The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre: The Americas is the second volume in what has been called “the largest international co-operative undertaking in the history of cultural publishing.” This is not mere hyperbole. The project, backed by UNESCO and directed by Don Rubin and his team at York University, has a mandate of finding experts in every country of the world to write about their national drama. The first volume, Europe, was met with deserved éclat by critics everywhere. Minor wrinkles, such as an insufficiently thorough index, have been ironed out in this second volume.

The Americas embraces 26 sections on the countries of the two sub-continents. The United States earns the longest national section, followed by Canada, Cuba, and Brazil. Every national article is organized into 12 segments, including “Structure of the National Theatre Community,” “Artistic Profile” (comprising sub-sections on companies, playwrights, and directors), “Music Theatre” (ranging from opera to the Broadway-style musicals, and alternative theatre laced with contemporary pop numbers), “Dance Theatre” (from classical ballet to the rawest of modern dance), “Theatre for Young Audiences,” “Design,” and “Criticism.”

Don Rubin’s excellent introduction invites the reader to try two approaches to finding information: the “horizontal” and the “vertical.” In a horizontal approach, readers trace the chosen theme (puppet theatre, for example) across the continent, facilitating comparison. Using the vertical method, readers focus on one nation at a time, following an article from start to finish. While a vertical reading is aided by a general table of contents, the encyclopedia is not laid out to make a horizontal journey easy. Readers are forced to skim through every section to find the appropriate sub-division, as the national articles are not provided with tables of contents.

The section on Canada is impressively comprehensive, opening with a digestible survey of Canadian theatre history by Anton Wagner of York University. Each of the 12 segments has a separate entry entitled “Quebec,” which is somewhat misleading as other parts of French Canada are often considered therein. The prevailing view of this article is protectionist; Canadian theatres are seen as having a duty to promote Canadian artists. An implicit criticism of the Shaw and Stratford festivals, and the Garth Drabinsky big-budget musicals emerges as a result: our most financially viable theatres thrive only by providing a diet of foreign plays to audiences dominated by American tourists.