Teaching Resources: Curriculum Guide to Explore the Theater Photos of Joan Marcus and Carol Rosegg
On view through September 28, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts exhibition, Photo Call: The Theater Photos of Joan Marcus and Carol Rosegg, displays the history and work of theater photographers Joan Marcus and Carol Rosegg, who have photographed nearly every theater production on and off Broadway since 1990. We invite educators to incorporate our accompanying Photo Call curriculum guide into their classrooms.
Don't have a chance to see the exhibition?
Explore the theater photos of Joan Marcus and Carol Rosegg on our Digital Collections site.
Many more photographs are available to view by making an appointment with Special Collections at the Library for the Performing Arts. Contact: theatre@nypl.org.
About the Exhibition
The cast of 42nd Street, 2001.
Photo © Joan Marcus. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Photo Call features an extensive selection of the many theater productions Marcus and Rosegg have photographed over the past four decades, and tells some of the fascinating and unique stories of their experiences capturing some of Broadway’s most iconic images. The exhibition demonstrates the vast breadth of their work and the shows they captured, and, in some cases, their photographs are the only documentation we have of these productions. The show also captures the photographers’ transition from analog to digital photography.
The exhibition highlights shows like Avenue Q, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Finding Neverland, Hamilton, Les Misérables, The Lion King, and Wicked—as well as many more of Broadway and Off Broadway’s biggest hits since the 1980s.
Curated by Doug Reside, the Lewis and Dorothy Cullman Curator of the Billy Rose Theatre Division, in collaboration with Marcus and Rosegg themselves, Photo Call is the first major exhibition of the two photographers who shared a Chelsea studio for many years while building their separate careers.
About the Curriculum Guide
Lillias White in Dreamgirls, 1987.
Photo © Carol Rosegg. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 58810284
The curriculum guide for the exhibition is a resource for educators planning to teach middle or high school students about theater photography and history, specifically around the exhibition. The guide is split into three sections: information, activities, and resources. Discussion questions are included throughout, as are recommended materials available in our collections. There is an activity suggested for each of the artistic processes outlined in the New York State Standards for the Arts.
The photos featured in the exhibition, which document historic productions, could be the inspiration for future history-making productions created by your students. The activities, focused on artmaking, purposefully include broad instructions to allow for differentiation strategies.
Teachers can schedule a class tour, or learn about the Billy Rose Theatre Division, by emailing theatre@nypl.org.
Download the Curriculum Guide
Visit The Billy Rose Theatre Division with Your Class
Upon your scheduled arrival to the Library for the Performing Arts, an expert staff member from the Billy Rose Theatre Division will guide your students through the building and our exhibitions. We are happy to focus on specific items to fit the needs of your learning goals.
In addition, you may also schedule a class orientation on the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive. Since 1970, the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive (TOFT) has preserved live theatrical productions and documented the creative contributions of distinguished artists and legendary figures of the theatre. With the consent and cooperation of the theatrical unions and each production's artistic collaborators, TOFT produces video recordings of Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theatre productions, as well as dialogues between notable theatre personalities.