Performance Design Archive Online

With the Performance Design Archive Online, theatre students and researchers can now truly see "behind the scenes" of the world's greatest dramatic performances. Performance Design Archive Online is the first comprehensive, international collection that covers all aspects of theater production design, from the 17th century through to the present day, including scenic and set design, lighting design, sound design, costume design, and makeup. Bringing together essential books and periodicals, archival material, and specially commissioned instructional videos, the collection will cover design concepts for a broad range of performance types, including dance, theatre, opera, and music.

Browses

Works	Designers	Areas of Design
Archival Collections	Genre	Content Types

Featured Content

Léon Bakst

Léon Bakst (1866-1924) was a Russian painter and scene and costume designer. Bakst was one of the founders and pillars of Sergei Diaghilev's original Ballet Russe and is best remembered as a pioneer of color. His set and costume designs used rich, vibrant colors that were exotic and exciting for the time. The Performance Design Archive Online brings together original Bakst designs, combined with contemporary reviews of Bakst’s work and modern analyses of his contribution to the development of set and costume design.

Theatre Design and Technology (TD&T)

Published quarterly for more than 50 years by The United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) - an organization that aims to advance the skills and knowledge of theatre and performing arts professionals involved in the areas of design, production and technology - Theatre Design and Technology (TD&T) is an essential trade periodical that offers insight on scenography, architecture, technology, and all aspects of the entertainment design and technology world.

The Grieve Family Collection of Theatre Designs

The Grieve Family Collection of Theatre Designs is comprised of hundreds of original scenic designs, including panoramas and perspective ‘cut-outs’ in watercolor and wash by members of the Grieve family. The designs cover performances of various revival productions of Shakespeare plays, along with works by Isaac Pocock, M.R. Lacy, Thomas Otway, Michael Costa, Rossini and others, staged at the Theatre Royal (Drury Lane), the Theatre Royal (Covent Garden), and Her Majesty’s Theatre from 1813 through 1857.