Workshop '71 / Robert McLaren -- Whose popular theatre and performance? / Martin Orkin -- The performance aesthetics of township theatre: frames and codes / Christopher Balme -- Theatre for export: the commercialization of the Black people's struggle in South African export musicals / Jerry Mofokeng -- Theatre in exile / Anthony Ackerman -- My life in the theatre of war: the development of an alternative consciousness / Matthew Krouse -- What is a tribal dress? the “Imbongi” (Praise-singer) and the “People's poet.” Reactivization of a tradition in the liberation struggle / Peter Horn -- The workers' theatre in Natal / Ari Sitas -- “An interest in the making of things.” An interview with William Kentridge / Geoff V. Davis and Anne Fuchs -- Tooth and nail. Rethinking form for the South African theatre / Malcolm Purkey -- Physical images in the South African theatre / Mark Fleishman -- “I will remain an African.” An interview with Maishe Maponya / Geoff V. Davis and Anne Fuchs -- Politics and the theatre: current trends in South Africa / Zakes Mda -- Theatre: the political weapon in South Africa / Doreen Mazibuko -- “This compost heap of a country.” An interview with Barney Simon / Geoff V. Davis and Anne Fuchs -- So what's new? The story behind the play / Fatima Dike -- PACT: can the leopard change its spots? / Carol Steinberg -- The future of the performing arts councils in a new South Africa / Arnold Blumer -- “It's time to have a South African culture.” An interview with Ramolao Makhene / Geoff V. Davis and Anne Fuchs.

Perform an Advanced Keyword Search for a broader question: Blackness/colorism in African American Theater; limit the search to print materials. .

Note:

1. use the Subject field;
2. “ ” quotations marks around phrases.
3. "or" and ( ) to nest related/varied expressions;
4. black* for all forms of the word: black, blacks, blackness.
5. limit search results to books.

1. Search MLA (International Bibliography of Language & Literature)

Enter your search terms:

2. Collection of Journals

JSTOR (with omission of the current years)
Project Muse (with current years only)

3. Performing Arts

International Index to the Performing Arts

4. Additional Databases

Arts & Humanities Citation Index

Film & Television Literature Index
Women's Studies International

Click on the number to pause the slide.

Some Database Characteristics

Each Database is selective

Subject Matter —disciplinary perspective, period, geographical region, and more;
Scope —types, number, and years of publications covered
Depth (of indexing) —citation, abstracts, full texts, which determines their search capabilities.

Strategy in Selecting a Database

First, run a relatively broad search in them to assess their relevance on a topic;
Next, try out a variety of keyword, subject, and author searches in a chosen database.
Last, use newly learned ideas and words in other databases.

About JSTOR and Project Muse

1. The collections include journals from all disciplines— literary studies, Performing Arts, and others;

2. JStor are likely to include seminal works on a subject, which are highly original and influential, and central to the development or understanding of a subject.

3. Must check for up-to-date information from other sources when using JSTOR.

Click to browse some journals here:

Range of Keywords—Scope of a Research Question

1. Start with a general search with simply the author's name, or title of a play.

2. Examine the general search results to discover possible focuses on some typical elements; evidences you have collected in your reading of the text and you will use to support your thesis of the paper.

Evaluation of Search Results:

In what types of journals and publications (besides literary studies) did you find relevant work? What does this suggest about research on your topic?

What sorts of audiences seem to be addressed in works on your topic? How can you tell?

What aspects of the search results surprised you? Why? Did “peripheral materials” lead you anywhere? How?

Based on your search, how would you characterize the main approaches to your topic? What do you think are some of the central debates in the study of your topic? What is your evidence for thinking so?

Read a Couple of Articles Carefully and Identify:

the "problem" addressed (the thesis of the article);

the central debates on this problem;

the major arguments by the author;

the methods applied in making these arguments;

the evidence (e.g., language, imagery, narrative forms, original documents, or secondary sources);

if the conclusions are based on speculations, are they convincing?

Throughout your reading:

Compare and contrast methods by authors: key points of difference or convergence

Note controversies and weaknesses; explain and clarify gaps

How about the presentation, logic and clarity of the article?

State your own positions; provide your own interpretations and critiques

Finding Full Texts

1. Click on the button to these three options:

a. link to the full text of the article when available digitally;

b. link to a Library Catalog search for the journal in print that contains your article.

c. link to ILliad for requesting the article when the above two options are negative.

2. Search for a journal directly here:

a.Tufts Library Catalog (including e-journals)
b. Electronic journals list
c. Use ILliad to request your article, if Tufts does not have your journal.

Current (United States and International)

Ethnic, Altenative and Independent Press

Historical

American Periodicals (1740 - 1900)
The Nation Digital Archive (1865 - present)
Time Magazine (1923-Present)
New York Times Online Archive
(1851 - 3 years before current date)
African American Newspapers - 19th Century
American Newspapers (1690 - 1922)
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers

17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers (British)
19th Century British Newspapers
British Periodicals (1680s - 1930s)
Times Digital Archive (1785 - 1985)

Factiva includes content in over 22 languages from over 150 countries and 350 geographic regions.

Print Sources

New York Theatre Critics' Reviews. (1944 to 1994) Ref. PN1601 .N4
(Continued by National Theatre Critics Reviews. Ref. PN 2000 .N3)
Tip: Use the Year End Index, either in the front or in the back page in the binder.

Theatre Record 1985- . (Bound Periodicals PN2596 .L6 L66)
Presents cast and production details for London’s West End and fringe shows, and reviews from many British daily and weekly drama critics.

MLA style rules and examples
Chicago/Turabian style rules and examples

Citation Management Tool: RefWorks

1. Store your records of books, articles, etc.
2. Generate a bibliography in the style of your choice.
3. Format in-text notes/footnotes while you write.

Learn how to use RefWorks

last updated: 24/07/09