Best of the Web: Performing Arts

A set decorator selects furniture, drapery, lighting fixtures, art and other objects to "dress the set" of a motion picture, television program, music video or commercial.

A site championing Shakespeare as the author of the plays.

A site championing Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (1550-1604), as the author of the works.

Job listings in all phases of film and television, from administration to web development. Also lists jobs by company, job category, location and by posting date.

The extensive directory of the Societe Internationale des Bibliotheque et des Musees des Artes du Spectacle includes many institutions with dance components.

Inline skating.

The leading technical society for the motion imaging industry. Members include engineers, technical directors, cameramen, editors, technicians, manufacturers, educators, and consultants. SMPTE publishes ANSI-approved standards and guidelines, as well as a journal and peer-reviewed technical papers.

Based in the United Kingdom.

A general resource for archives offering publications on standard practices.

Index of links to lyric and libretto websites. (Indiana University School of Music site.)

"New York City's source for information on concerts of contemporary music."

Cape Cod Community Television.

A publication with timely articles written by and for community, regional, & academic theater participants. A subject index of articles published since 1988 is online.

A growing collection of forms that describe the important technical features of stage houses throughout the country. Useful for planning touring productions.

Includes articles on care and handling, preservation, audio standards, audio projects, organizations concerned with audio preservation, online discussion lists, other audio preservation sites.

Personal site which provides annotated listings of rehearsal spaces, theaters for rent, photographers and acting classes in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

America's premiere showcase for independently produced documentary and dramatic films.

Consistently reliable e-zine with 27 contributors, published twice weekly, with features, interviews, reviews and listings from on and off-Broadway, the West End, and Regional Theatre. Also find a history of Broadway with archival photographs, discussion groups, and a prominent link to the Internet Theatre Database (http://www.theatredb.com).

In German.

Theatre Communications Group offers the addresses, phone numbers, and websites of member theaters accessible by name or by state. On the left navigation menu, click on "membership" and then click on "search member theatres."

For all entertainment professionals.

"...a diverse collection of information on over 1000 operatic arias..."

A searchable database of costume images from the stock of the costume program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Department of Dramatic Art and the PlayMakers Repertory Company. Searchable by period and/or type of garment.

Provides an index of Costume Institute exhibits going back to 1937 features on current exhibits descriptions of the collections access information to the Collections and the associated library a history of the Institute and links to Costume Museums throughout the world.

Particularly useful is the "instruction" page on this site, which will lead you to answers for a wide variety of costume-construction problems.

"Over 4,000 Christian hymns & Gospel songs from many denominations."

The website of this association of Playwrights, Composers, and Lyricists holds information about membership, copyright, contracts, events &amp seminars, ways to contact playwrights and their agents, and articles from The Dramatist.

Full texts of plays from all periods, from classical to contemporary. The site also contains dramatic criticism.

"Resources and Links
Composers & songwriters, unions & guilds, TV & radio broadcasting, etc.

Includes a history of improv, a glossary, lists of improv groups and games.

Publishes peer-reviewed editions of early Shakespearean texts. The site also contains an excellent online textbook, Shakespeare's Life and Times by Michael Best, developing sections on Shakespeare in performance, supporting reference materials, and a good page of links to diverse Shakespeare and Renaissance sites.

"An extraordinary collection of 138 priceless autograph manuscripts, sketches, engravers proofs, and first editions, which were donated to the School in February 2006 by Juilliard Board Chairman Bruce Kovner..."

The Kitchen is a non-profit, interdisciplinary organization that provides innovative artists working in the media, literary, and performing arts exhibition and performance opportunities to create and present new work.

"An archive of 19,281 texts used in Lieder and other classical Art Songs as well as in many choral works and other types of classical vocal pieces...currently includes 31,200 settings and 4,670 translations to English, Italian, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, and other languages."