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March 2001
Darwin F. Scott, Creative Arts Librarian
The Theater Arts Department offers an M.F.A. Professional Theater Training Program.
The undergraduate theater concentration offers various specializations: acting and directing; design and technical theater; play writing; or theater literature, history, and theory. Students must also become involved with the Theater Arts Department production season. The Theater Arts Department also offers a few courses in dance.
Appropriate theater arts courses are options in various interdisciplinary studies concentrations and programs, including:
The Theater Arts Collection primarily supports the undergraduate and graduate curriculum of the Theater Arts Department. Materials on theater and drama history, contemporary drama, and contemporary plays themselves may also support the curriculum of other departments.
The Theater Arts Collection provides limited support of the research interests of the Brandeis faculty, based primarily on the language of the texts.
The scope of the Theater Collection focuses on theater and drama history, acting and stagecraft; design and the technical aspects of theater (and film and television); play writing; costume design; theater management and administration; production; American musical theater; contemporary drama since 1945; and dance (both history and technique). Plays written before 1945 and studies or critical analysis of plays and drama as literature and/or social commentary fall under the collection development responsibilities of English and American literature or various foreign languages. All aspects of Shakespeare, Elizabethan theater, etc. fall under English and American literature.
None.
American theater is an area of particular interest. Materials on British, Western European, and Russian theater are also broadly acquired, as are representative examples of theater from the Third World.
Historical studies of drama and stagecraft are acquired regardless of chronological period, beginning with ancient theater and continuing to the present.
Emphasis is on acquiring current material, particularly in the applied areas. Retrospective purchases of plays, musicals, or materials on theater and dramatic history depends primarily upon faculty recommendation and ILL usage.
Monographs, plays: The predominant language is English. Works in other languages, particularly French, German, and Italian, will be acquired selectively, especially for critical, historical, and theoretical treatments that support the established collection. Applied materials (lighting, set design, acting, directing, etc.) are acquired almost solely in English. For materials that are primarily visually based with collections of stage set designs, pictures of costumes, etc., the language of the textual material is of lesser importance.
Reference materials: limited to English, unless subject matter or international scope of the resource is fundamental to the collection.
Periodicals: primarily English and limited to the most widely cited periodicals on theater and drama (some overlap here with literature, history, and music).
Current trade, university press, institutional, and government publications acquired, with occasional acquisition of retrospective materials as required by the curriculum. Main sources for retrospective materials are gifts, faculty recommendations, interlibrary loan requests, and specific offers from vendors.
Subscriptions to key theater and dance journals and magazines in English. Subscriptions are also maintained to certain annuals and directories related to the American theater scene.
Up-to-date English-language encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies, and research guides. Selective acquisition of directories and other guides to the current theater scene. Older reference sources of historic importance. Very selective acquisition of newly published foreign language reference materials.
Textbooks beyond the elementary level are widely collected, especially in applied areas such as acting (collections of dialogs, scenes, etc.), costuming, lighting, etc.
Since there are very few electronic resources devoted solely or primarily to theater, important electronic resources supporting theater research are usually acquired for a broader constituency (music, literature, general reference, etc.). Any theater-specific electronic resources that support the curriculum would be considered.
Microform reproductions are primarily limited to the retrospective acquisition of essential books and periodicals that are unavailable or prohibitively expensive in other media. Large, research-oriented microform sets of theater or dance materials usually fall outside the scope of the collection.
Purchased very selectively and only if supportive of the specific curriculum at Brandeis or of basic importance to faculty or student research.
Acquisition is primarily curriculum-based as requested by faculty. Some videos of wide interest (such as PBS programs) purchased to enhance general theater and dance collection. Videos of musicals are purchased when available. Preferred medium is now DVD (if available) over videocassette.
Area open to development based on faculty demand and as technology becomes more available in classrooms. Collecting in the area will also increase with the development of the Creative Arts Electronic Research Center.
Plays form a key component of the theater collection. As noted above, only plays written since 1945 fall under the collecting parameters of the theater arts selector. Even here, the works of certain iconic playwrights written since 1945 may fall under the parameters of English or American literature. In these cases, the primary audience of the materials (drama vs. literature students) will help determine who is responsible for selecting the materials. Collections of excerpts are generally not collected.
The bases for collecting plays include:
Sound recordings of musicals are widely collected, both original cast and important new productions/recordings of the same musical. Also acquired is a core collection of recorded sound effects. Presently, spoken word recordings are only rarely acquired for the collection.
Vocal scores and librettos are widely collected in addition to monographs, reference works, and sound recordings.
Generally not collected.
Theater arts printed materials (unless classified in M or N) are located among the circulating collections maintained in Goldfarb Library and are not housed in the Creative Arts Section. Sound recordings are housed in the Listening Center of the Creative Arts Section.
Special collections include American theater programs (Boston, late 19th-early 20th century).
Subject Area |
Collecting Levels |
| Drama history and criticism | Undergraduate study |
| Modern British and 20th-century American drama | Graduate study |
| Costume design | Undergraduate study |
| Lighting, scenery, set design | Undergraduate study |
| Halls for theatrical performances | Undergraduate study |
| Acting | Undergraduate study |
| Directing | Undergraduate study |
| Theater management | Undergraduate study |
| Play writing | Undergraduate study |
| Plays (within parameters listed above) | Graduate study |
| Dance | Undergraduate study |
XIII. Cross-References to Other Collection Policies
None Specified