Theatre: Production & Design

Marriott Library offers remote access to over 100 software programs, including LightWright and AutoDesk AutoCAD, which means you can use them on your own computer or laptop without purchasing the software yourself! Training manuals and videos are also available for many software packages.

For general theatre production materials, search the Library Catalog for the exact phrase: Theater -- Production and Direction.

Design research should consider the show's context:

• People: Professions, Social class, Celebrity, Relationships, etc.
• Places: Geographic locations, Cities, Buildings, etc.
• Things: Possessions, Conflicts, etc.
• Ideas: Time periods, Personalities, etc. 

Searching a single concept will yield the most results:

• A search for depression brings back results about economic, geologic, and emotional depressions.

Searching for multiple concepts connected by AND will yield fewer but more-relevant results:

• depressions AND "dust bowl" brings back results mainly about the 1929 economic depression.

Combine synonyms or related terms in parentheses with the word OR:

• depressions AND (family OR families OR child OR children)

For image-rich books, add the phrase (“in art” OR “pictorial works”): 

• depressions AND ("in art" OR "pictorial works")

For dates and time periods, use terms describing an era:

• Golden Age, McCarthy Era, Ming Dynasty, Prohibition, 19th Century, etc.

Or, search for specific people and events that define a time period:

• Kennedy, Madonna, Aristotle, Mao, Montezuma, etc.
• Flappers, apartheid, Woodstock, Boston Tea Party, fops, etc.

Visual and performing artists capture the spirit of their own time period and geographic location:

• Andy Warhol, Virginia Woolf, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Martha Graham, Duke Ellington, Frida Kahlo, Florenz Ziegfeld, etc.

Browse through old magazines and catalogs, both American and foreign.

• Life magazine, Sears catalog, Vogue fashion magazine, Michelin travel guides