Blog Posts by Subject: Theatre

Join us for an Author @ the Library talk this March at Mid-Manhattan Library to hear distinguished non-fiction authors discuss their work and answer your questions.

Why is Margaret Mather's 1882 performance as Juliet, in William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet,' so well remembered? Perhaps this illustration of the balcony scene, apparently in her own hand, has something to do with it.

The 2015-2016 Broadway theater season is being hailed as one of the most diverse on record. Is this slate of shows featuring African Americans on Broadway unprecedented? Let’s look take a look back into American theater history to approximately 70 years ago.

Florence Mills was famed for her birdlike voice as well as her spontaneous dancing during her numbers. She was one of the most popular entertainers of the early 1920s in New York, London, and Paris, and yet, perhaps because she died at age 32, her fame has not survived.

A love letter from musician and composer Nathan Woodard to his wife and creative collaborator Alice Childress.

An unassuming black notebook contains the earliest draft of Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest, written by hand and with the author’s frequent emendations.

Today’s letter features correspondence between Arturo Alfonso Schomburg and Langston Hughes. In the excerpt below, Schomburg speaks with Hughes regarding acquisitions for The Division of Negro Literature, History and Prints—the forerunner to today’s Schomburg Center.

This month, thanks to the Library’s release of all of our high resolution photographs of objects with no known U.S. copyright restrictions, the promptbook, the sheet music, and the photos may be used without restriction for any purpose, including commercially.

These double and triple exposures made more memorable headshots which showed multiple aspects of the performer. At worst, they interfered with the casting directors' ability to imagine the performer in roles.

There are at least three portraits from this studio session with the same elegant profile, hair, make-up, jewelry, and blouse. The raw silk blouse, with its uniquely draped sleeve, is an unusual choice for a head shot, since the sunburst effect of the sleeve cap commands the eye.

If you’ve never heard of Dulcie Cooper, don’t worry, there’s still time to get familiar: two portraits of her are on display in Head Shots through December 30.

In the 1954 and 1955 seasons, two lavish productions of Alice in Wonderland were premiered on television. In each case, they were developed to attract families to the presenting series and their sponsors.

Hill continues to be lauded for his capital investment in the development of "Harlem's Little Library Theatre," as well as his cultivation of the black genre of American theater.

A winner of five Emmys and two Golden Globes, John Lithgow is one of America's most accomplished actors. He's also the author of the memoir Drama: An Actor’s Education. For this week's episode of the New York Public Library Podcast, we're proud to present John Lithgow discussing Shakespeare, his father, and bedtime stories.

General works, plays, biography, images, and archives pertaining to Yiddish Theater.

Harlem-raised Canada Lee, who the New York Times once called “the greatest Negro actor of his day” has been almost totally forgotten in recent history. Lee began acting when his friend suggested he do a reading, and soon found himself protecting a young maverick director named Orson Welles, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship.

The cartes de visite, cabinet photographs and stereograms of Kate Claxton, an intensely photogenic actress.

Little Nemo opened on Broadway at the opulent New Amsterdam Theatre on October 20, 1908, after a three-week tryout in Philadelphia. According to the New York Times, the city had “seen nothing bigger or better in extravaganza than ‘Little Nemo.’” It had also never seen a theatrical production more expensive.

During the Elizabethan era, traveling troupes of actors would perform in different towns throughout the United Kingdom. Inspired by these theatrical artists, Horace Bushnell Cheney and his wife Alice Keating Cheney established the Jitney Players in the United States in 1923.