Theater 110: Introduction to Theater
Research and Instruction Librarian for Music & Fine Arts
Karen Olson
she/her/hers
LibKey Nomad
Research and Instruction Librarian for Music & Fine Arts
Karen Olson
she/her/hers
Finding Plays in Catalyst
The magic word for finding scripts in Catalyst is "drama."
1. Make sure you are in Advanced Search.
2. Set the first search field to whatever you want, and then set the second to GENRE CONTAINS DRAMA.
3. Set the Material Type dropdown to Books, so Catalyst knows you only want the script. Otherwise, it'll show you recordings of the plays, too.
Here's a search for scripts about China.
Find Plays in Databases
The Library provides access to a number of theater databases that include plays. Here are some good places to look!
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Asian American Drama This link opens in a new windowAsian American Drama brings together more than 250 plays, along with related biographical, production, and theatrical information, so providing a comprehensive overview of this growing field.
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Black Drama, Second Edition: African, African American, and Diaspora 1850 to Present This link opens in a new windowBlack Drama, Second Edition contains over 1,400 full-text plays from the 1800s to the present day. Included are plays of Langston Hughes, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Zora Neale Hurston, James Weldon Johnson, Ira Aldridge, Shirley Graham, W.E.B. DuBois, and others.
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North American Indian Drama This link opens in a new windowMore than half of the plays included in North American Indian Drama are previously unpublished, almost all are hard to find, and they represent a wealth of dramatic material that is often overlooked or inaccessible. Together, these plays demonstrate Native theater's diversity of tribal traditions and communities, approaches to drama, and individual experiences, but also reflect the commonality of the artistic drive of Native writers to give public voice to their own representations of themselves and their culture. The collection represents many Native American groups across the United States and Canada.
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North American Women's Drama This link opens in a new windowNorth American Women's Drama brings together more than 1,500 plays by more than 300 female playwrights, along with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. Over 30% of the plays included here have never been published before. The database also includes selected playbills, photographs and other ephemera related to the plays.
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Twentieth Century North American Drama This link opens in a new windowContains over 1,500 plays from the 20th century, as well as playbills, photos, and other related information.