Theatre, Dance & Performance Online

A regularly updating list of online theatre, dance and performances. Many are free or low cost, but your access may vary by location. I will continue to update whenever I have new information.

Recent Favourites

The Pina Bausch Foundation is making some full-length films available online for free. Palermo Palermo is available now with other films and links on her website. If you’re inside self-isolating, why not learn Bausch’s iconic NELKEN-Line?

Robert Wilson’s video portraits are available to view online. Gorgeous, meditative.

Canadian Content

For those of us in Canada, remember to check out all the offerings in Indigenous Films & Media from the National Film Board. Also, Telefilm Canada is making Canadian films available on CBC Gem without ads for the next 6 weeks and TIFF has launched TIFF-Stay at Home Cinema on Crave. (Apologies to those not in Canada, but more fun stuff for everyone below.)

Ontario’s Music Together program is helping musician continue to produce and get paid while live venues remain closed. Artists can apply and the rest of us can enjoy ‘live’ music while sequestered at home. (Donations gratefully accepted)

Lists & Collections

• Dance Archives Online compiled by Rachel Carrico and Jarrod Duby

• Dance Dispatches Dance at Home: list of sites, links and other resources for dance

• Maria Delgado’s Latin-American Streaming Films List.  Thanks, Maria!

• Ollie Jones’ google doc of Theatre Resources here. Thank you, Ollie! (twitter: @oelj)

• Kalle Westerling’s (ever the excellent online resource) calendar of events here.

• New York Theatre moving online here. Thanks to Jonathan Mandall for these!

• Playwrights offering writing workshops online. More here.

• Society of American Archivists Performing Arts Section google doc here.

Online Plays & Performances (collections, ongoing)

• Alvin Ailey All Access (US, free streaming & interactive content)

• Berlin’s Schaubühne nightly livestream (Germany, free)

• La Comédie-Française on YouTube (France, free)

• Dance Land (mostly free, streaming global dance)

• DPS Online – Dramatists Play Service (US, free)

• Howlround (some performances, artists talks, symposia, US)

  • See, Downtown Variety

• Indigenous Films & Media from NFB (Canada)

  • follow @ImagineNATIVE on twitter for recommendations

• kanopy performing arts (available through many university and public libraries)

• National Arts Centre Orchestra midday livestream concerts (Canada, free)

• National Theatre at Home (Thursdays, free on YouTube)

• On the Boards (Seattle, US, available through many university and public libraries, individual low-cost access)

• Playbill.com List of Online Shakespeare Readings (free)

• Play Me Podcast (audio drama)

• Playing on Air (podcast theatre, Sunday nights, free but taking donations)

• Play-per-View (USD$5-50 donation, ongoing series)

• Social Distancing Festival (global, streaming performance, donate if you can)

• Patrick Stewart reading a sonnet a day (free)

• Kris Verdonck (artist website, Belgium)

• BroadwayHD (paid)

• Digital Theatre (paid)

• Drama Online (paid)

• The Globe and Mail has a list here.

• The Guardian has a list here. (Updated regularly)

• The New York Times has a list here.

• The Observer has a list here.

• Pointe Magazine has a list here.

• The Art Newspaper has a list of online & virtual exhibits here.

Individual Performances

• I, Malvolio by Tim Crouch (free at vimeo)

• Gloria and Toni Stone at American Conservatory of Theatre (online, for sale)

• “Parade” au Théâtre du Châtelet (free)

• The Rest I Make Up (film; dir. Michelle Memran, re: Maria Irene Fornes, free for limited time)

Digital Reads & Audiobooks

• Audible Children’s Books (free)

• Cambridge Textbooks (free)

• Canadian Play Outlet (all plays $12)

• Folger Shakespeare Library (free)

• National Emergency Library (free access to books while physical libraries are closed)

• Public Books Database (free)

• Proquest Digital Book Access (free)

• Verso Books (80% off ebooks)

If you’re sequestered with a theatre and performance library, you can support global theatre graduate students by scanning and sharing your personal library with grads through the Personal Library Loan site. Thanks to Chris Woodworth for this great initiative.

Other

• The Art Newspaper’s links to video art online (links)

• The Castello di Rivoli in Turin (digital tours & video)

• Cultural Heritage Collections (free)

• Electronic Art Intermix (some free, by subscription)

• Eyebeam statement on covid-19 (US)

• Hermitage (5-hour youtube video through Russia’s Hermitage Museum)

• Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid – Rembrandt and Portraiture in Amsterdam, 1590-1670 (online video)

• Music Together (Canada, donation)

• Doug Reside’s Tour of the Hal Prince exhibit at New York Public Library (video)

• Ubu Web (video, sound art, free)