Library Services
How to Find a Play
Catalog Search:
Use the Online Catalog to look up a play by Title, Author, or Subject heading. Double-check the author listing for "collected" or "selected" plays.
- Example: Search
by Title = Death of a Salesman
Search by Author = O'Neil, Eugene
Search by Subject =
Plays
Christmas Plays
Children's Plays
LINK+:
The library may not have the play you are looking for, or you might find out that your play was published in a book or periodical which the library doesn’t have. If it is a book, look under LINK+ in the library catalog to see if any of the participating libraries in California or Nevada have it. If they do, request it online, and the book should arrive here for you within 3 working days. If it is in a book that is not in LINK+, or if the play was published in a periodical, request it through interlibrary loan, through which we can get copies of periodical articles, and borrow books, from most other libraries in the U.S.
Indexes:
- Chicorel Theater Index to Plays in Anthologies, Periodicals, Discs and Tapes, R808.82 C533
- Index to Full Length Plays (1944 - 1964), R808.82 T4842
- Index to One Act Plays and Supplement, 1924 - 1931, R808.2 L831 Suppl. 1924/31
- Index to One Act Plays and Second Supplement, 1932 - 1940, R808.2 L831 Suppl. 1932/40
- Index to One Act Plays and Third Supplement, 1941-1948, R808.2 L831 suppl. 1941-48
- Index to Plays 1800 - 1926 (with a supplement 1866 - 1937), R808.82 F523
- Ottemiller's Index to Plays in Collections, R808.82 O89
- Play Index, 1949 - 1987, R808.82 P722 1983/87
- Samuel French's Basic Catalogue of Plays, 808.82 S193
Internet:
- Inter-Play:
an online index to plays in collections, anthologies, and periodicals
(www.lib.pdx.edu/systems/interplay/)
This online database, created by the PSU Humanities Librarians, contains more than 18,000 entries for plays. It is easily searchable by author and/or title.
- Dramatists
Play Service, Inc. (www.dramatists.com)
Purchase many books, apply for rights, and search the website’s catalogue of over 3,000 titles. You may also browse plays by title, author, keyword, or ISBN-13. - Samuel
French, Inc. (www.samuelfrench.com)
Publishes, sells, and leases plays for performances. They cover over two thousand playscripts, covering all elements of performing theatre: from comedies to tragedies, sketches to full-scale musicals. In addition, the site has a bookshop that carries a wide range of playscripts and technical books on all aspects of theatre. - The
Complete Works of William Shakespeare (shakespeare.mit.edu/works.html)
This site offers the complete works of Shakespeare's plays and poetry. - Ken McCoy's Brief Guide to
Internet Resources in Theatre and Performance Studies (www2.stetson.edu/csata/thr_guid.html)
A collection of Internet resources for the theatre and performance enthusiast, researcher and student. - Electronic
Text Archives and Plays Online (www.vl-theatre.com/list4.shtml)
Lists websites that have online full-text versions of plays for free.
At the Central Library, the Play Index card file on the 2nd floor locates older plays in collections owned by the Central Library.
For further help, ask at an Information Desk.