Emerson College Library: Theatre: Plays & Scripts

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Dramatists Play Service
Plays published by the prolific Dramatists Play Service.
Theatre Communications Group
Plays published by the also prolific Theatre Communications Group (TCG).
Applause Theatre & Cinema Books
Plays published by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books.
Samuel French
Plays published by Samuel French, Inc.
Playscripts, Inc.
Plays published by Playscripts, Inc.

Plays & Monologues Online

Drama Online Library This link opens in a new window
Drama Online offers texts of classic and modern plays and additionally scholarly notes, annotated texts, critical analysis and contextual information. Critical interpretations, theatre history surveys and major reference works on authors, movements, practitioners, periods and genres are included alongside performance practitioner texts, and acting and backstage guides. Includes tools for identifying monologues and plays for production. Please note: performance rights to these plays are not provided.
New Play Exchange (NPX) This link opens in a new window
New Play Exchange, a National New Play Network project, claims to be the world’s largest digital full text library of scripts by living writers. Designed and built with the needs of the new play sector in mind, NPX serves writers, producers, directors, artistic directors, literary managers, dramaturgs, publishers, agents, actors, professors, students, and theater fans. Search by genre, including experimental, musical, opera, radio drama, horror, and many others. Performance rights to these plays are not included, but information on obtaining those rights is made available.

American Theatre
Each issue features reports on plays in print, performances, and theater season schedules in the US and abroad. Includes full-length play scripts for "major new plays" five times per year (print edition only). Includes interviews with featured playwright(s).

New Plays

American Theatre
Each issue features reports on plays in print, performances, and theater season schedules in the US and abroad. Includes full-length play scripts for "major new plays" five times per year (print edition only). Includes interviews with featured playwright(s).

New Play Exchange (NPX) This link opens in a new window
New Play Exchange, a National New Play Network project, claims to be the world’s largest digital full text library of scripts by living writers. Designed and built with the needs of the new play sector in mind, NPX serves writers, producers, directors, artistic directors, literary managers, dramaturgs, publishers, agents, actors, professors, students, and theater fans. Search by genre, including experimental, musical, opera, radio drama, horror, and many others. Performance rights to these plays are not included, but information on obtaining those rights is made available.

TheatreForum
Documents and discusses the work of innovative theatre artists in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas with a focus on new performance works that reflect contemporary sensibilities and articulate new concepts and forms. Each issue includes at least two previously unpublished scripts (print edition only).

Monologues

We have many collections of monologues, but you may find it more helpful to read through recent short plays to find monologues for auditions. There are many collections of short plays, play festivals, and award-winning plays in our library. Here are the general shelf locations and some notable series:

PN 2080 Monologue collections
PN 6010.5-6120 Play Collections (general)
- Burns Mantle yearbook
- The Best Plays of...[year]
- Best American Short Plays
PR 1241-1273 Collections of English (UK) Drama
PS 623-635 Collections of American Drama
- Boston Theatre Marathon
- Off-off Broadway Festival
- Strawberry Festival
- HB Playwrights festival
- Humana Festival

Selected Anthologies

Contemporary plays by African American women : ten complete works [electronic resource] by edited by Sandra Adell
Call Number: eBook
ISBN: 0252097815
Publication Date: 2015
Islam in Performance: contemporary plays from South Asia by Ashis Sengupta (Editor)
Call Number: PK5461 .I85 2017
ISBN: 9781474250719
Publication Date: 2017-01-12
Scenes for Latinx Actors: voices of the new American theatre by Micha Espinosa; Cynthia DeCure
Call Number: PN2080 .L245 2018
ISBN: 9781575259314
Publication Date: 2019-02-15
Out Plays by Ben Hodges (Editor); Harvey Fierstein (Foreword by)
Call Number: PS627.H67 O97 2008
ISBN: 9781593500443
Publication Date: 2008-03-01
Asian American Plays for a New Generation by Josephine Lee (Editor); Don Eitel (General Editor); R. A. Shiomi (General Editor)
Call Number: PS628.A85 A885 2011
ISBN: 9781439905166
Publication Date: 2011-05-27
Power Plays: dramatic short plays for student actors by Laurie Allen
Call Number: PS3601.L4324 P69 2016
ISBN: 9781566082075
Publication Date: 2016-07-01

Adaptations

More Theatre: Stage to Screen to Television
Call Number: Emerson Reference [X] PN 2189 .M32 1993
More Theatre: Stage to Screen to Television, 1993-2001
Call Number: Emerson Reference [X] PN 2189 .M32 2003
Theatre: Stage to Screen to Television
Call Number: Emerson Reference [X] PN 2189 .L44
Entries contain synopsis, comment and critique, and information for stage, film, and television productions.

Playwrighting

Dramatist's Sourcebook
Reference PN1661 .D735
Lists opportunities for playwrights, translations, composers, lyricists, and librettists, in addition to screen, radio, and television writers.
The Dramatists Guild Resource Directory: The Writers Guide to the Theatrical Marketplace
Call Number: Emerson Reference [X] PN 2289 .D5 2009
15th ed. Format guidelines, listings for career development professionals & opportunities, educational opportunities, writer resources, and special interests.
Professional Playscript Format Guidelines and Sample
Call Number: Emerson Reference [X] PN 1661 .P76 1991

Licensing Plays

PlayFinder - Dramatists Play Service
Database of over 4,000 full-length & short plays, musicals, and collections. Print catalogue lists Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning plays.

Productions

The Encyclopedia of the American Theatre by Edwin Bronner
Call Number: Emerson Reference [X] PN2266 .B68 1980
ISBN: 0498012190
Publication Date: 1980-01-01

Internet Broadway Database
"The official database for Broadway theatre information. IBDB provides records of productions from the beginnings of New York theatre until today."
Lortel Archives (Internet Off-Broadway Database)
Catalogue of shows produced Off-Broadway.

North American Theatre Online This link opens in a new window
Collection covering all aspects of the Canadian and American Theatre, including books, people, theatres, productions, and production companies. Some full text. Includes images of ephemera like stills, postcards, and posters. Also contains video clips of performances.