Theatre and Drama Exhibit

All the World's a Stage:
Showing the Theatrical and Dramatic Treasures of Special Collections

The theatre district in New York known as Broadway fully emerged as a center for the drama and the performing arts during the 1920s and 1930s.

SDSU's Special Collections and University Archives houses rare books and manuscript collections that include materials from this area called "The Great White Way" because of the brilliance of the lights that illuminate it.

Image to the left: Established at the start of the twentieth century, The Theatre: An Illustrated Magazine of Theatrical and Musical Life, often featured Broadway actors and actresses on its covers. Magazine cover plate, 1902.

Items on display here were drawn from the John R. and Jane Adams Postcard Collection, the Vince Meades Sheet Music Collection, the Mona Mitchell Theatre Program Collection, and the Theatre Magazine Collection.

Image to the right: "Aquarius" from the musical Hair, 1968. Sheet music. (Meades Collection)

Souvenir program for the circa 1955-1956 production of My Fair Lady. (SDSU Theatre Program Collection)