How to Find Plays and Play Scenes, Monologues, Dialogues and more: Home

Some plays are separately published, but many are included in collections, either of work by ONE playwright, or anthologies of the works of various playwrights.  The challenge is to find those plays that appear in anthologies.

1. Specific play (in the Library Catalog):

• Search using Boolean Keyword searching:
  • two keywords from the title > EXAMPLE: moon and misbegotten
  • title and author keywords    > EXAMPLE: Williams and menagerie
• Search by Title (for plays published individually)
• Plays in an playwright's collected work: Boolean keyword search: Name and Collected > EXAMPLE: Inge and collected

2. Genre or Nationality of plays (in the Library Catalog)

• Search using Boolean Keyword searching:
  • "Latin-American" and plays
  • Peru and plays
  • women and plays

3. WORLDCAT: Remember that you can also search WorldCat for plays we don't have. Use the same kinds of searches you performed in the Library catalog.

1. BROWSE the Main Book Stacks in the call number PN2080.  You'll find a number of collections of play scenes.

2. Search for scenes (in Library catalog)

• try these Boolean Keyword searches
  • scenes and plays
  • scenes and women

3. Search for specific number of characters (in Library catalog)

• monologues
• duologues
• dialogues and plays
• "three actors" or "3 actors"

4. Search Play Index for specific number of characters (Library's Reference Collection: PN1655 .P53x

• Includes list of plays by number of characters
  • example: 3 characters (1m, 2w)

NOTE: If you find a play listed in one of the sources below, check the Library catalog to see if we have the collection in which the play is published.

1. Play Index. A standard source for locating plays in collections, it includes English translations of foreign plays. 

• Call number in Library Reference Collection: PN 1655 .P53x
• Search for a play by author, play title, and subject of the play
• Includes list of plays by number of characters (e.g., 3 characters (1m, 2w). 
• COVERAGE: Plays published between 1949 and 2007

2. Ottemiller's Index to Plays in Collections 

• Call number in Library Reference Collection: PN 1655 .O87
• Search by author and play title
• Includes list of plays by nationality/race/ethnic group of author; by women authors; and by sexual orientation of author
• COVERAGE: Plays published from 1900 to 2000

3. Drama Scholars' Index to Plays and Filmscripts

• Call number in Library Reference Collection: PN 1655 .S26
• Search by author and play title
• COVERAGE: Plays published to 1983