Theatre, Dance, and Film

252 plays by 42 Asian American playwrights, accompanied by searchable information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. Includes selected playbills, production photographs, and other ephemera. Half of the plays are previously unpublished.

1,462 plays by 233 African American playwrights, accompanied by searchable information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. Includes selected playbills, production photographs, and other ephemera. 600 of the plays are previously unpublished.

• Up-to-the-moment access to Globe.com with no limit on the number of articles viewed.
• Access will be available for the next 3 days (72 hours). A limited number of passes may be issued each day.
• After 3 days, simply come back and click the above link again and register again to regain access.

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The full-page images of this digitized newspaper provide genealogists, researchers and scholars with cover-to-cover access to recent newspaper content. Every page is full-text searchable. Coverage extends to within days of the current issue.

Up-to-the-moment access to www.bostonherald.com with no limit on the number of articles viewed. Choose 72-hour authenticated access or 24-hour anonymous access. Coverage: 2006-present

Primary sources relating to the arts in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, including playbills, scripts, operas, scores, letters, manuscripts, meeting minutes, and financial records.

Up-to-the-moment access to www.sentinelandenterprise.com with no limit on the number of articles viewed. Choose 72-hour authenticated access or 24-hour anonymous access. Coverage: 2006-present

Full-text journal and magazine articles and citations covering the sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature, and other subjects. Coverage:1901-present; most full-text coverage after 1980.

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Encyclopedias and other specialized reference sources covering the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences, including medicine, business, law, and more.

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Search millions of articles about drama, music, art history, and filmmaking. Diverse resource for serious fine arts students.

Cross-search Gale OneFile, Gale In Context, and Gale eBooks. Subjects include: agriculture, biography, business, communications and mass media, criminal justice, culinary arts, diversity studies, economics and theory, environmental studies and policy, fine arts, gardening and horticulture, gender studies, global issues, health and medicine, high school edition, home improvement, hospitality and tourism, information science, insurance and liability, leadership and management, military and intelligence, news, nursing and allied health, opposing viewpoints, physical therapy and sports medicine, pop culture studies, popular magazines, psychology, religion and philosophy, science, U.S. history, war and terrorism, and world history.

Cross-search all Gale databases to which BPL subscribes. Subjects include: agriculture, biography, business, communications and mass media, criminal justice, culinary arts, diversity studies, economics and theory, environmental studies and policy, fine arts, gardening and horticulture, gender studies, global issues, health and medicine, high school edition, home improvement, hospitality and tourism, information science, insurance and liability, leadership and management, military and intelligence, news, nursing and allied health, opposing viewpoints, physical therapy and sports medicine, pop culture studies, popular magazines, psychology, religion and philosophy, science, U.S. history, war and terrorism, and world history.

Poetry, short fiction, novels, and more than 450 plays by U.S. writers of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Central American, and South American heritage, including previously unpublished and rare materials.

Up-to-the-moment access to www.lowellsun.com with no limit on the number of articles viewed. Choose 72-hour authenticated access or 24-hour anonymous access. Coverage: 2006-present

The New Oxford Shakespeare presents an entirely new consideration of all of Shakespeare's works, edited from first principles from the base-texts themselves, and drawing on the latest textual and theatrical scholarship.

Searchable full-page and article reproductions back to the first issue on Sept 18, 1851.

Text- only articles (not page reproductions).  Does not contain all content found in the published version of the Times, such as advertisements, charts, classified ads, graphs, most images, and non-staff written articles. Updated daily by 8 a.m.

Up-to-the-moment access to nytimes.com with no limit on the number of articles viewed. Read today's news stories as they happen.

Unlimited access while connected to the internet at the library. A limited number of 72-hour passes are available daily for home or remote use. Access may be restricted once the daily limit is reached.

This resource requires you to create a free individual account. You may use your existing nytimes.com account, if you have one.

244 plays by 48 North American Indian playwrights, accompanied by searchable information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. More than half of the plays are previously unpublished.

1,517 plays by 330 North American women playwrights, accompanied by searchable information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. Includes selected playbills, production photographs, and other ephemera. Over 30% of the plays are previously unpublished.

Full-text journal articles in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, including ethnic studies, women’s studies, history, and more. Coverage: 1972-present.

Indexes articles, book reviews, poems, and short stories from general-interest U.S. periodicals, including Time, Newsweek, and Ladies’ Home Journal.

Contains the complete backfile of Rolling Stone, from its launch in 1967 to 2018. It has been a leading vehicle for rock and popular music journalism, as well as covering wider entertainment topics such as film and popular culture.

1,905 plays by 419 playwrights, accompanied by searchable information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. Includes selected playbills, production photographs, and other ephemera.

Streaming audio performances of more than 290 important dramatic works of the 19^th-21^st centuries, from the curated archive of the nation’s premiere radio theatre company.

Over 600 performances and over 600 documentaries, interviews, and instructional videos featuring the most influential performers and companies of the 20th century, including ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, experimental, and improvisational dance, as well as forerunners of the forms and the pioneers of modern concert dance.

Hoopla will be discontinued as of September 30, 2025. Learn more in this post, "Evolving our Digital Library: What’s New, What’s Changing."

Movies, TV shows, music, eBooks, and comics for online streaming or download to mobile devices, with no waiting lists. Borrow up to 7 items per calendar month.

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Kanopy includes acclaimed movies and documentaries on-demand from award-winning filmmakers. Browse the collection of over 30,000 documentaries, classic films, world cinema, popular movies and films for children of all ages.

Each month BPL patrons receive 18 tickets. Depending on the length and viewing period of each title, movies in Kanopy will require between 0-5 tickets per viewing. You can see your remaining tickets for the month in the top-right corner of the homepage.

Note: Kanopy Kids doesn't use tickets. You can access an unlimited number of Kanopy Kids titles each month.

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A database which provides audio and video in order to provide music teaching materials spanning all time periods and genres of music and dance.

Over 200 performances selected for their importance to the operatic canon, as well as over 60 interviews and documentaries representing the world’s best performers, conductors, and opera houses.

These high-definition, surround-sound recordings of William Shakespeare's plays featuring the world's best Shakespearean actors bring performances filmed at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Stratford-upon-Avon theater to your computer screen.

Over 150 definitive dramatic performances and over 300 documentaries and interviews featuring directors, designers, writers, and performers. Videos include closed captioning and synchronized scrolling transcripts.