Theatre and Drama Premium | Alexander Street
Theatre and Drama Premium

Theatre and Drama Premium

Theatre and Drama Premium has everything students and scholars need to study the dramatic arts from the page to the stage and behind the curtain. The collection features drama texts from diverse playwrights, high definition performance videos, documentaries, interviews, audio plays, contextual reference material, and production design archival content. 

The package covers all areas of study, from the stage to behind-the-scenes, and provides the tools and content faculty and students need to discover, teach, and interpret all aspects of performance. 

With Theatre and Drama Premium, your institution will have access to: 
  • 13,500 full-text plays, many published for the first time, from canonical and emerging playwrights
  • 150,000 pages of original and contextualizing materials including designs, reference material, and ephemera
  • 390+ audio plays from L.A. Theatre Works
  • 950+ hours of filmed stage performances, documentaries, and video training materials

Students and scholars can conduct in-depth analyses on key writers, creators, and performers, and create a new understanding of established pieces of the dramatic canon. For example:

  • Using the Bell’s 1623 Edition of the text for comparison, students can examine multiple video productions of King Lear, focusing on King Lear’s speech in Act 3, Scene 2, and begin to understand how acting and directing choices can affect an overall performance.
  • Faculty can widen the lens of theatrical study to include a diverse cast of pioneers such as designs from Shirley Prendergast, the first black female lighting designer on Broadway in 1973, or plays by R. Lynn Riggs, the first American Indian playwright to have his works produced.
  • All patrons can relish premier performances such as the UK's National Theatre's productions of Small Island (2019), Les Blancs (2016), and Frankenstein (2011) virtually.
  • In exploring Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, students can read the original First Folio version, compare it to modernizing translations (Augustin Daly) and adaptations (Frances Elizabeth Clarke) for textual variations, or become immersed in filmed stage versions by acclaimed directors Julie Taymor and Beverly Bullock. 
 

Theatre and Drama Premium bridges the gap between Literature and Theatre departments, serving students and faculty in many disciplines, such as theatre, literature, performance studies, theatrical design, dramatic writing, and more. The collection includes the entire contents of the following individual Theatre and Drama products: