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Theatre: Dramaturgy

Departmental Resource

Finding Plays

You can locate plays in the Knox Library catalog by searching for a TITLE or AUTHOR. Remember, if we do not have a play you need, you can request it through I-Share or ILLiad! (See the tab above for how)

Or, browse these print resources for possible titles:

Collections

(Search "Drama--Collections" in the Knox Online Catalog as a Subject)

The Best Plays of... PN6112 .B45

The Best Short Plays PN6120 .A4 B44

Lists of Plays

Drury's guide to best plays  Z5781 .D8

Samual French's basic catalog of plays  PN6111 .S357 1977

 

Online Resources

Doollee

"Free online guide to modern playwrights and theatre plays which have been written, or translated, into English since the production of Look Back in Anger in 1956."

Dramatic Publishing

Publishing plays since 1885. Search for plays by title, author, cast size, theme, genre, etc.

Dramatists Play Service

An extensive list of titles, including the most significant American plays of the past half-century.

Guide to Musical Theatre

List hundreds of musicals, provides a synopsis, original cast list, musical numbers, and links to purchase the script and score.

Internet Broadway Database

Like the Internet Movie Database, search for production credits, shows and dates

The Internet Theatre Bookshop

Offers a huge selection of scripts available for purchase

Playscripts

"A publisher of new plays, selling books and performance rights and offering free online script samples."

Samuel French

Selling scripts since 1830. Allows you to search for plays by number of actors.

Researching Theatre Companies

American Theatre Profiles

"Theatre Profiles is an online compendium of information about TCG member theatres and their productions, going back to 1995. Each completed profile contains a wealth of information accessible in ways never before possible when in book form. Simple searches by production, playwright, or theatre or advanced searches by various combinations of theatre and production information reveals the diversity of TCG theatres and their work. The ultimate goal of this project is to provide a complete record of our member theatres' activity from 1995 to the present." -tcg website

Yahoo Theatre Directory

Yahoo's subject directory lists thousands of theatre companies. (http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Performing_Arts/Theater/Theater_Companies/) 

Researching a Playwright

Search the Literary Reference Center database by playwright, and limit to BIOGRAPHIES

Search the Library Catalog for the author's  name as a SUBJECT

Contemporary Authors REF PN771 .C58

Contemporary Dramatists REF PN1861 .V5 1977

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance REF PN2035 .O92 2003

Cambridge Guide to Theatre online

Criticism or Reviews

See the Find Articles tab above for tips.

Literary Reference Center database

Search the Library Catalog for the PLAY name as a SUBJECT

 

American Drama Criticism: 1890-1977  REF PS332 .D7 P3 1979

Drama Criticism   REF PN1707 .C6

Dramatic Criticism Index  REF PN1707 .B8

Newspaper Databases

You may want to search newspapers for reviews or for information about theatre companies.

LexisNexis Academic

Full-text access to 6,000 news, business and legal publications

Access World News

3,000 international newspapers

New York Times (1980-Present) & Historical New York Times (1851-2006)

Historical Chicago Tribune (1849-1986)

Many other news sources can be found on the News Sources Research Guide.

Historical Research

When researching a time period, use reference materials to get a quick overview.

Chronology of World History REF D11 .M39 1999

Dictionary of Contemporary History - 1945 to the present

Encyclopedic Dictionary of World History

Or, you may want to use a history database for more in-depth research:  Historical Abstracts

 

Look at United States newspapers of the time:

New York Times (1980-Present) &
Historical New York Times (1851-2006)

Historical Chicago Tribune (1849-1986)