Adding a Play or Theatrical Production

When adding information about a play, you can choose to add information about either the play itself (such as the playwright, date written, etc.) or about a specific production of the play (such as the cast and director). In either case, feel free to enter as much or as little data as you know, and bear in mind that not every property will be filled in for every play or production. Note that for our purposes, a musical is considered a type of play. Operas, however, will have their own domain. For borderline cases, use your best judgment or ask about it on the discussion board.

Adding a play:

• The property playwright should be used for both the writer of a play and the bookwriter of a musical.
• Note that the properties composer, lyricist, and orchestrator will primarily be used for musicals.
• Soundtracks of specific productions can be listed both here and on the page for the production; this will allow users to easily find all the recordings of a musical as well as ones for specific casts. Studio recordings that are not from a specific production should also be listed here.

 Adding a production:

• The name of the production should be the name it was produced under. Most of the time, this will just be the name of the play, but productions are sometimes given variant titles.
• Enter the names of the people involved in the production. The producer, director, choreographer, and musical director have their own properties. Others involved in the production can be listed under cast, designers, and production staff.
• Cast: When entering the cast, you can enter the actor’s name, their role(s), and the dates they performed.
• Designers: In addition to the designers’ names, you should also enter their “role,” i.e., lighting designer, assistant set designer, etc. Composers who have written music for a specific production would normally be listed here (composers who have written music that is tied to the work, such as Stephen Sondheim for West Side Story, should be listed on play’s page). 
• Production Staff: this property can be used for anyone else who was involved in the production in any way, such as assistant directors, stage managers, and running crew. When applicable, you can also enter the dates someone performed this role.
• Soundtracks: Only soundtracks from this production should be listed on this page.
• Note that designers and production staff are automatically co-typed as “person.” Sometimes, however, these roles may be filled by a company. To enter a company in one of these roles, follow these steps:

• Enter the company’s name in the “Designer” or “Staff Member” field, and fill in any additional information, just as you would for a person;
• After saving the data, click the company’s name;
• Near the top of the page, there should be a field called “types” that should include a link “Person (People)”;
• Put your cursor over that link, and click the arrow that appears next to it;
• Select “Remove” from the menu.

 Awards

Awards can be presented for either a play (e.g., the Pulizer for Drama) or for a production (e.g., the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play); the instructions for entering awards are the same for both.

• From the page for the play or production, select “add new” for the property Awards or Nominations;
• Enter the year of the awar;
• If the award recipient is a person (director, actor, designer, etc.), enter their name in the property “Award Winner (Person)”; otherwise, leave the field empty;
• If the award is for a play, enter the name of the play under “Play (if award for play)”; leave this field blank if it is an award for a production.
• If the award is for a specific production, enter the name of the production under “Production.”