Live Performance Citation Generator
Cite a play, musical, opera, ballet or concert you saw in person. Enter the production, its creators and company, the venue and the date, and get the MLA 9 Works Cited entry, the Chicago 18 note, and the sentence APA 7 uses for an event readers cannot retrieve. Free, no sign-up.
Performance details
Type it in sentence case: capitalize only the first word and proper nouns. Each style gets the capitalization it uses.
One per line, as First Last or Last, First.
One per line. Name only the performers you discuss.
Each performance is a different event, so cite the date you attended.
Your citations
Enter the title of the production and the date you saw it to see your citations.
How to Use the Live Performance Citation Generator
- 1. Choose what you saw. A staged production — a play, musical, opera or dance piece — starts with its title. A concert or recital starts with the performer.
- 2. Copy the credits from the program. The playwright or composer, the director, conductor or choreographer, the company, and only the performers you discuss.
- 3. Give the venue, the city and the date you attended. Each performance is its own event — a different night can mean a different cast — so cite your night.
- 4. Use what your style asks for. MLA gives a Works Cited entry, Chicago a note, and APA a description in your sentence with no reference.
How Each Style Cites a Performance You Attended
| Style | What you write | Listed with your sources? |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | The title, venue, city and date, in your sentence | No: readers cannot retrieve a live event |
| MLA 9 | Title, contributors, company, date, venue and city | Yes, in Works Cited |
| Chicago 18 | A note with the title, credits, venue, city and date | Generally not (§14.166) |
APA 7. The Publication Manual has no reference format for a live performance. A reference must lead readers to the source, and a night in the theatre cannot be retrieved — the same reason APA keeps live speeches and unrecorded webinars out of the reference list (§8.9). Describe the performance in your sentence. If the production was filmed and released, cite the recording as a film or video instead.
MLA 9 treats the performance you saw as a source in its own right. A collaborative production starts with its title, then the playwright, director and performers as contributors, the company, the date, the venue and the city. A concert starts with the performer; with no billed title, MLA writes Concert. Chicago 18 (§14.166) puts the same details — title, creator, key contributors and their roles, venue, city, date — in the text or a note, and generally not in the bibliography.
Live Performance Citation Examples
The Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House, directed by Robin Lefevre at the American Airlines Theatre — the MLA Style Center's own example — seen on October 1, 2006:
APA 7th edition
Mention in your text (no reference list entry):
Heartbreak House (American Airlines Theatre, New York, NY, October 1, 2006)
MLA 9th edition
Works Cited:
Heartbreak House. By George Bernard Shaw, directed by Robin Lefevre, performances by Philip Bosco and Swoosie Kurtz, Roundabout Theatre Company, 1 Oct. 2006, American Airlines Theatre, New York.
In-text citation:
(Heartbreak House)
Chicago 18th edition (notes)
Footnote:
Heartbreak House, by George Bernard Shaw, directed by Robin Lefevre, featuring Philip Bosco and Swoosie Kurtz, Roundabout Theatre Company, American Airlines Theatre, New York, October 1, 2006.
Shortened note:
Heartbreak House.
A concert
Beyoncé's Formation World Tour at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on May 14, 2016. A performer-led entry starts with the performer, and a tour name is not italicized:
Concert in three styles
APA mention:
Beyoncé (The “Formation” World Tour, Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA, May 14, 2016)
MLA Works Cited:
Beyoncé. The “Formation” World Tour. 14 May 2016, Rose Bowl, Pasadena.
Chicago footnote:
Beyoncé, The “Formation” World Tour, Rose Bowl, Pasadena, May 14, 2016.
Common Mistakes
- Citing the script when you mean the show. A published play and a performance of it are different works. Cite the script — with the Play Citation Generator — for its words, and the performance for what you saw on stage.
- Leaving out the date. A production runs for weeks or years; your entry is for one performance.
- Giving APA a reference entry. An unrecorded live event has no APA reference. Describe it in the sentence.
- Listing the whole cast. Name only the performers your discussion is about.
- Citing a recording as if you were there. A filmed or streamed production is cited as a film or video, with the Movie & Film Citation Generator.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do you cite a play you saw in MLA?
- Start with the title in italics, then the playwright, director and performers, the company, the date you attended, the venue and the city: Heartbreak House. By George Bernard Shaw, directed by Robin Lefevre, performances by Philip Bosco and Swoosie Kurtz, Roundabout Theatre Company, 1 Oct. 2006, American Airlines Theatre, New York. In text, cite it by its title: (Heartbreak House).
- How do you cite a live performance in APA 7?
- APA has no reference format for a performance readers cannot retrieve, so describe it in your sentence — what you saw, who staged it, where and when — and add no reference list entry. If a recording exists, such as a filmed stage production, cite the recording instead.
- How do you cite a concert you attended?
- In MLA, start with the performer, then the tour or concert title, the date, the venue and the city: Beyoncé. The “Formation” World Tour. 14 May 2016, Rose Bowl, Pasadena. Without a billed title, write Concert. In Chicago, put the same facts in a note; in APA, describe the concert in your sentence.
- Should I cite the play or the performance?
- Cite what you are discussing. Quote the published script for the playwright's words, and cite the performance for what the director, designers and actors did with them. If you discuss both, give each its own entry and make clear in your sentences which one you mean.
- Does a live performance go in a Chicago bibliography?
- Generally not. Chicago 18 (§14.166) cites live performances in the text or in a note with the title, the key contributors, the venue, the city and the date. Add a bibliography entry only if your instructor asks for one.
- How do I cite a recorded performance, like an opera broadcast or a filmed musical?
- Cite the recording you watched, not the live event: treat it as a film, a TV program or an online video, depending on how it was released. The director of the recording, the release date and the platform replace the venue and the night.