Last revised: August 2009

Play Locator

Scope: This guide lists resources for locating plays in all formats (print, media, digitized) published individually, in periodicals, as part of collections and anthologies, or online. For reviews of plays, please see the library guide, Play Reviews. Email Leahkim Gannett, the subject area specialist at leahkim@umd.edu or call 301-405-9117 for more information.

LOCATING PLAYS IN PRINT FORMAT USING THE UM LIBRARIES' CATALOG

Searching for Plays by Title

I. LOOKING FOR: Mother Courage and Her Children
Step 1: Type the title in the search box.

  Step 2: Click on a title from the search results.

  Step 3: Check availability, notice the location and call number.

NOTE:

  If the play is not located by conducting a title search, use the following strategies to locate plays in collections and anthologies. In addition, if the following strategies do not work, see the Play Indexes section below for other sources to use to locate plays in collections.

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Searching for Plays in Collections and Anthologies

I. LOOKING FOR: Joe Turner's Come and Gone

Step 1: Using the Catalog and the Basic Search; type the title of the play in the word/s anywhere: search box

 
Step 2: Click on a title from the search results.
Example:
Twelve Plays for Theatre [edited by] Robert Cohen.

Step 3: Look at the full record. Notice the play, Joe Turner's Come and Gone is listed in the contents notes.

Step 4: Check availability, notice the location and call number.

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II. LOOKING FOR: Frogs

Sometimes the title alone is not sufficient and the playwright's name must be added: Aristophanes

Step 1: Using the Catalog and the Basic Search; type the title of the play and the author's last name in the word/s anywhere: search box: frogs and aristophanes

 
Step 2: Click on a title from the search results.

Step 3: Look at the full record. Notice the play, Frogs is listed in the contents notes.

Step 4: Check availability, notice the location and call number.

If you do not have a particular title/playwright in mind, you can browse for plays by conducting a search in the catalog using the Library of Congress Subject Headings in the subject beginning with.. search.

Example Subject Headings:

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PLAYS IN MEDIA FORMAT

LOCATING PLAYS USING THE UM LIBRARIES' CATALOG

Step 1: Using the Catalog and the Advanced Search; use the above strategies, and LIMIT format TO Videos/Films (all)

Step 2: Click on a title from the search results.

Step 3: Notice the location and call number, ask for the video at the Nonprint Media Services Library on the ground floor of Hornbake Library.

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WASHINGTON AREA PERFORMING ARTS VIDEO ARCHIVE (WAPAVA)

The Washington Area Performing Arts Video Archive (WAPAVA) is devoted to recording theater and other performances in the Washington DC area. Please see the Instructions for Searching and Viewing Titles. The collection is open to all, including the general public, during regular library hours. Please note, WAPAVA DVDs do not circulate.

FILMS AT UM: PERFORMING ARTS DIGITAL VIDEOS

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DATABASES AND WEB SITES

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Most of the following sources provide the full text of plays. Humanities International Complete and International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance provide some full text plays and Inter-Play is an index.

• American Drama. UM only
  This database provides the full text of plays from 1714 to 1915.

• Black Drama. UM only
  This database provides the full text of plays written from the mid-1800s to the present by more than 100 playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries.

• The Complete Works of Shakespeare.
  Provides the full text of Shakespeare's works.

• Electronic Text Archives and Plays Online.
  This site is part of the World Wide Web Virtual Library - Theatre. In addition to searching by playwright, links to French, classical, Renaissance, and Spanish Golden Age plays are provided.

• The English Server. Drama Collection.
  This site publishes both classic and contemporary works. Original plays may be submitted for review and acceptance.

• Federal Theatre Project Playscripts
  Digitized playscripts from the Federal Theatre project.

• Humanities International Complete. UM only
  (2/84- ); Print version entitled Humanities Index: MCKREF STACKS (1974-1998)
  CALL NUMBER: AI3.R493
  Indexes approximately 400 publications that make up the core literature in the field of the humanities. Texts of plays may be found by searching under the name of the play in the Select a Field (optional) search and limiting document type to Drama (Text of Play. To browse plays, use the keyword dramas in the Select a Field (optional) search and limit document type to Drama (Text of Play)

• International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance. UM only
  Texts of plays may be found by using the following search strategies:
  If looking for a specific play use the keyword script and the name of the play: script and Our Lady of 121st Street in the Default Fields.
  
  
  
  To browse plays within the database: use the keywords: script* of the play and using the drop-down search box choose, AB Abstract or Author-Supplied Abstract.
  
  
  
  

• Inter-Play.
  This is an online index to plays in collections, anthololgies and periodicals. "Most of the plays cited are not indexed in the standard printed play indexes."

• North American Theatre Online. UM only
  Full text of plays from Colonial times to the present, from Canada and the United States.

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PLAY INDEXES

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Use the following sources to locate plays that appear in collections, anthologies, or in periodicals.
Most of the sources listed have access by author, title and subject of the play. Sources which also provide cast analysis are noted. Some of the books are at McKeldin Library, please check location. For additional indexes, search the catalog using the subject word search: drama bibliography. See also the internet site, Inter-Play, listed above for an online index to plays.

• Chicorel, Marietta. Chicorel Theater Index to Plays in Anthologies and Collections, 1970-1976. NY: Chicorel Library Pub. Corp., 1977.
  LOCATION: PA LIB REF STACKS
  CALL NUMBER: Z5781.C4846
  Indexes over 2500 plays in over 550 collections.

• _______. Chicorel Theatre Index to Plays in Anthologies, Periodicals, Discs and Tapes. NY: Chicorel Library Pub. Corp., 1970-1972.
  LOCATION: PA LIB REF STACKS
  CALL NUMBER: Z5781.C486
  This set indexes plays not included in Chicorel's anthologies and collections.

• _______. Chicorel Theater Index to Plays in Periodicals. NY: Chicorel Library Pub. Corp., 1973.
  LOCATION: PA LIB REF STACKS
  CALL NUMBER: Z5781.C487 vol.8
  Provides an index to plays in 159 periodicals. Includes English-language journals from England and Ireland as well as French and German-language periodicals.

• Firkins, Ina. Index to Plays, 1800-1926. NY: H.W. Wilson Corp., 1927.
  LOCATION: PA LIB REF, MCKREF STACKS
  CALL NUMBER: Z5781.A1F57 and supplement (at MCKREF only)
  Provides access to 19th- and 20th-century plays that appear in collections or periodicals. The supplement contains plays from 1927 to 1935 and includes updated locations from the original edition.

• Harvell, Tony. Index to Twentieth-Century Spanish Plays: in collections, anthologies, and periodicals. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2000.
  LOCATION: MCKREF STACKS
  CALL NUMBER: PQ6115.H37 2000

• Hoffman, Herbert H. Latin American Play Index. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1983/1984.
  LOCATION: MCKREF STACKS
  CALL NUMBER: PQ7082.D7H63 vol.1-2
  Indexes South American plays in Spanish, Portuguese and French located in collections, anthologies, and periodicals.

• Index to Full Length Plays. Boston: F.W.Faxon Company, 1946-.
  LOCATION: MCKREF STACKS
  CALL NUMBER: PN1657.A11I5
  Indexes plays in collections from 1895 to 1964.

• Keller, Dean. Index to Plays in Periodicals. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1979.
  LOCATION: PA LIB REF, MCKREF STACKS
  CALL NUMBER: PN1721.K4
  Indexes plays through 1976 in 267 periodicals.

• _______. Index to Plays in Periodicals, 1977-1987. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1990.
  LOCATION: PA LIB REF, MCKREF STACKS
  CALL NUMBER: PN1721.K4 1990
  This supplements Keller's 1979 title. Includes plays published in periodicals from 1977 through 1987.

• Logasa, Hannah. An Index to One-Act Plays. Boston: W.F. Faxon Co., 1924-1966.
  LOCATION: MCKREF STACKS
  CALL NUMBER: Z5781.L83
  Indexes one-act plays appearing in collections or periodicals written in English or translated into English, published since 1900. Supplements cover up to 1964 and include radio and television plays.

• Ottemiller, John. Ottemiller's Index to Plays in Collections. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1988.
  LOCATIONS: PA LIB REF, MCKREF QCKREF
  CALL NUMBER: PN1665.O88 1988
  Indexes plays published in collections from 1900 through 1985.

• Patterson, Charlotte, comp. Plays in Periodicals; An Index to English Language Scripts in Twentieth Century Journals. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1970.
  LOCATION: MCKREF STACKS
  CALL NUMBER: Z5781.P3
  This index provides access to over 4000 plays that have appeared in 97 English language periodicals published from 1900 through 1968. Includes cast analysis.

• Play Index. Every 6 years. NY: H.W. Wilson, 1949- .
  LOCATION: MCKREF STACKS
  CALL NUMBER: Z5781.P5
  All types of plays are indexed, including plays for children and young adults, puppet plays, and pantomime. Includes cast analysis.

• Samples, Gordon. The Drama Scholars' Index to Plays and Filmscripts: A Guide to Plays and Filmscripts in Selected Anthologies, Series and Periodicals. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1947-1980.
  LOCATION: MCKREF STACKS
  CALL NUMBER: Z5781.S17
  This two volume set indexes plays published in collections and periodicals from 1700. The emphasis is on plays not included in other indexing sources. Includes radio, film and television scripts.

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