THEA 1380 Intro to Theatre Aesthetics

Giving credit to people and sources you draw information or inspiration from is important. In doing so, you: 

• Acknowledge artists, photographers, and institutions
• Help others retrace your research path
• Model ethical scholarly and creative practice
• Support fair use in educational and design contexts

Directors or dramaturgs might cite:

• Formally, in dramaturgy research packets, essays or study guides
  • Vilhelm Hammershøi, Interior with Young Woman Seen from the Back, 1903, Hirschsprung Collection, Copenhagen.
  • A Doll’s House (National Theatre Live), directed by Carrie Cracknell, 2012. National Theatre, London. YouTube, uploaded by National Theatre, 2020, https://youtu.be/example.
  • In-text use (MLA style):
    • As seen in the National Theatre’s 2012 production directed by Carrie Cracknell (A Doll’s House), the use of doorframes as psychological boundaries directly influenced our staging choices.
• Conversationally, for program notes or production materials
  • “This production draws inspiration from the work of Pina Bausch and the photography of Diane Arbus. We also looked to Vilhelm Hammershøi’s muted interiors (1900s, Hirschsprung Collection) for the atmosphere of Nora’s home.”

Set, costume, and lighting designers might cite:

• Formally, in grant applications, portfolios, design renderings, and production websites or exhibits
  • Visual inspiration drawn from Vilhelm Hammershøi’s Interior, Strandgade 30 (1905, National Gallery of Denmark).
  • Costume silhouettes reference Charles Frederick Worth day dresses (ca. 1880, Metropolitan Museum of Art).
• Conversationally, in talkbacks, artist statements, or interviews
  • “We studied Hammershøi’s interiors for how they use natural light to suggest emotional distance—those paintings really guided our lighting approach. And when we watched Carrie Cracknell’s National Theatre production, we were struck by the stark white palette and tried echoing that in the set texture.”
  • “The silhouette of Nora’s costume borrows from a Worth gown in the Met’s collection—those strong bodices and soft skirts felt perfect for a woman on the verge of breaking free.”

The most often used citation styles for the Theatre Arts are MLA Handbook for Writers and the Chicago Manual of Style.

Some good resources are:

• MLA Formatting and Style Guide at Purdue's Online Writing Lab

• Chicago style guide - Purdue OWL

• Chicago Manual of Style Online

Image from the Internet, Example: 

van Gogh, Vincent.  "Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat (obverse: The Potato Peeler)." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1887, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436532. Accessed 3 Jan 2019.

Image from a Database, Example: 

van Gogh, Vincent. Self-portrait with a Straw Hat (verso: The Potato Peeler). 1887. Artstor, libproxy.fitsuny.edu:2717/asset/MMA_IAP_1039651908

Image in Print, Example: 

van Gogh, Vincent. Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat (obverse: The Potato Peeler). 1887, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

Picture in a Book of a Print Image, Example:

van Gogh, Vincent. Self-Portrait, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Van Gogh in Arles, by Ronald Pickvance, Harry N. Abrams, 1984, p. 34.

Personal Photograph, Example:

Smith, Jane. Photograph of Self in Front of Rothko Painting. 25 Sept. 2015. Author's personal collection.

Adapted from Gladys Marcus Library, Fashion Institute of Technology.

Zotero (pronounced "zoh-TAIR-oh") is a browser tool that collects, manages, and cites research sources. It's easy to use, lives in your web browser where you do your work, and best of all it's free. Zotero allows you to attach PDFs, notes and images to your citations, organize them into collections for different projects, and create bibliographies using Word or OpenOffice. 

Since it's a browser plugin, it automatically updates itself periodically to work with new online sources and new bibliographic styles.

Zotero Quick Start Guide

See also this great guide published by the Zotero developers themselves. Also available as a PDF.

Baylor Zotero Resource

Go to https://libguides.baylor.edu/zotero for more information on how to install and use Zotero.

Click to watch a screencast video of a virtual Zotero tutorial recorded by Ellen Filgo on 8/28/20

Zotero.org has a link to more great video tutorials on their site:

Zotero Screencast Tutorials