Plays

Using DELCAT to Locate a Play

Type the title of the play into the Browse Search Box of DELCAT, the online catalog of the University of Delaware Library, and select TITLE BEGINS WITH. If the title of the play is not listed in DELCAT, type the author's name in the Browse Search Box and look for anthologies of the author's works.

Indexes Used to Identify Plays Published in Anthologies

Play Index. New York, H. W. Wilson. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref PN6111B .P56)

Inter-Play (Portland State University) LOCATION: Internet (http://www.lib.pdx.edu/systems/interplay/): Inter-Play is an online index to plays in anthologies. The index can be searched by author, title, or source.

Ottemiller, John H. Ottemiller's Index to Plays in Collections: An Author and Title Index to Plays Appearing in Collections Published Between 1900 and 1985. 7th ed. Metuchen, N. J: Scarecrow Press, 1988. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref PN6111 .O88 1988)

Samples, Gordon. The Drama Scholars' Index to Plays and Filmscripts: A Guide to Plays and Filmscripts in Selected Anthologies, Series and Periodicals. 3 vols. Metuchen, N. J.: Scarecrow Press, 1974-1986. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref PN6110.5B .S25)

Indexes Used to Identify Plays Published in Magazines and Journals

Expanded Academic ASAP Plus LOCATION: Library Databases (restricted to University of Delaware users): Expanded Academic ASAP Plus provides the full text of plays from the magazine Plays. Search by keyword, author name, play title, or title of magazine.

Keller, Dean H. Index to Plays in Periodicals. Rev. and expanded ed. Metuchen, N. J.: Scarecrow Press, 1979. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref PN6111B .K45 1979)

Keller, Dean H. Index to Plays in Periodicals, 1977-1987. Metuchen, N. J.: Scarecrow Press, 1990. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref PN6111B .K45 1979 supplement)

Samples, Gordon. The Drama Scholars' Index to Plays and Filmscripts: A Guide to Plays and Filmscripts in Selected Anthologies, Series and Periodicals. 3 vols. Metuchen, N. J.: Scarecrow Press, 1974-1986. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref PN6110.5B .S25)

Plays on the Web

The Dramatic Exchange
LOCATION: Internet (http://www.dramex.org/): A site for playwrights to publish and distribute their plays.

Expanded Academic ASAP Plus LOCATION: Library Databases (restricted to University of Delaware users): Expanded Academic ASAP Plus provides the full text of plays from Plays magazine. Search by keyword, author name, play title, or magazine title.

Literature Online (LION) LOCATION: Library Databases (restricted to University of Delaware users): Literature Online offers the full text of literary works.

The On-Line Books Page (University of Pennsylvania)
LOCATION: Internet (http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/): The site lists links to well-known repositories of both English-language and foreign-language texts.

Project Gutenberg
LOCATION: Internet (http://promo.net/pg/): Search by author or title for online books provided by Project Gutenberg.

Teatro Español del Siglo de Oro LOCATION: Library Databases (restricted to University of Delaware users): A full-text database containing dramatic works of 16th- and 17th-century Spain.

Catalogs of Publishers

Baker's Plays
LOCATION: Internet (http://www.bakersplays.com/): The site provides an online catalog of plays available for purchase, as well as a Theatre Resource Directory for stage equipment, costumes, lighting, and other items.

Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
LOCATION: Internet (http://www.dramatists.com/): "Created to foster opportunity and provide support for playwrights by publishing acting editions of plays and handling the nonprofessional leasing right for these plays."

Internet Theatre Bookshop
LOCATION: Internet (http://www.stageplays.com/): Associated with Amazon.com, the Internet Theatre Bookshop offers a catalog of available plays, musicals, books on stagecraft and theatre biographies.

Samuel French, Inc.
LOCATION: Internet (http://www.samuelfrench.com/): "Samuel French's Catalogue lists not only plays but monologues, audition material, classroom guides, classic works and the latest plays from the professional theater."

Stage & Screen: The Book Club for the Performing Arts
LOCATION: Internet (http://www.stagenscreen.com/): Provides a catalog of theatre-related books that are available for purchase.

Criticism

Type the author's name into the Browse Search Box of DELCAT and select AUTHOR (last name first). Look for the subheading --Criticism and Interpretation. The books listed under this subject heading will provide critical interpretations of the author's works.

It is important to update the information supplied in books by locating more current articles in journals. The MLA International Bibliography and the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL) are electronic indexes that may be used to identify these articles.

Older articles and books containing criticism can be identified by using the reference works listed below:

Adelman, Irving and Rita Dworkin. Modern Drama: A Checklist of Critical Literature on 20th Century Plays. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1967. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref PN1861B .A33)

Arata, Ester Spring. Black American Playwrights, 1800 to the Present: A Bibliography. Metuchen, N. J.: Scarecrow Press, 1976. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref PS153 .N5B A73)

Arata, Esther Spring. More Black American Playwrights: A Bibliography. Metuchen, N. J.: Scarecrow Press, 1978. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref PS153 .N5B A74)

Breed, Paul Francis. Dramatic Criticism Index: A Bibliography of Commentaries on Playwrights from Ibsen to the Avant-Garde. Detroit: Gale Research, 1972. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref PN1861B .B74)

Carpenter, Charles A. Modern Drama Scholarship and Criticism, 1966-1980: An International Bibliography. Buffalo: Modern Drama in association with the University of Toronto Press, 1997. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref PN1851 .C37 1986)

Coleman, Arthur and Gary R. Tyler. Drama Criticism. 2 vols. Denver: A. Swallow, 1966. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref PN1721B .C65)

Harris, Richard H. Modern Drama in America and England, 1950-1970: A Guide to Information Sources. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref PS3518 .H37)

Kolin, Philip C. American Playwrights Since 1945: A Guide to Scholarship, Criticism, and Performance. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref PS350 .A54x 1989)

MacNicholas, John, ed. Twentieth-Century American Dramatists. (Dictionary of Literary Biography, v. 7) Detroit: Gale Research, 1981-. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref PS351 .T842 2 parts)

Palmer, Helen H. European Drama Criticism 1900-1975. 2d ed. Hamden, Conn.: Shoestring Press, 1977. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref PN1721B .P35 1977)

This page is maintained by Linda Lawrence Stein, Reference Department.
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Version: 04/99
Last modified: 01/09/06