Theatre Arts: Plays

Use the online catalog to find plays.

If you don’t find the play you want with a “Title” search in the catalog, try the following:

1. Do an “All Fields” search, typing the playwright’s name and the play title, for example:

Sidney Howard and They Knew What They Wanted

Often we have the play only in an anthology.  They Knew What They Wanted is in four anthologies in Lewis Library, but a “Title” search will retrieve only the vocal score for a musical based on the play.

2. Do an “Author” search for the playwright.    We may have the play in an edition of the author’s “Plays,” “Collected Plays,” or “Complete Plays.”  For example, we have a four-volume collection of Neil Simon’s plays (up to 1991, when the fourth volume was published).

3. Ask a librarian. 

• We may have the play in an anthology that doesn’t show up in the catalog.
• If it’s a foreign play (such as Oedipus Rex, Molière’s The Clever Women, or Brecht’s The Good Woman of Setzuan/The Good Person of Szechwan), we may have it under a different title from the one you know.
• If we don’t have it, we can borrow it on interlibrary loan from another library (assuming it’s been published—many plays haven’t).

The plays aren’t all shelved together. They’re usually shelved according to the playwright’s nationality and period, for example:

• British plays in the PR area (along with British novels, poetry, etc.) 
• American plays in the PS area
• French plays in the PQ area
• German plays in PT
• ancient Greek plays in PA

Your best bet is to look up the playwright in the online catalog to determine the call number, or ask the Reference Librarian for assistance.

If you want to browse plays, e.g. to find a speech to use for an audition, you may want to try the play anthologies:

• PS 634 – anthologies of American plays 
• PN 6112 – anthologies of plays from various countries (including American) 
• Musical libretti are mostly in the ML 50 area on the upper level