TD Resources

As the topic of resources have come up quite a bit lately, I thought I would take today's blog an mention some of the resources that are available.

The Stagecraft Mailing List
http://stagecraft.theprices.net/lists.html
This is one of may favorite sources of information. It is an active list, and the subscribers have a wide range of backgrounds. While the list does go off-topic occasionally, it is a great tool.

Yale Tech Briefs
http://www.yale.edu/drama/publications/index.html
While the information isn't available online, you can subscribe to it. If you are able, I would suggest finding the back issues, as there are alot of good ideas in the issues. each tech Brief is based off of a problem encountered in production, and a solution to solve the issue. There is also 2 volume set of technical solutions that pull from the tech briefs. While there were minor revisions for clarity, if you have the entire collection of tech briefs, the books would be repetitive.

USITT Tech Expo publications
Very similar to the Yale Tech Brief collection. Every other year USITT hosts a tech expo on which ideas are submitted and chosen that help create solutions to production challenges. The last edition came out a few weeks ago at the last USITT conference in Phoenix, AZ.

USITT Technical Production Commission
http://www.patrickimmel.com/usitt/techprod/tech_prod_index.htm
This site has 2 things of interest. First, they publish an online version tech briefs/tech expo types of solutions called the Technical Source Guide. Secondly, there are notes listed on the site from a few of the past USITT conference sessions.

Stage Directions
A magazine which you can subscribe to for free, now features a monthly column on technical direction and focuses on innovation solutions.
http://www.stage-directions.com/

TD&T
Also put out by USITT, this focuses on the wider industry, but has a range of information that is valuable to a TD.

http://www.theatrecrafts.com/
A website that has links for different areas of technical production. The amount of information varies by what you are looking for, but still a useful site to check out.

Theatre Crafts (magazine)
If you are connected to a university library you may be able to find an older publication called Theatre Crafts. They went through some minor changes, and older editions seem to be more useful than they newer versions, but it is still a valuable resource. This magazine became Theatre Crafts International, and then Entertainment Design

http://www.clarion.edu/library/theatrepathfinder.html
The above site talks about how to use the library for theatre research. While it is geared for a specific library, call numbers, the book and periodical lists are still very useful.

http://www.betsyda.com/etc/stagecraft.html
http://www.main.nc.us/openstudio/mta/techlnks.htm
These sites are a source of a variety of links to additional places to look for information.

http://www.hstech.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
This Site is run by Scott Parker, a member of the stagecraft mailing list. While geared for High School, there is some great information on the site.

Other magazines include:
Live Design, Lighting Dimensions, American Theatre

I am sure I have missed a few, but these are the major sources that I look at other than product catalogs, books, and material research . Let me know if I have neglected to mention a resource that you find useful.