L.A. Theatre Works Audio Collection to Join Bloomsbury Publishing's Drama Online

By: Mar. 18, 2014
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Bloomsbury Publishing, the UK's leading publisher of dramatic texts, is thrilled to announce that L.A. Theatre Works will be joining Drama Online with a new audio collection launching in January, 2015. The addition of 400+ audio files of recorded plays will add another dimension to the 1000+ play texts on the platform, allowing students to engage with the plays as performed as well as read.

Responding to increasing demand for a high quality online research tool for drama and literature students, professors and teachers, Drama Online www.dramaonlinelibrary.com was launched in March, 2013, featuring content from Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, The Arden Shakespeare and Faber and Faber. It currently contains over 1,000 plays in a fully cross searchable format which allows students to interact with Character Grids and Part Books, as well as search for plays via cast size and monologues via gender. From January, 2015, the collection will grow significantly to accommodate new content partner, Nick Hern Books. Drama Online is used in leading higher education institutions around the world including Yale, Juilliard, Oxford University, Trinity College Dublin, RADA and NIDA and has been nominated for several publishing awards and was Highly Commended by the Associated of Learned and Professional Society Publishers for publishing innovation.

L.A. Theatre Works is a non-profit media arts organization based in Los Angeles whose mission for nearly 40 years has been to present, preserve and disseminate classic and contemporary plays. Their unique hybrid form of audio theatre and innovative use of technology in the production and dissemination of theatre keeps this venerable art form thriving, assuring wide and affordable access.

The LATW Audio Theatre Collection of more than 400 recorded plays is the largest library of its kind in the world. Titles by Arthur Miller, Oscar Wilde and Sophocles rub shoulders with contemporary classics by David Mamet, Wendy Wasserstein, and Tom Stoppard as well as newer voices, including Jon Robin Baitz, Kenneth Lonergan, Rebecca Gilman, Lynn Nottage, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Julie Marie Myatt, and Lydia Diamond. L.A. Theatre Works' audio productions have received awards from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Writers Guild of America, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Audio Publishers Association, among others.

Jenny Ridout, Editorial Director for Drama Online at Bloomsbury says "L.A. Theatre Works provides an unrivalled collection of audio recordings of key canonical and contemporary works by leading playwrights performed by prominent actors. It adds real depth and dynamism to the resource. We are delighted to be working with such a high quality content partner, especially one that is so focused on educational needs."

Susan Loewenberg, Producing Director of LATW says, "We are truly excited about this new partnership which will provide an invaluable learning tool. Adding our audio works to the Drama Online library will enhance understanding of these plays and allow students to fully experience their emotional impact - as they hear characters interact and gain full appreciation for the nuances that performances add to the words written on the page."

LATW audio content will made available through Drama Online from January, 2015 as streamed audio files, easily discoverable through specialist indexing and advanced search, as well as linked to other related texts and scholarly works in the site. Pricing, technical information and a title list will be available later on this year.

For more information about subscriptions, trials and pricing get in touch with your local Drama Online sales representative: www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/pages/how-to-subscribe.



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