Literature: Drama Criticism

Play Scripts
How to Locate Plays
Plays Online
Play Indexes in Reference
Searching the Online Catalog for Plays

Drama Criticism and Playwright Biographies
Databases
Links
Background Information in Encyclopedias and Handbooks
Criticism and Biography Reference Books
Searching the Online Catalog for Drama Criticism and Biography

See Also
Literary Criticism and Biography
Shakespeare
under construction
Poetry Criticism
Children's and Young Adult Literature
under construction
French Literature
under construction
Spanish Literature
under construction
 


 
Play Scripts

How to Locate Plays

1. Consult play databases and websites using the resources suggested in the Plays Online section below.

2. Consult play indexes listed in the Play Indexes in Reference section below.

3. Search the the online catalog. See Searching the Online Catalog for Plays below for searching tips.

Plays Online

Databases
LitFinder
LitFinder contains over 1,000 complete plays plus character lists and subject access.

Links
Play Archives Online
Inter-Play

An online index to English and foreign language plays in collections, anthologies, and periodicals. Lists citations for theatrical plays. Many are not indexed in standard print play indexes.

Play Indexes in Reference

An Index of Characters in Early Modern English Drama: Printed Plays, 1500-1660 (Cambridge University Press, 1998)
Ref. PR 1265.3 .B4 1998

Index to Plays in Collections
By John H. Ottemiller (Scarecrow Press, 1964)
Ref. PN 1655 .O8 1964

Play Index
(New York, H. W. Wilson)
Ref. PN 1621 .P53 1949-1992

Searching the Online Catalog for Plays
Go to the Library's online catalog

To locate plays by a particular playwright:
Conduct a “Basic Search/Author Search” on the playwright’s name (last name first).
Example Search:
Wilder, Thorton [Author Search]

To locate plays by title:
Conduct an “Advanced Search/Keyword Search” on the title of the play.
Example Search:
Our Town [As a phrase] [Keyword Anywhere]

To locate particular types of plays:
Conduct a "Basic Search/Subject Search" or an "Advanced Search/Keyword Search" for the type of play. (You may use any of the subject headings suggested below.)
 

 General:
DRAMA
DRAMATISTS
PLAYS
THEATER

Particular Types of Drama:
AMATEUR PLAYS
COMEDY
DRAMA - 20TH CENTURY
DRAMA, MEDIEVAL
HISTORICAL DRAMA
LITURGICAL DRAMAS
MONOLOGUES
MOTION PICTURE PLAYS
MYSTERIES AND MIRACLE PLAYS
ONE-ACT PLAYS
RADIO PLAYS
SKITS
TELEVISION PLAYS

Educational Plays
CHILDREN'S PLAYS
PUPPET PLAYS

Plays by (or) about a Particular Group or Nationality

Examples:
AMERICAN DRAMA
CHINESE DRAMA
ENGLISH DRAMA
FRENCH DRAMA
RUSSIAN DRAMA

Religious Plays
BIBLE PLAYS
CHRISTMAS PLAYS
MISSIONARY PLAYS
RELIGIOUS DRAMA

Playwriting
DRAMA - TECHNIQUE
DRAMATISTS
MOTION PICTURE AUTHORSHIP
MOTION PICTURE PLAYS - TECHNIQUE
PLAYWRITING
TELEVISION PLAYS - TECHNIQUE

 

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Drama Criticism and Playwright Biographies

Databases
The following databases may be accessed from
http://www.leeuniversity.edu/library/databases.

Biography Resource Center
Full-text database of biographical information on more than 220,000 people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas.

LitFinder
LitFinder contains over 1,000 complete plays plus character lists and subject access.

Literary Index (Gale)
Index to Gale Research's literary reference tools. Identify the reference tools you need, then identify their call number location by consulting the Gale Research Literary Resources guide. No full text.

Literature Resource Center
Full-text database of biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of more than 120,000 authors.

MLA International Bibliography
Index to language, literature, linguistics, and folklore scholarly literature. No full text.

Links

Literature in English (Voice of the Shuttle)

Background Information in Encyclopedias and Handbooks

The Cambridge Guide to World Theatre
(Cambridge University Press, 1990)
Ref. PN2035 .C27 1990

The Oxford Companion to World Theatre
(Oxford University Press, 2004)
on order

The Oxford Companion to the Theatre
(Oxford University Press, 1983)
Ref. PN2035 .O9

Criticism and Biography Reference Books

See also the Library's guide: Literary Criticism and Biography

American Drama Criticism
(Shoe String Press, 1979)
Ref. PS351 .A53 1979

Classical Greek and Roman Drama
(Salem Press, 1989)
Ref. PA3024 .F67 1989

Contemporary Dramatists
(St. Martin’s Press, 1977)
Ref. PR737 .C6 1977

Critical Survey of Drama: English Language Series
(Salem Press, 1985)
Ref. PR625 .C74

Dictionary of Literary Biography: French Dramatists, 1789-1914
(Gale, 1998)
Ref. PS21 .D5185 v. 192

Dictionary of Literary Biography: Twentieth-Century American Dramatists (Gale, 1981)
Ref. PS21 .D5185 v. 7

Dictionary of Literary Biography: Twentieth-Century German Dramatists, 1919-1992
(Gale, 1992)
Ref. PS21 .D5185 v. 124

Digests of Great American Plays: Complete Summaries of More than 100 Plays
(Cromwell, 1961)
Ref. PS 338 .P5 .L6

European Drama Criticism 1900-1975
(Shoe String Press, 1977)
Ref. PN 1721 .P2 1977

A History of English Drama, 1660-1900
(Cambridge University Press, 1965)
Ref. PR625 .N52 1952

An Index of Characters in Early Modern English Drama: Printed Plays, 1500-1660
(Cambridge University Press, 1998)
Ref. PR1265.3 .B4 1998

International Dictionary of Theatre Vol 1: Plays
(St. James Press, 1992)
Ref. PN2035 .I49 1992

Modern British Drama
(AHM Publishing, 1979)
Ref. PR736 .M6

The New Intellectuals: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama
(University of Nebraska Press, 1977)
Ref. PR671 .N39

Women Playwrights of Diversity
(Greenwood Press, 1997)

Ref. PS338.W6 P48 1997

Theatre and Film Reviews

Expanded Academic ASAP
Squires Library Database. Expanded Academic ASAP provides coverage in the social sciences, humanities, sciences, and technology, national news, and general interest, with a concentration on scholarly journals. Some full text.

NewsBank
Squires Library database. NewsBank offers full text access to selected articles from wire services, broadcasts, and 500 newspapers worldwide.

Plugged in Online
Focus on the Family reviews films, television programs, and music.

Searching the Online Catalog for Drama Criticism and Biography

Go to the Library's online catalog

To locate criticism about a particular playwright's works:
- Conduct a “Basic Search/Author Search” on the playwright’s
name (last name first) in the online catalog.
- Browse to find the type of material you need.
- Example Search:
Wilder, Thorton (Subject Search)

To locate criticism of a particular type of drama:
- Using the subject headings suggested above in the Searching the Online Catalog for Plays section, conduct a “Basic Search/Subject Search” in the online catalog.
- Browse to find the type of material you need.
- Example Search:
American drama [Subject Search] Skim for appropriate topics:
American drama
American drama - 19th century
American drama - History and criticism
American drama - Women authors

 


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Reference:
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