Twentieth-Century British and American Theatre: A Critical Guide to Archives

This unique reference guide provides descriptions and evaluations of archive manuscript materials and ephemera relating to twentieth-century British and American theatre. Over 100 archives across Europe, North America and Britain were examined in the compilation of this volume. The documents include: unpublished playscripts; state and costume designs; directors' books; prompt books; lighting plots; stage photos; correspondence; theatre programmes.One hundred and seventy five entries are arranged alphabetically and cover playwrights, directors, designers and actors. By its nature, theatre is a collaborative enterprise, a facet which is recognised in the comprehensive cross-referencing of entries.The last twenty years has seen a shift in drama studies from text-based criticism to analysis of performance. The materials covered in this book have therefore become essential to future research in the field. The aim of this guide is to alert scholars to the existence and whereabouts of this, as yet untapped, information.