Collection Policies

THEATER

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The theater collection primarily supports the instructional needs of the students and faculty of the drama program in the Opera, Musical Theater, Drama, and Arts Administration Division of the University of Cincinnati's College Conservatory of Music.  The program offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts.  The M.F.A. is the terminal degree in the performing arts program..
 

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF COLLECTION

The collection is geared to performance and in that sense its primary material is the play script.  However, performance depends on a wide variety of materials from other disciplines in the humanities such as art, music and mythology/religion as well as reviews, adaptations and secondary works found in the study of drama.

The collection overlaps and coordinates with related programs in CCM, such as musical theater and stage design, as well as with DAAP programs such as fashion design.  Fashion design materials, specifically costume design for the theater, are housed in the DAAP Library and coordinated with the art librarian.  Accordingly, materials such as musical scores and librettos are coordinated with the music librarian and that material is housed at the CCM Library.
 

SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF THE COLLECTION

The collection is a working collection for performance and production.  Play scripts and technical stagecraft materials are collected.  Additional material for studying period and locale are not collected but depend on other collections to support background study for performance or stage production.

Call numbers: range in the PN/PR/PS for scripts with technical materials located in the M/N/T. 

Format: Film and video formats of dramatic performances and adaptations also support the instructional objective of the collection.  Those purchases generally depend on media funds.

Currency :  Current playwrights and some recently discovered older materials from the classics through various time periods are collected: 

Language : Only English language materials are collected; the scope is all encompassing, including African, Eastern, Asian, Latin and European playwrights and productions.
 

ACQUISITION PROCESS

Materials are acquired through an approval plan and firm order.  The collection does not draw on many gifts.  There are no endowments
 

Rosemary Franklin 
Theater Bibliographer
Revised  4/18/02