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LA Public Library resources

Online resources
With an LAPL card, you may access Kanopy, Hoopla, online magazines, NY Times, and more!
Get an e-card instantly!
If you live in the City of LA, you can get an e-card right away. If you live elsewhere, you have options: LA County, Glendale, and/or Beverly Hills (LA, Orange, Ventura Counties). Most CA libraries only require CA residency for a physical card.
NY Times
Ancestry.com
Vogue Archive

Free online resources

HowlRound Theatre Commons Open platform for theatremakers worldwide to share ideas and create connections.
Drama Resource teaching links
Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab
Directors Lab West
LA Theatre Works recordings
Great Performances (PBS)
Live From Lincoln Center

Videos on Acting

Strasberg on Acting Lee Strasberg, director of the Actors Studio, is interviewed about his career, the actors he has taught, and his ideas about acting, including Method acting.
A Tradition of Acting TANISLAVSKY CENSORED: An Acting Revolution Begins - Each program clears up the misconceptions and myths of the origins of American Stanislavsky techniques and reveals how Soviet actors turned to human behavior to revolutionize acting. From Russia to the US. The amazing 115-year revolution of Stanislavsky acting training. Tells the amazing story of the progression of Stanislavsky acting training in the United States and how some of the major Stanislavsky-influenced acting techniques relate to each other and to Stanislavsky from the Outside In.
Creative Drama and Improvisation This video presents various exercises designed to encourage creativity in acting and looks at the use of improvisation. It features Rives Collins, who explores creative drama, dramatic play, and the creative process.
The Expressive Actor
The Actor's Technique Professional actors, directors and playwrights discuss and demonstrate key techniques in developing their craft on the stage, behind the scenes, and in front of the camera.

Books about Acting

Acting: an International Encyclopedia of Traditional Culture by Beth Osnes
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 1280719818
Publication Date: 2001
Black Acting Methods by Sharrell Luckett (Editor); Tia M. Shaffer (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 1138907626
Publication Date: 2016
Ensemble Theatre Making: A Practical Guide by David Storck; Rose Burnett Bonczek
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9780415530088
Publication Date: 2012
The Routledge Companion to African American Theatre and Performance by Kathy A. Perkins (Editor); Sandra L. Richards (Editor); Renée Alexander Craft (Editor); Thomas F. DeFrantz (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9780367478018
Publication Date: 2020
So Therefore...A Practical Guide for Actors by Al Ruscio
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9780415516723
Publication Date: 2012
Theatre in Practice: A Student's Handbook by Nick O'Brien; Annie Sutton
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 0203125428
Publication Date: 2012

Streaming databases

Digital Theatre+ This link opens in a new window DT+ includes streaming video of plays and performances produced on the contemporary British and American stage, interviews with professional practitioners and masterclasses on technique, study guides on classic works, and pedagogical guides for the classroom and theater production.
Theatre in Video (Alexander Street Press) This link opens in a new window Collection of more than 250 definitive performances of the world's leading plays, together with more than 100 film documentaries, online in streaming video, representing hundreds of leading playwrights, actors and directors. Access generously provided by Campus Quality Fee.
National Theatre Collection This link opens in a new window Through a collaboration with the U.K.'s National Theatre, this collection offers high definition streaming video of productions and unique archival material offering significant insight into theatre and performance studies.
BBC Shakespeare in Perspective This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
37 Shakespeare plays adapted for television broadcast on the BBC. Productions from the 1970's and 80's now available as streaming videos.
Academic Video Online This link opens in a new window Over 30,000 hours of streaming videos covering a wide range of subjects.
Kanopy This link opens in a new window
Kanopy offers a number of different streaming titles including documentaries and performances. Please note: the FIRST TIME you use Kanopy, you need to log in at csun.kanopy.com.
Swank Digital Campus This link opens in a new window
Swank has 1000 movies that will be available until July of 2023, including Blade Runner, 12 Angry Men, A Streetcar Named Desire, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and other theatre favorites!

Find theatre reviews

Los Angeles Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new window Full-page and article images from the Los Angeles Daily Times (1881-1886) and the Los Angeles Times (1886-2014).
New York Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new window Digital archive offering full-text and full-image articles for the New York Times from 1851-2012.
Times Digital Archive (Gale) This link opens in a new window Complete digital edition of The Times (London, England).
ProQuest Global NewsStream This link opens in a new window
Access to current (2012-present) newspapers from all over the world. You can use as a complement to the historical newspapers.
Wall Street Journal (WSJ.com) This link opens in a new window
This provides current access to the Wall Street Journal and all their online content. It requires new users to create a WSJ account. After registering, you will be able to use WSJ apps and log in across all devices.

Find scenes and monologues

Most monologues and scenes are in the PN 2080 section of the 4th Floor on Stack 17.

To browse plays by genre, you can use Library of Congress genre headings (go to page 25 of the PDF), such as "comedy plays" or "dialect drama."

Asian American Drama This link opens in a new window Asian American Drama contains 252 plays by 42 playwrights, together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. Some 50% of these plays have never been published before. The collection begins with the works of Sadakichi Hartmann in the late 19th century and progresses to the writings of contemporary playwrights, such as Philip Kan Gotanda, Elizabeth Wong, and Jeannie Barroga. The plays themselves have been selected using leading bibliographies and with the editorial advice of Josephine D. Lee, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; Esther S. Kim, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; James S. Moy, University of New Mexico; and Karen Shimakawa, University of California, Davis

Gay plays
Non-binary monologues
Curated by a student at UC Boulder, this site provides monologues for non-binary actors.
Plays about gay men
Plays about gay women

2.5 Minute Ride and 101 Most Humiliating Things by Lisa Kron
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 1559361816
Publication Date: 2000
100 Monologues by Eric Bogosian
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9781559367738
Publication Date: 2014
Audition Speeches for Black, South Asian and Middle Eastern Actors: Monologues for Men by Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9781474229142
Publication Date: 2016
Audition Speeches for Black, South Asian and Middle Eastern Actors: Monologues for Women by Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9781474229258
Publication Date: 2016
The Best American Short Plays 2009-2010 by Barbara Parisi (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 1557837627
Publication Date: 2011
The Best American Short Plays 2010-2011 by William W. Demastes (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 1557838356
Publication Date: 2012
Best Contemporary Monologues for Women 18-35 by Lawrence Harbison
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9781480369627
Publication Date: 2014
Forbidden Acts by Ben Hodges
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 155783587X
Publication Date: 2003
Gruesome Playground Injuries; Animals Out of Paper; Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo by Rajiv Joseph
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 1593762941
Publication Date: 2010
The Kilroys' List: 97 monologues and scenes by female and trans playwrights by Paula Vogel
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9781559365352
Publication Date: 2017-07-04
The Kilroys list: 67 monologues and scenes by women and nonbinary playwrights by Feinberg, Annah
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9781559369169
Publication Date: 2020
Monologues for Actors of Color by Roberta Uno (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 0878300694
Publication Date: 1999
Scenes for Latinx actors: voices of the new American theatre by Espinosa, Micha
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 1943511144
Publication Date: 2018
Teatro Chicana by Sandra M. Gutierrez (Editor); Laura E. Garcia (Editor); Yolanda Broyles-González (Foreword by); Felicitas Nuñez (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9780292717435
Publication Date: 2008