How-to Guide » Plays & Play Reviews

Overview

If you know the playwright's name, check under author in WestCat. If you know the title of the play, check under title. If you're not sure about the title try a keyword search with words you think are in the title. Keyword searches also find plays listed in the table of contents of some books, which contain collections of plays. If these searches fail, consult the following indexes. Ask at the Reference Desk if you need assistance.

How to Locate Plays

Play Index Index to over 30,000 plays published individually or in collections from 1949 to date. Search by title, author, subject, style, genre, cast type, specific number of male/female roles, appropriate for specific ages, and more. Over 500 monologues are available for auditions or course assignments. Links to full text when available, or to the library catalog, if in a book or collection. You may need to use Interlibrary Loan to get a copy of the anthology if we do not own it.
Print - Z 5781 .P53 (Ref)

Asian American Drama Full text of 252 plays by 42 playwrights, with information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. Also included: selected playbills, production photographs and other ephemera related to the plays.

Best Plays PN 6112 .B45 (Ref)
Contains synopses and excerpts from each season's prize-winning plays and production data from all Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions, as well as some data about plays produced elsewhere in the U.S. 1952-present. 1899-1947 in General Stacks.

Black Drama, 2nd edition Full text of more than 1,300 plays from the mid-1800s to the present written by 200 African or African-American playwrights. Each play is indexed by keyword and by numerous subjects. Enhanced by reference materials, ancillary information and images.

Chicorel Theater Index Z 5781 .C485 (Ref)
Indexes plays by both title and author. Once you have located a book that contains the play you want you need to look in WestCat, the Libraries' catalog, to see if we own that book.

Dramatists Play Service, Inc. DPS is one of the major publishers and licensers of plays. Use the Playfinder feature to find availability and information about play scripts (librettos), scores, and other publications. Items are for sale but may also be available through interlibrary loan. DPS' play catalogues may also be downloaded as PDF files (click on "Catalogues").

Dramatists' Play Service Complete Catalogue of Plays Z 5785 .Z9 .D73 (Ref Desk Collection)
This catalog lists copies of plays that are used by actors as scripts. We own a few of these books in our collection; others can be obtained through Interlibrary Loan.

Index to Plays in Periodicals Z 5781 .K43 1979 (Ref)
If you find a play in this index you need to search WestCat, the Libraries' catalog, to see if we own the periodical in which the play is printed or use Interlibrary Loan to get a photocopy of the play from a library that owns that periodical.

LitFinder Full texts of selected poems, short stories, essays, plays and speeches. The PoemFinder features 125,000 full-text poems, 850,000 additional cited and excerpted poems, keyword and author searching, as well as biographies of poets and some critical interpretations. In LitFinder you can search by author or title but also by genre (e.g. children's literature, humor); by subject (e.g. nature, religion); and within author you can limit by time period, genre, and religious affiliation.

North American Women's Drama Over 1,500 plays by 330 playwrights, with detailed information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. 30% of the plays have not been published before. Also included: selected playbills, production photographs, and other ephemera related to the plays.

Samuel French Basic Catalogue of Plays and Musicals Z 5785 .Z9 F8 (Ref Desk Collection)
This catalog lists copies of plays that are used by actors as scripts. We own a few of these books in our collection; others can be obtained through Interlibrary Loan.

Theatre in Video Streaming video of over 250 definitive performances of major plays and more than 100 film documentaries.

Play Reviews

To locate a review of a play you need to know the title of the play and it helps to know at least the approximate date the play was produced. Other facts about the play, such as the correct name of the playwright, name of the director, and actors associated with the production are also useful to know. Use other newspaper sources to find reviews of plays outside of New York City.

American Drama Criticism Interpretations: 1890-1965, Inclusive of American Drama Since the First Plays Produced in America Z 1231 .D7 P3 (Ref)
This volume is the first edition, which was then followed by numerous supplements and then a second edition which, in turn, has numerous supplements. These volumes are a very selective, unannotated list of drama criticism published in books and periodicals of significant plays. Published irregularly.

American Newspapers This NewsBank database is a subset of the larger Access World News collection and consists of over 800 American newspapers. They are listed by state and searchable individually, by region or nationally.

InfoTrac General OneFile Indexes news and periodical articles on a wide variety of topics. Millions of articles are full-text. Coverage: 1980-present.

LexisNexis Guided News Search Comprehensive full text database covering national and regional newspapers, wire services, broadcast transcripts, and international news, including non-English language sources.

New York Theatre Critics' Reviews PN 1601 .N4 (Ref)
Reprints reviews from a number of New York City newspapers as well as national magazines like Time and Newsweek, and network television reviews. Has more than one review for each play covered. 1940-present.

New York Times (InfoTrac)
Search full text articles from 1995 to date. It is also possible to browse the NYT by date.

New York Times 1851-2003 (ProQuest) Search the full-text articles of this national newspaper from 1851-2003.

New York Times Theater Reviews PN 1581 .N4 (Ref)
Still another convenient way of getting these play reviews from 1920 to the recent present is to consult a number of bound volumes that reprint the full text of the reviews from the New York Times. Arrangement is chronological. A separate index volume covering 1920-1970 makes it easy to find a review when you don't know its date.

ProQuest Research Library Indexes popular magazines, scholarly journals, newspapers and trade publications in a wide range of subject areas, including business, education, humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Full-text available for over 2,500 journals. Coverage from 1971.

Readers' Guide Abstracts Indexes and abstracts a core list of approximately 300 popular magazines. Includes current events; book reviews; and music, dance, theatre, and motion picture reviews. Coverage from 1983 to the present, abstracts from 1984. Updated monthly.
Print: AI 3 .R48 (Ref) (1904-1998)

Ask A Librarian

Maria A. Perez-Stable, E-mail: maria.perez-stable@wmich.edu
Phone: 269-387-5322
Last updated: August 2007