Layout Guide

Layout guide
Thank you for considering contributing to the Australian Theatre Database. Like all wikia sites, each type of page has a standard layout that should be generally followed when creating a page. These layout guidelines are to improve the readability and easy access to information throughout the website. We aim for an economy of headings and subheadings, but of course, there is always leeway available in how these layouts are used. Since theatre is a complex and varied thing, it's understood that these layouts and the kinds of pages that appear on this site will develop and evolve over time.

At present, there are 5 types of pages: People (actors, directors, playwrights etc.), plays, productions, theatre companies and theatres. This list is not prescriptive. This wikia could expand to include pages/articles on awards, styles (acting, production design etc.), artistic movements or other elements specific to Australian theatre. You can write about whatever interests YOU. The only specific guideline is that this wikia aims to be more encyclopaedic than opinion-based (reviews).

Links: On each page, the first mention in both the paragraph text and in a table of any name, production title, play, theatre company or theatre should link to its corresponding page. If a page doesn't already exist, make a link to a 'potential' page (will appear as a red link). Please search the wikia to see how that company/title/theatre is referred to elsewhere. For production titles, the format should be: [Title of Production] ([Theatre company] [Year produced]). Eg. The White Guard (STC 2011).

People
The following layout relates to all pages profiling a person, whether it is an actor, director, playwright or another creative. Infoboxes should be added to the top each page using Infobox Actor

General summary: A brief paragraph outlining who the person is and what they are famous for.

Life and career: Should offer a detailed summary of their career in theatre and any other relevant information*. This can be further divided up for further clarity into subheading pertaining to, for example, different careers in theatre they have had – eg. If they are an actor and a director – or different significant phases of their life/career.

Theatre productions: A table divided into year, title, role, theatre company and notes that lists, in reverse chronological order, the theatrical productions the person has been involved with. This section can be further divided into subheadings for different occupations (actor, director, producer etc.) and/or to distinguish between Australian and international productions.

Awards: A table divided into year, name of award, won/nominated that lists all theatre awards won by that person. These can include international awards as well. References 

*  A note on Life and Career sections (biographies): Biographies on ATDB do not need to be an exhaustive account of that person’s life. In many cases, such information is available on Wikipedia and we aim to not excessively double up. Biographies should be more of a focussed account of their life as a theatre practitioner. Brief mention should be made of their birthplace, relevant information about their upbringing and education. It is important to mention other careers in film, television and any outside the arts, but excessive accounts of these other careers should be avoided.

Production
​ Pages in the Productions category should link back to the original play (usually in the general summary). Other headings may be added as appropriate.
 * Insert Infobox Production
 * General summary: A brief paragraph with the title, who wrote it, when and where it first played, the director and the starring actors.
 * Adaptation:  Optional, but it may be required if a play has been significantly adapted from the original for a particular production. Information provided here might include how and why the order of the narrative, characters or themes were added or removed.
 * Creative team: Should begin with a table of crew, followed by a table of cast (see example below)
 * Production: Information about the production process. Often, this would be the kind of information that could be sourced from production and rehearsal notes in a theatre programme. Care should be taken not to overlap excessively with the Adaptation section. If appropriate, this section can be broken into subheadings for “Conception and development” (information pertaining to the writing process and developing the ‘look’ of the play) and “Staging and performance” (pertaining to the physical staging of the play, the actors’ performance, anything of note that occurred during the run of the play).
 * Promotion: Intended to archive any interesting methods employed for promotion. This can take the form of quotes from the theatre company’s/play’s official website, scans of programmes and posters, and even ticket prices. Please ensure that these are cited appropriately.
 * Reception: Any information that can be obtained about how the production was received by both the public and critics. Can include ticket sales (was it sold out, or cancelled midway through the run?), quotes from reviews etc. Can also include a table of awards won or nominated.