Skip to main content
Theatre Books
Updated over a week ago

Acting

Barton, Robert. Acting: Onstage and Off. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2009.

Crawford, Jerry, and Joan Snyder. Acting in Person And in Style. 5th ed. Waveland, 2010.

Franklin, Miriam. Rehearsal. Literary Licensing, 2012.

Hagen, Uta, with Haskel Frankel. Respect for Acting. 2nd ed. Wiley, 2008.

McGaw, Charles. Acting Is Believing. 11th ed. Cengage Learning, 2011.

Tanner, Fran. Basic Drama Projects. 9th ed. Perfection Learning, 2015.

Costumes

Cassin-Scott, Jack. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Costumes and Fashion from 1066 to the Present. Cassel, 2006.

Ingham, Rosemary, and Liz Covey. The Costume Technician’s Handbook. Prentice-Hall, 2022.

Wilcox, Ruth Turner. Five Centuries of American Costume. Dover, 2011.

Directing

Catron, Louis E. The Director’s Vision: Play Direction from Analysis to Production. Waveland, 2010.

Dean, Alexander, and Lawrence Carra. Fundamentals of Play Directing. 5th ed. Waveland, 2009.

Hauser, Frank, and Russell Reich. Notes on Directing: 130 Lessons in Leadership from the Director’s Chair. Reprint ed. Walker, 2008.

Robinson, Mary L. Directing Plays, Directing People: A Collaborative Art. Smith & Kraus, 2012.

Sievers, David W. Directing for the Theatre. 3rd ed. WBC/McGraw-Hill, 1974.

History

Barranger, Milly S. Theatre Past and Present. Wadsworth, 1984.

Brockett, Oscar G., and Franklin J. Hildy. History of the Theatre. 10th ed. Pearson, 2007.

Improvisational Acting

Barker, Clive. Theatre Games. Black, 2010.

Frost, Anthony, and Ralph Yarrow. Improvisation in Drama. 2nd ed. Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

Libera, Anne. The Second City Almanac of Improvisation. Northwestern University Press, 2004.

Spolin, Viola. Theatre Games for the Classroom. Northwestern University Press, 1986.

Spragge, Andrew M. and Karen L. Eichler. The 5 Elements of Improv: How to Take Your Improv to the Next Level (Masters of Improv). CreateSpace, 2017.

Lighting

Gillette, J. Michael and Michael McNamara. Designing With Light: An Introduction to Stage Lighting. 7th ed. Routledge, 2020.

Wolf, R. Craig, and Dick Block. Scene Design and Stage Lighting. 10th ed. Cengage Learning, 2013.

Makeup

Baker, Patricia. Wigs and Make-up for Theatre, Film, and Television. Routledge, 2016.

Corson, Richard. Stage Makeup. 9th ed. Allyn & Bacon, 2000.

Davis, Gretchen, and Mindy Hall. The Makeup Artist Handbook. 3rd ed. Routledge, 2017.

Movement

Lust, Annette. Bringing the Body to the Stage and Screen. Scarecrow Press, 2011.

Sabatine, Jean, with David Hodge. The Actor’s Image: Movement Training for Stage and Screen. Simon & Schuster, 1983.

Play Production

Gillette, Michael. Theatrical Design and Production. 7th ed. McGraw-Hill, 2013.

Stern, Lawrence. Stage Management. 10th ed. Allyn & Bacon, 2012.

Kaluta, John. The Perfect Stage Crew: The Complete Technical Guide for High School, College, and Community Theater. Allworth, 2016.

Kelly, Thomas. A Backstage Guide To Stage Management. 3rd ed. Back Stage Books, 2009.

Plays

Coleman, Wim. Nine Muses: Modern Plays from Classic Myths. 1st ed. Perfection Learning Corporation, 2001.

Kimmel, Mike. One-Minute Monologues for Teens: 100 Original Monologues. Ben Rose Creative Arts, 2020.

PLC editors. Drama for Reading & Performance: Collections One and Two. Perfection Learning Corporation, 2008.

PLC editors. Page to Stage: Plays from Classic Literature. 1st ed. Perfection Learning Corporation, 2002.

Scenery

Adler, Phoebe, ed. Behind the Scenes: Contemporary Set Design. Black Dog Publishing, 2014.

Campbell, Drew. Technical Theater for Nontechnical People. 2nd ed. Allworth, 2004.

Gillette, Arnold, and Michael Gillette. Theatrical Design and Production. 7th ed. McGraw-Hill, 2012.

Sporre, Dennis, and Robert Burroughs. Scene Design in Theatre. Prentice-Hall, 1990.

Did this answer your question?