Theatre People: Biographies & Autobiographies

Content from volumes is included in online database Biography (Gale in Content).
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An ongoing biographical reference series providing brief biographical information and credits of performers, directors, writers, producers, designers, technicians, composers, executives, and critics in the United States and Great Britain.

Gives biographical sketches of actors, actresses, directors, dramatists, composers, scenic designers, critics, and theatre historians.

reproduces the sketches of the first 15 editions of Who's Who in the Theatre

"The scope...is historical (ranging from the theatre of Ancient Greece to that of the present day) and international, covering plays of some 20 languages, and playwrights, actors, directors, and designers of many nationalities."
Volume 1: Plays - over 620 notable plays. "Every entry contains, where known, the date and location of first publication and first production; a chronological list of books and articles about the play; and a critical essay on the play."
Volume 2: Playwrights - 485 writers for the stage. "Each entry contains: a summary of the writer's life and career; a list of works by the entrant; a list of publications (bibliographies and critical studies) about the entrant; a signed critical overview of the entrant's work for the stage by one of the Dictionary's contributors. If any of an entrant's plays has an entry of its own in Volume 1 (Plays), a cross-reference makes this explicit at the end of the entry."
Volume 3: Actors, Directors & Designers - 300 actors, directors, & designers for the stage. "Each entry contains: a summary of the subject's life and career; a list of relevant productions and roles, including film, television, and radio credits; a list of publications by the subject; a list of publications about the entrant; a signed critical overview of the entrant's work for the stage by one of the Dictionary's contributors."

Lengthy articles on approximately 350 actresses, directors, scholars, and designers. Appendix lists names by professional category. Cross-references and topical index.

"This directory includes over 500 African American performers and theater people who have made a significant contribution to the American stage from the early 19th century to the beginning of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Entries provide succinct biographical and theatrical information gathered from a variety of sources including library theater and drama collections, dissertations and theses, newspaper and magazine reviews and criticism, theater programs, theatrical memoirs, and earlier performing arts directories. Among the professional artists included in this volume are performers, librettists, lyricists, directors, producers, choreographers, stage managers, and musicians. The individuals profiled represent almost every major category and genre of the professional, semiprofessional, regional, and academic stage including minstrelsy, vaudeville, musical theater, and drama. Persons of historical significance are included as well as those stars and theatrical personalities that were well known during their time but who are relatively forgotten today."

"As a concise study of the American theatre, this work explores the past and present by looking at major aspects of theatregoing in America over the past 250 years. Diverse topics include plays On and Off Broadway, ticket prices, critics, playwrights, awards, musicals, actors, theatre groups and organizations, and theatre publications."

Reprints in chronological order from Variety news stories, editorials, and obituary columns the death notices of individuals connected with the entertainment industry.

Contains approximately 20,000 biographical sketches of prominent individuals in the entertainment industry.