The CORD is a CD-ROM database that contains thousands of files including video, finding lists, images, a comprehensive character dictionary, a comprehensive dictionary of Renaissance theatre persons, an exhaustive topographical dictionary, animations, timelines, maps, playhouses, and access to synoptic treatments of every extant play of the popular English Renaissance stage.

This important project was recently the specially-invited subject of a session at the thirtieth annual International Shakespeare Conference in Stratford-Upon-Avon and was selected as the focus of a workshop at the Shakespeare Association of America meeting, held in Victoria, British Columbia, in April of 2003. It has been presented around the world and boasts over seventy contributors from twelve countries covering Asia, the Middle East, Europe, the Americas, and Australia.

The CORD has been in preparation for over ten years and is soon to be completed, but it now needs your help.

Among the many dictionaries to be included will be a fully searchable Character Dictionary that will list every character from the English drama between 1485 and 1642. The final phase requires a team of scholars willing to provide brief character notices from the plays of the English Renaissance theatre.*

TO PARTICIPATE YOU MUST FIT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:

• You hold a Ph.D. or equivalent in English or Theatre with a background in the English Renaissance (please briefly indicate your credentials in your request).
• You are at the dissertation stage of your studies in the English Renaissance (please request a letter of reference from a professor (to be e-mailed separately)).
• You hold or are working on the M.F.A. in theatre with emphasis in Renaissance drama (please request a letter of reference from a professor (to be e-mailed separately) unless you are currently teaching theatre or are professionally engaged in theatrical activity on a full-time basis-in which case please include the name of your institution/theatrical affiliation in your request).
• You have completed the MA degree or are a Master's candidate (please request a letter of reference from a professor (to be e-mailed separately)).
• You are a high school teacher with special interest in Renaissance drama (include the name and address of the school where you teach in your request).

You are requested to select one or more titles from the following list and write character notices from that play or those plays using a format that will be supplied you by the editors of THE COMPENDIUM OF RENAISSANCE DRAMA*.

The work will take perhaps an afternoon:

• Reading the play;
• Providing brief notices of the complete dramatis personae (a "who's who/who does what" in the play)

*NOTE: Contributors who prepare ten or more accepted titles will receive in return a copy of the CORD when it is complete.

All work submitted is the copyright property of The Compendium of Renaissance Drama for purposes of publication. Permission to use submissions in electronic or other formats and in other publications must be acquired through the CORD, its general editor or its publisher.

Contributors will be given full-name credit on the main Contributors page and are invited to place their participation in this important project on their résumés.

PLEASE NOTE:
The editors of THE COMPENDIUM OF RENAISSANCE DRAMA reserve the right to rewrite or return for revision any work deemed unacceptable for any reason.
In extreme cases, titles will be reassigned to other contributors. If your work is rejected, no credit will be given for that work.

To have one or more of the following titles assigned to you, select from the list below and submit your request to

To search the available titles on this list, either scroll down or press "CTRL-F" and type in a keyword, author, or title.