Recent TLA News
2016 Louis Rachow Distinguished Service in Performing Arts Librarianship Award and Brooks McNamara Scholarship Winners
The Theatre Library Association Professional Awards Committee is honored to announce the winners of the 2016 Louis Rachow Distinguished Service in Performing Arts Librarianship Award and Brooks McNamara Scholarship. The 2016 Louis Rachow Award goes to Rob Melton, who has had a stellar career as a performing arts information professional, and has been associated with […]
Registration Still Open for TLA Fringe Festival Symposium
The TLA Symposium Planning Committee invites you to register for the upcoming event: Fringe Festivals: Live Theatre on the Edge to be held Thursday, October 13th at the Judson Memorial Church in New York City. This exciting one-day event is bringing together a mix of theatre professionals, academics, and librarian/archivists to talk about the concept […]
Theatre Library Association Announces 2015 Book Award Winners!
The Theatre Library Association is proud to announce the TLA Book Award winners for English language works of scholarship on theatre, film, and broadcasting, published in 2015. The 2015 George Freedley Memorial Award for an exemplary work in the field of live theatre or performance will be awarded to Terry Alford for Fortune’s Fool: The […]
Book Review: Then and Now, a Memoir
Then and Now: a Memoir Barbara Cook with Tom Santopietro New York, NY: Harper, 2016 ISBN 978-0062090461 256 p. The word “legend” is applied with casual abandon these days. A recent New York Times ad hailed Idina Menzel as a “legend” with all of two Broadway shows under her belt. Taking nothing away from […]
Book Review: A Girl’s Got to Breathe: The Life of Teresa Wright
A Girl’s Got to Breathe: The Life of Teresa Wright Donald Spoto Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2016 ISBN 978-1628460452 263 p. Movie and Broadway stars come in all sizes and shapes. A rare few excel both on screen and the live stage, all of which makes the strange case of Teresa Wright (1918-2005) […]
Book Review: The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows Are Built
The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows Are Built. Jack Viertel New York, NY: Sarah Crichton Books, 2016 ISBN 978-0374256920 336 p. Even long-time Shubert Alley denizens will be entertained and enlightened by veteran producer/dramaturge Viertel’s keen yet charming explication and analysis of the inner workings of a typical Broadway musical. The […]
2016 Brooks McNamara Performing Arts Librarian Scholarship
The Theatre Library Association is pleased to sponsor the Brooks McNamara Performing Arts Librarian Scholarship in memory of the achievements of this beloved theater historian, scholar, educator, and mentor. The Brooks McNamara Performing Arts Librarian Scholarship acknowledges outstanding accomplishments of promising students currently enrolled in ALA-accredited MLIS or archival training programs specializing in performing arts […]
Join TLA on the Fringe!
The Theatre Library Association’s Symposium planning committee is pleased to announce our fourth symposium on fringe theatre taking place on October 13, 2016 at the Judson Memorial Church in New York City. This year’s theme is Fringe Festivals : Live theatre on the edge and will include a day-long event bringing together scholars, performers, archivists, […]
Preserving the Future
Part of the appeal of the performing arts is its quintessential ephemerality: performances exist in a particular time and place, in conjunction with a specific group of spectators. The audience is a fundamental element of the performance itself – ask any performer how they play off audience members. A colleague in Arizona named her company […]
Call for Proposals: 2016 ASTR Conference — Theatre Library Association Plenary
Trans(in)formation 2016 ASTR Conference — Theatre Library Association Plenary Call for Proposals November 3-6, 2016 Minneapolis Marriott City Center, Minneapolis, MN Transmission, translation, transformation, transplantation — these are just some of the issues that performing artists, theatre historians, archivists and librarians regularly confront. While the trans- prefix seems ubiquitous today, for the 2016 ASTR Conference, […]