First-of its-kind Database Takes Students and Researchers Behind the Scenes of Performances | Alexander Street

First-of its-kind Database Takes Students and Researchers Behind the Scenes of Performances

June 22, 2017

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Alexander Street, a ProQuest Company, is enabling researchers to go behind the scenes of the world’s greatest theatre, dance, and opera performances through Performance Design Archive Online, the only international multimedia collection to cover all aspects of theatre production design.

Spanning the 17th century to the present day, Alexander Street’s Performance Design Archive Online curates 100,000 pages of primary and secondary resources. Gathering sketches, photographs, technical drawings, monographs, articles, and dissertations – including never-before published designs and other crucial research material – simplifies the workflow for students who want to dive deep into the history of stagecraft. This unprecedented collection also includes specially commissioned videos that provide introductory, in-depth coverage of topics related to contemporary design and scenography.

“Lack of student access to this kind of content has been a challenge for performing arts and theatre programs,” said Kathleen Saylor, Editor for Theatre and Drama at Alexander Street. “Often, design students end up having to seek out resources independently. This collection simplifies the process and opens up new avenues for research discovery by bringing together essential resources, including contemporary and historical material, that have never been seen before.”

Curated in alliance with renowned publishers, archives, and an advisory board of respected scholars in the field of theatre design, Performance Design Archive Online encompasses materials specifically relating to the design process and delivers rare insight into different methods of design and artistic expression. Students and researchers can track progression from concept to realization, exploring all the dynamic factors that go into creating successful production design.

Featured Content Partners and Archives Include:

  • The United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT)
  • Bridgeman Images
  • The Grieve Family Collection of Theatre Designs at the University of London: Senate House Library

Individual Designer Archives Include:

  • Jess Goldstein Personal Papers (Tony Award-winning costume designer)
  • Clancy Steer Personal Papers (Olivier and BAFTA Award-winning costume designer)
  • Shirley Prendergast Personal Papers (the first black female lighting designer on Broadway)
  • Ralph Funicello Personal Papers
  • Rob Eastman-Mullins Personal Papers
  • Mahdi Troudi Personal Papers
  • Kathy Perkins Personal Papers

Publishing Partners Include:

  • Crowood Press (Alexander Street Exclusive)
  • Allworth Press (Alexander Street Exclusive)
  • Cambridge University Press
  • Dover Publications

Learn more about Performance Design Archive Online at alexanderstreet.com/performancedesign.

About Alexander Street, a ProQuest Company

Alexander Street pairs exclusive streaming video, audio, and curated full-text content with cutting-edge online tools to transform the way people research, learn, and teach in virtually every discipline. Learn more at alexanderstreet.com.

About ProQuest (http://www.proquest.com)

ProQuest is committed to supporting the important work happening in the world’s research and learning communities. The company curates content that matters to the advancement of knowledge, assembling an archive of billions of vetted, indexed documents. It simplifies workflows so that people and institutions use time effectively. And because ProQuest connects information communities, complex networks of systems and processes work together efficiently. With ProQuest, finding answers and deriving insights is straightforward and leads to extraordinary outcomes.

ProQuest and its companies and affiliates – Ex Libris, Alexander Street, Bowker – stand for better research, better learning, better insights. ProQuest enables people to change their world.

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