Theatre Resources at U of T

Photo of the interior of the UTM library

 Library Collections   Student Groups   Awards and Prizes  Discounted Theatre Tickets

 

The Library's Drama & Theatre Collections

U of T's library system is the fifth-largest University library in the world, with c. 16 million holdings. The heart of the library system is Robarts Library on the St George Campus; UTM's own Hazel McCallion library has a particular strength in books about theatre (and also houses one of the largest collections of historical video games in the world). All books held elsewhere at U of T can be requested for delivery to UTM. And beyond the extraordinarily rich collections of physical books and journals, U of T maintains an inexhaustible variety of online subscription resources, many of which are designed for research on theatre.

The following resources are of particular interest to TDS students:

Drama Online

Digital Theatre Plus

  • Over 400 recorded productions from leading international theatre companies, with a strong focus on innovative stagings of "classics" as well as contemporary drama

    Over 120 recordings of performance workshops and masterclasses
  • A vast range of collections of essays and video & audio resources with specific thematic focusses (on particular plays, specific areas of theatre making, the approaches of influential teachers and theorists, etc.)
     

Alexander Street

  • An extraordinary collection of thousands of play texts and recorded performances, with a particular focus on North American theatre:

    Theatre in Video: over 700 recorded international performances, including many from the US and Canada

    Twentieth-Century North American Drama, a collection of over 2,000 plays
    Asian-American Drama, a collection of over 250 plays by Asian-American playwrights, with supplementary information and resources
    Black Drama: Third Edition, a collection of over 1,700 plays by playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries
    North American Indian Drama, a collection of over 250 plays by indigenous playwrights from across Turtle Island
    North American Women's Drama, a collection of over 1,500 plays written by women in North America between the 1600s and the present day

    Dance Online, a rich collection of historical and scholarly publications related to dance

    The Theatre in Context Collection, a selection of over 1,000 books and resources on theatre history, especially strong on North American performance
     

New Play Exchange

  • An enormous (50,000+) collection of contemporary North American playscripts, many but by no means all professionally produced, with full PDFs available for download.
     

Collections of full-text books and journals of theatre scholarship and performance practice

  • The links below go to the websites of some of the leading publishers of books in the areas of theatre and performance studies, including practical, hands-on publications about theatrical practices. The collections linked here give you access to many thousands of volumes. All are subscription-based and can be used with your U of T credentials. The links should take you directly to long lists of relevant titles, but you can also search the publishers' catalogues for further titles of interest to you:

    Bloomsbury (includes a wealth of books on theatre practice)
  • Cambridge University Press (primarily historical and theoretical publications)
  • DeGruyter (includes a number of other publishers; primarily historical and theoretical works)
  • Oxford Scholarly Editions Online (excellent annotated editions of many "classic" plays)
  • Palgrave Macmillan (mostly historical and theoretical books, some on theatre practice)
  • ProQuest EBooks Central (various publishers, including Northwestern University Press; primarily historical and theoretical)
  • Routledge/Taylor & Francis (including many volumes on theatre practice)
  • University of Michigan Press (primarily historical and theoretical works, very international focus)
     
  • A directory of further relevant resources held by the U of T library system, including access to virtually all major international scholarly journals with articles on the performing arts, can be found here.

 

 

Community

TDS students are part of a vibrant community of students passionate about theatre, music, and the wider arts world. Beyond the many opportunities to create performances offered by the curriculum, students also regularly participate (and take leadership roles) in the activities of groups such as:

Every April, TDSers curate, produce, direct, write, and perform in the extracurricular Beck Festival of Student-Produced Drama. The Beck Festival is named in honour of TDS's founding figure, the late Roger Beck, and his wife Janet, one of our program's most indefatigable champions.

The program also sponsors two student-run groups that are meant to enhance the inclusive and equitable environment of TDS:

  • TDS Artists of Colour Student Association — @tdsaoc
    The TDS Artists of Colour Association aims to create and curate a welcoming space of inclusivity for BIPOC-identifying students. We wish to promote diverse voices in the TDS program; to establish community between peers who do not have spaces in which to gather, and to advocate for those whose voices have not been heard.
  • Queer Students of TDS (QUEST) — @tds.quest
    QUEST (or, Queer Students of TDS) is an association run by and for the students of TDS with the intention of creating opportunity and community within the queer community of the Theatre and Drama Studies Program. We place emphasis on making time for play, whimsy, and low-pressure socialization during the year, and try to centre and uplift queer voices in all our events and endeavours. See you soon, adventurers!

 

 

Awards and Prizes

Every year, we award a substantial number of prizes to TDS students in all four years, both on the basis of merit (in academic and studio/performance courses) and on the basis of demonstrated financial need. These prizes do not require an application; the department selects award winners in the fall, and they are announced at a program gala event every September.

The TDS Awards include:

  • The Arthur L. Fernie Scholarships and Bursaries, funded from the bequest of Arthur L. Fernie
  • The Erindale Theatre Fund Bursaries and Special Merit Award, funded through donations from members of the public and the faculty
  • The Meg Young Award for exceptional personal growth, funded by Patrick Young
  • The Karine J. Ziering-Lando Award, awarded biennially
  • A number of special awards for particular academic merit, exceptional performance in first- and second-year crew assignments, and for outstanding contributions to the life of the program
  • The Janet Beck Award
  • The Natasha Afrosimoff Memorial Award
  • The Roger Beck Award — the last three all established through generous donations from Janet and Roger Beck.

First-year TDS students are also eligible for financial support for one theatre ticket through the Lawrence Stern Memorial Fund.

 

 

Discounted Theatre Tickets

As students and/or younger patrons, you have access to a number of reduced-price ticket schemes for many of Toronto's leading theatre companies. Check out the following:

Canadian Opera Company Opera under 30 program ($28-$35)

Canadian Stage's C-Stage (29 and under) pricing

Crow's Under 30/Students program

Mirvish Student Rush tickets

National Ballet DanceBreak scheme

Soulpepper's Free 25 & Under scheme

TAPA's hipTIX scheme (tickets start at $10)

Tarragon Theatre Student tickets

Theatre Passe Muraille Under 30 tickets

Beyond Toronto:

Blythe Festival Youth Tickets (25 and under)

Grand Theatre (London) Student Rush tickets

Shaw Festival Special Pricing for Students

Stratford Festival PlayOn tickets for visitors 29 and under