Theatre
Library Research Guide
Welcome Theatre Students!
In the left column you'll find various page listings with different databases to help you in your research. Also, note the sword-wielding librarian as well - he's also armed with knowledge (and puns) and can help you find materials and give your research direction!
Performing Arts Periodicals Database
- Performing Arts Periodicals DatabasePaid for by K-State Libraries A comprehensive guide to the journal literature on performing arts–drama, theater, dance, film, television, and more–from both scholarly and popular publications. Multidisciplinary fields include film, drama, dance, stagecraft, broadcast arts, circus performance, comedy, storytelling, and more. Related to every aspect of theatre, IIPA is your first best stop for criticism, reviews, theory, and research articles.
Script Databases
- North American Women’s DramaPaid for by K-State Libraries
Rich collection of works produced by women playwrights, containing over 1,500 plays by over 330 authors. Also includes playbills, photographs, and other resources of interest. - Black Drama: Second EditionPublication Dates Covered: 1850 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
Contains more than 1,462 plays from the mid-1800s to the present by more than 233 black playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries. Also includes theatre and production information for selected plays and authors. - Play IndexSimultaneous users: 1 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Find more than 31,000 plays by their author, subject, title, style, genre, cast type, and more. Database includes plot summaries and monologues. Can limit results to plays with a specific number of male and/or female roles, music requirements, and scenery requirements. Updated weekly. - Twentieth Century North American DramaPaid for by K-State Libraries
Search 2000 full text plays by historical and social context, national heritage, gender, religion, literary movement and more. Provides unique avenues for research, teaching, and learning.
Finding Plays in the Stacks
Finding plays in print form can be a little tricky - the big problem is that a script is literature, and all literature is grouped together (novels, short stories, poetry, essays, criticism, etc). That's fine if you want to find all of a single author's work together and you're looking for that author. It's a bit more problematic if you want to browse a number of scripts all together.
If you know the name of the playwright, enter that in Search It and that will take you to plays and collections by that playwright - for instance - Neil Simon:
If you don't know a playwright, however, it can be a bit trickier. One useful method is to seek out collections of plays by various authors. Here's a few examples to get you started:
Plays for the Theatre by Call Number: PN6112 .P57 1984ISBN: 9780030636974Publication Date: 1984-01-01
The Harcourt Brace Anthology of Drama by Call Number: PN6112 .H28 2000ISBN: 9780155080553Publication Date: 1999-07-02This best-selling drama anthology is an unusually comprehensive collection of classic theatre and contemporary drama drawn from around the world.
The Broadview Anthology of Drama by Call Number: PN6112 .B73 2003ISBN: 9781551111391Publication Date: 2003-07-01The Broadview Anthology of Drama: Plays from the Western Theatre is a chronological presentation of 43 plays in two volumes, ranging from the ancient theatre world to the present day.
