Website: THR 133 EARLY DRAMA LIT TO 18TH CENTURY: Finding Plays

Monlogues and Scenes

Most of the library's books of monologues have call numbers beginning with PN 2080. In the catalog there is no specific subject heading for scene books. If you are looking for a particular type of monologue, try a keyword search combining the word monologues and another descriptive keyword, such as: men, women, etc.

To find a published play, search by author or title in the Centre College Library Catalog.

Most published plays in English are found in the PR (for British, Irish, Canadian, Australian, and postcolonial writers) and PS (for American) Library of Congress call number ranges. Plays in other languages, and plays translated into English, will be shelved with other literatures in that language.

Remember

To find material by a person (playwright, director, actor), do an author search

To find material about the person, do a subject search

One of the best ways to find works of criticism on theatre topics is running a subject search. Subjects are assigned to items in strings that follow certain rules. For this topic, your string should start with:

Drama

Theater

If you search for "Drama" as a subject, it will return all related items. You can narrow these results by adding a time period:

Drama -- 19th century

Drama -- 20th century

You can narrow this further and specifically target works of criticism:

Drama -- 19th century -- History and Criticism

If you're still getting too many results or have something very specific in mind, you can narrow even further:

Drama -- 19th century -- History and Criticism -- Bibliography

Drama -- 19th century -- History and Criticism -- Congresses

Drama -- 19th century -- History and Criticism -- Periodicals

Drama -- 19th century -- History and Criticism -- Indexes

If you search for "Theater" you can add the phrase "History and Criticism" without a region or time period:

Theater -- History and Criticism

You can run a search under the "Subject" tab in the catalog and browse the results to find other strings that might be helpful to you specifically.

If you find that you're having difficulty using the catalog or finding the kind of information you're looking for, please don't hesitate to ask for help!

Finding Plays/Books

Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre
Entries on a range of theatrical styles, dramatists, performers, and directors, as well as information on theatres, festivals, and technical topics.

Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive music encyclopedia, with coverage of music history, theory and practice, musical terminology, and biographies. Oxford Music Online is the access point for Oxford Dictionary of Music, Oxford Companion to Music, and Grove Music Online.
Encyclopedia Britannica Online This link opens in a new window
Consists of the online equivalent of the printed Encyclopedia Britannica plus numerous supplementary resources, including the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, select magazine and journal articles, thousands of photographs and illustrations, and links to additional websites reviewed by the Britannica editors.
ACLS Humanities E-Book This link opens in a new window
Full-text of over 2,000 scholarly books in history and the humanities.
eBooks (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Scholarly, reference, and professional full-text books in electronic format. Users can search for individual eBook titles, or perform full-text searches of one or across multiple titles. Currently more than 30,000 titles in all subject areas are available to Centre College users.
Search tips
HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
Search the digital collections (including scanned books) from major research university libraries. More scholarly focus than Google Books. Full-text available only for items no longer in copyright.

If the text of a play you need is not at Centre, try using WorldCat, a union catalog of millions of records from libraries worldwide, to identify items not available in our library. Use Interlibrary Loan to then request the book from another library.

Dramatist Play Services
Dramatists Play Service, Inc. publishes acting editions of plays, and handles the nonprofessional and professional leasing rights to these works.

Ottemiller's Index to Plays in Collections by Billie M. Connor; Helene Machedlover
ISBN: 0810820811
Publication Date: 1993-09-01
The standard location tool for full-length plays published in collections and anthologies in England and the U.S. since the beginning of the 20th century. Indispensable tool for reference, referral, and collection development. Highly recommended. --REFERENCE BOOKS BULLETIN
The Oxford Dictionary of Plays by Michael Patterson
ISBN: 0198604173
Publication Date: 2005-06-02
Anyone with an academic, professional, amateur, or recreational interest in the theatre is likely to want to look up details of particular plays sometimes - perhaps to check on the author, or on when they were first performed, or perhaps to see how many characters they have, and whether or notthey would be suitable for their theatre company or drama group to perform.The Oxford Dictionary of Plays provides essential information on the 1000 best-known, best-loved, and most important plays in world theatre. Each entry includes details of title, author, date of composition, date of first performance, genre, setting, and the composition of the cast, and more. Asynopsis of the plot and a brief commentary, perhaps on the context of the play, or the reasons for its enduring popularity, follow. Around 80 of the most significant plays - from The Oresteia to Waiting for Godot - are dealt with in more detail. Genres covered include: burlesque, comedy, farce,historical drama, kabuki, masque, melodrama, morality play, mystery play, No, romantic comedy, tragicomedy, satire, and tragedy.An index of characters enables the reader to locate favourite characters, and trace the trajectory of major historical and legendary characters - such as Iphigenia - through world drama, including in plays that do not have entries in the Dictionary. An index of playwrights, with dates, allows thereader to find all the plays included by a particular author.
Encyclopedia of World Drama
ISBN: 9780070795679
Publication Date: 1973-01-01
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance by Dennis Kennedy (Editor)
ISBN: 0198601743
Publication Date: 2003-05-01
From ancient Greek theatre to the latest developments in stage design, from the trance-dances of Sumatra to an extensive biography of the legendary actor-manager Eleonore Duse, the Encyclopedia provides unrivaled information across the broad sweep of theatrical activity. The Encyclopedia's inclusive approach encompasses opera and film, dance and radio, and para-theatrical, non-dramatic performances including circuses and carnivals, and parades and public executions--providing truly extensive coverage from ancient Greek theatre to the latest developments in London, Paris, New York, and around the globe. The Encyclopedia pays special attention to non-Western styles through articles on theatre and performance throughout the many countries and traditions of Asia and Africa. Numerous biographical entries cover the lives and work of major figures: actors, playwrights, directors, designer, company managers, and critics. A unique feature of the Encyclopedia is the series of articles on concepts, theories, and critical approaches, ranging from short definitions of terms like catharsis and monologue to more lengthy considerations of farce and tragedy. Race and theatre, the nature of acting, censorship, safety, special effects, and media and performance are all debated. In all, the 4,300 entries by renowned contributors remain accessible in language and approach and take advantage of the theoretical and historiographical developments in the field. The combination of rich detail and accessible language and style make The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance the resource of choice for readers interested in theatre and performance, from occasional playgoers to newspaper critics, students, and scholars.