The following review appeared in the August 2007 issue of CHOICE:

Theatre in Video. 

Alexander Street. Contact publisher for pricing info.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2007aug CHOICE.

http://www.alexanderstreet.com/products/ativ.htm

[Visited May'07] This subscriber database offers more than 250 performances of the world's leading plays via online streaming video--some 500 hours in all. Also included are more than 100 film documentaries on the theater. The home page is clean and simple, highlighting a current editorial pick and offering users the option to search by production, documentary, company, person, genre, theater, and date. Classic plays available here include Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh and Long Day's Journey into Night, J. M. Synge's Playboy of the Western World, and 30 of Shakespeare's works produced by the BBC. Tools allow users to create their own play lists and shared play lists; several play lists are currently posted, including two created by Alexander Street staffers of 20th-century playwrights and black drama. One can also bookmark specific scenes, monologues, and staging. Visitors will have fun watching the stage performances of stars who are better known for film and television, for example, Oscar winners Meryl Streep, Anthony Hopkins, Richard Dreyfuss, and Helen Mirren. This site is great for anyone involved or interested in theater--students, academics, actors, and fans. Easy to navigate, the site contains no extraneous information; it is just pure viewing pleasure, with lots to be learned from masters of the craft.

Summing Up: Essential. All users; all levels. -- D. M. Dayton, Jaffrey Grade School, Jaffrey, New Hampshire