NMSU Theatre Arts Departmental Reading List
(updated 7/15/2019)
Plays
Aeschylus Oresteia (Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, Eumenides)
Albee, Edward Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Anonymous Everyman, Abraham and Isaac
Aristophanes Lysistrata
Auburn, David Proof
Baitz, Jon Robin Other Desert Cities
Beckett, Samuel Endgame, Happy Days, Waiting for Godot
Booth Luce, Clare The Women
Brecht, Bertolt The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Mother Courage and Her Children
Chekhov, Anton The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, Three Sisters
Churchill, Caryl Cloud 9
Coward, Noel Hay Fever, Private Lives
Cruz, Nilo Anna in the Tropics
Dumas fils, Alexandre La Dame aux Camélias
Etherege, George The Man of Mode
Euripides The Bacchae Hippolytus, Medea
Farquhar, George The Beaux’ Stratagem
Feydeau, Georges A Flea in Her Ear
Frayn, Michael Copenhagen, Noises Off
Fugard, Athol Master Harold and the Boys, The Road to Mecca
Gay, John The Beggar’s Opera
Glaspell, Susan Trifles
Gogol, Nicolai The Inspector General
Guare, John The House of Blue Leaves
Gunderson, Lauren Silent Sky
Hansberry, Lorraine A Raisin in the Sun
Hellman, Lillian The Children’s Hour
Henley, Beth Crimes of the Heart
Hwang, David Henry M. Butterfly
Ionesco, Eugene The Bald Soprano, The Chairs
Ibsen, Henrik A Doll’s House, Ghosts, The Master Builder
Jones, LeRoi Dutchman
(Amiri Baraka)
Jonson, Ben Volpone
Kanin, Garson Born Yesterday
Kaufman, George S.
and Moss Hart The Man Who Came to Dinner, Once in a Lifetime
Kushner, Tony Angels in America I: Millennium Approaches
LaBute, Neil The Shape of Things
Lorca, Federico Garcia Blood Wedding, The House of Bernada Alba
Lillo, George The London Merchant
Mamet, David Oleanna
Margulies, Donald Dinner With Friends
Marlowe, Christopher Doctor Faustus
Medoff, Mark Children of a Lesser God, When You Comin’ Back Red Ryder
Middleton, Thomas
and William Rowley The Changeling
Miller, Arthur After the Fall, Death of a Salesman, A View from the Bridge
Molière The Misanthrope, Tartuffe
Nichols, Peter Passion Play
Norman, Marsha ‘night, Mother
Odets, Clifford Awake and Sing!, Waiting For Lefty
O’Neill, Eugene Beyond the Horizon, Desire Under the Elms, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Mourning Becomes Electra
Orton, Joe Loot, What the Butler Saw
Parks, Suzan-Lori The America Play
Pinter, Harold The Homecoming
Pirandello, Luigi Six Characters in Search of an Author
Priestley, J.B. An Inspector Calls, Time and the Conways
Racine, Jean Phaedra
Rostand, Edmond Cyrano de Bergerac
Ruhl, Sarah The Clean House
Saroyan, William The Time of Your Life
Sartre, Jean Paul No Exit
Shaffer, Anthony Murderer
Shaffer, Peter Equus
Shakespeare, William Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, Twelfth Night
Shaw, George Bernard Candida, Mrs. Warren’s Profession
Shepard, Sam Buried Child, True West
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley The Critic, The School for Scandal
Simon, Neil Brighton Beach Memoirs
Sophocles Antigone, Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus
Steele, Richard The Conscious Lovers
Stoppard, Tom Arcadia Travesties
Strindberg, August Miss Julie, The Father
Treadwell, Sophie Machinal
Valdez, Luis Zoot Suit
Vogel, Paula How I Learned to Drive
Wasserstein, Wendy The Heidi Chronicles, Uncommon Women and Others
Webster, John The Duchess of Malfi
Wedekind, Frank Spring Awakening
Weiss, Peter Marat/Sade
Wilde, Oscar The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windermere’s Fan, Salome
Wilder, Thornton Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth
Williams, Tennessee Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire
Wilson, August Fences
Wycherley, William The Country Wife
Musical Theatre
Musicals
Gershwin, George
and Dubose Heyward Porgy and Bess
Kander, John
and Fred Ebb Cabaret
Kirkwood, James
and Marvin Hamlisch,
Edward Kleban A Chorus Line
Larson, Jonathan Rent
Laurents, Arthur, and
Leonard Bernstein,
Stephen Sondheim West Side Story
Laurents, Arthur, and
Stephen Sondheim,
Jule Styne Gypsy
Lerner, Alan J. and
Frederick Loewe Camelot, My Fair Lady
Rodgers, Richard, and
Oscar Hammerstein II Oklahoma!, The Sound of Music, South Pacific
Sondheim, Stephen,
and James Goldman Follies
Sondheim, Stephen
and Hugh Wheeler A Little Night Music
Stein, Joseph, and
Jerry Bock, Sheldon
Harnick Fiddler on the Roof
Musical Theatre History
Leon, Ruth “The Sound Of Musical”
McMillin, Scott “The Musical As Drama”
Miller, Scott “Strike Up The Band: A New History of Musical Theatre”
Aesthetics, Theory, History, and Criticism
Acting
Adler, Stella “The Art of Acting”
Barton, Robert “Style for Actors”
Bogart, Anne, and Tina Landau “The Viewpoints Book”
Bruder, Melissa “A Practical Handbook for the Actor”
Chekhov, Michael “To the Actor”
Chekhov, Michael “On the Technique of Acting”
Cohen, Robert “Acting One”
Cole, Toby, and Helen Chinoy “Actors on Acting”
Hagen, Uta “Respect for Acting”
Hagen, Uta “A Challenge for the Actor”
Meisner, Sanford “Sanford Meisner on Acting”
Shurtleff, Michael “Audition”
Stanislavsky, Constantine “An Actor Prepares, Building a Character, Creating a Role”
Costuming
Arnold, Janet “Pattern of Fashion” (2 volumes)
Corson, Richard “Stage Makeup”
Cunningham, Rebecca “The Magic Garment”
Ingham, Rosemary, and Liz Covey “The Costume Technician’s Handbook”
Laver, James “The Concise History of Fashion”
Directing
Albert, David “Rehearsal Management for Directors”
Brook, Peter “The Empty Space”
Cole, Toby, and Helen Chinoy “Directors on Directing”
Jones, David Richard “Great Directors at Work”
History, Theory, and Criticism
Aristotle “Poetics”
Bentley, Eric, ed. “Theory of the Modern Stage”
Brockett, Oscar “History of the Theatre” (10th edition)
Caputi, Anthony, ed. “Eight Modern Plays”
Carlson, Marvin “Theories of the Theatre”
Clurman, Harold “The Fervent Years”
Dukore, Bernard, ed. “Dramatic Theory and Criticism”
Golden, Leon, and O.B. Hardison “Aristotle’s Poetics: A Translation and Commentary for Students of Literature”
Hart, Moss “Act One”
Hartnoll, Phyllis, ed. “The Theatre: A Concise History” (4th ed)
Jacobus, Leo, ed. “The Bedford Introduction to Drama” (7th ed)
Miller, Arthur “Timebends”
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques “Politics and the Arts” (“Letter to M. D’Alembert”)
Lighting
Hays, David “Light on the Subject”
Pilbrow, Richard “Stage Lighting”
Rosenthal, Jean “The Magic of Light”
Schiller, Brad “The Automated Lighting Programmer’s Handbook”
Shelley, Steven Louis “A Practical Guide to stage Lighting”
Props
Thurston, James “Theatre Props Handbook”
Set Design
Aronson, Arnold “American Set Design”
Carter, Paul, and George Chiang “Backstage Handbook: An Illustrated Almanac of Technical Information”
Crabtree, Susan, and Peter Beudert “Scenic Art for the Theatre”
Payne, Darwin Reid “Design for the Stage”
Jones, Robert Edmund “The Dramatic Imagination”
Ma, Wenhai “Scene Design: Rendering and Media”
Pecktal, Lynn “Designing and Drawing for the Theatre Designing and Painting for the Theatre”
Rose, Rich “Drafting Scenery for Theatre, Film, and Television”
Woodbridge, Patricia, and Hal Tine “Designer Drafting and Visualizing for the Entertainment World”
Scenery
A.S. Gillette/J. Michael Gillette “Stage Scenery: It’s Construction and Rigging”
John Holloway “Illustrated Theatre Production Guide”
Jay O. Glerum “Stage Rigging Handbook”
J. Michael Gillette “Theatrical Design and Production”
Sound
Collison, David “Stage Sound”
