Theatre on Film and Tape Archive, Film archive division in Lincoln Center Plaza, Manhattan, United States

The Theatre on Film and Tape Archive is a collection within the Billy Rose Theatre Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, housed on the third floor of the library at Lincoln Center. It produces video recordings of Broadway, Off-Broadway, and some regional theater productions, which are viewed in the Lucille Lortel screening room. As of fall 2016, the archive held 7,901 titles.

The archive was founded in 1970 by Betty L. Corwin after she secured agreements with theater unions to allow the recording of live performances. This founding marked the beginning of systematic theater production preservation.

The archive records interviews and dialogues with theater professionals alongside performances, and its holdings include the 1952 London South Pacific with Mary Martin and the 1975 Equus starring Anthony Hopkins. Recordings are made during regular performances with an audience and edited live, so what viewers see is a typical night in the theater.

The archive is on the third floor of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and recordings are viewed in the Lucille Lortel screening room. Access is granted to those with a professional, educational or research reason to use the material, and recordings may not be reproduced. Most of the collection is cataloged online and searchable through the NYPL website, so titles can be checked before a visit.

The collection includes the first recorded performance of Golden Bat, a 1970 Off-Broadway Japanese rock musical that marks the beginning of systematic theater preservation. This early recording documents a rare experimental work that would otherwise be difficult to track down.