A production history (performance history or stage history) is an account of significant productions of a theatrical work. You can research a production history either through primary sources or secondary sources.
Note: No one source is going to provide complete production history information.
The acting edition of a play (usually published by Samuel French or Dramatists Play Service) will contain information on the first production. Other published versions of the play may contain information on the first production.
Most acting editions offer a copy of the play text with more extensive stage directions than found elsewhere. If the show moved from regional theatre to New York or from Off-Broadway to Broadway you may find information on the production history for both productions.
Information that may be found in acting editions
Biographical works and critical works on a playwright may contain a chronology of major productions as well as detailed analyses of major plays.
Contains information on the stage history of either a particular play or of a particular playwright's work. You can search in the library catalog for the playwright's name plus stage history to see if there is anything available.
Stage histories usually have subject headings in the following format: Playwright Name -- Stage History; for example, Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Stage History.
See also Production Histories in the Drama Research Guide for more titles
From Playbill Vault
Reviews are useful in gaining information about a particular performance of a play, such as the acting, directing, and design elements.
Magazine and journal articles may be either primary resources (contemporary reviews) or secondary resources (historical overviews of information available about a particular play).
Some newspaper reviews can be found online by searching google or bing, etc. A number of newspapers have online review blogs that aren't indexed in standard databases.
For example, this review of Treefall, "Theater review: 'Treefall' at Theatre Theater" appeared on an LA Times blog but was not indexed in an article database.
In addition to information about when a play was produced, some theatre websites also include links to reviews or include reviews on the website for PR purposes. Some theatres now include archival materials on their website such as program images, production photographs, or video.
Using the internet to find play productions is particularly useful for international productions and small productions, including college productions, which may be difficult to find in article databases.
The following online resources may also be useful in constructing production histories: