Finding Playscripts FAQs
Where are the print plays, playscripts, and screenplays located in the library building?Currently most plays, playscripts, and screenplays are shelved in the library's general collection on the 6th floor and are available for check-out. Occasionally rare or special copies will be in the 7th floor Wittliff Collections Reading Room.
How do I figure out where they are on the shelves?
Be sure to check the Library Catalog for exact call numbers and locations for printed plays, playscripts, and screenplays.
Do you have online copies?
Alkek Library has online copies of plays and playscripts in several databases. See the list on this page for links to these databases.
I can't find a play when I search by the title! Does that mean we don't have it?Sometimes plays are published in a magazine or in a book collection. Use an index (either print or online) to locate these plays. If you still can't find it, you can use Interlibrary Loan or your TexShare card to get a copy from a different library.
Finding Plays & Playscripts...using the Library Catalog & Databases
The library owns print and online copies of playscripts.
You'll need to use different tools (and different links on the website) to find print and online playscripts.
For print plays, use the library catalog.
If you can't find a print play, you can try searching in a play index to find plays in anthologies. (see the next tab for more info)
Online copies of plays will appear in the library catalog.
Also use online play text databases like Drama Online to find online texts of plays.
****You can also use the Playscripts 'genre' link to see a list of all Playscripts in the library catalog
Online playscript databases allow you to search plays more precisely according to theme, cast composition, roles for men and women, and other attributes.
The following list of databases contain complete online playscript texts:
- Drama Online This link opens in a new windowDrama Online is one of the most important online playscript sources available to you via Alkek. This database has a powerful search tool that lets you choose by genre, roles (male, female), and other attributes. It also includes video content.
- Black Drama: Third Edition This link opens in a new window
Hundreds of plays from African and African diaspora playwrights including rare and previously unpublished plays by Langston Hughes, Ed Bullins, Willis Richardson, Amiri Baraka, and many others. Mid-1800s to present.
- Twentieth Century Drama This link opens in a new window
Plays from the English-speaking world, including under-represented theater traditions such as radical theater, women's theater, regional, national & ethnic theatrical traditions. 1890s to present.
- Inter-Play This link opens in a new windowLocates plays in collections, anthologies, & periodicals. Use the catalog to see if the library owns the book or periodical. Renaissance times to the present.
- Literature Online (ProQuest) This link opens in a new windowEnglish & American poetry, prose and drama from the 8th century to the present day plus journals, criticism & reference resources on authors and their works.
- Gale Literature: Litfinder This link opens in a new window
A very large collection of current and historical poems, short stories, essays, speeches, plays and author biographies.
Online playscript texts in the Library Catalog
Some online playscript texts are found in the Library Catalog.
Search by play title or author, or enter the keyword "playscripts."
Use the "ebooks" setting to find online content.
Click here to browse a list of Playscripts in Alkek Library.
Search the library catalog here for print and ebook copies of plays.
Search by play title or author, or enter the keyword "playscripts."
For opera/musical librettos: enter the title of the opera/musical in the online Library Catalog.
Librettos in our collection reside at the Alkek Library location. You might also try entering the keyword "libretto."
Some plays are published in collections or magazines, and not in single volumes. These indexes indicate the collection or magazine where the text of a certain play is published. Click on the links below to access databases or check for location information.
Print Indexes:
Online Databases & eBooks:
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Drama OnlineTheatre, drama and literature. Comprehensive database with hundreds of full-text plays combined with critical analysis, contextual information, biographies, and genres. Search for plays by theme, setting, time period or genre.
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Inter-playAn On-line Index to Plays in Collections, Anthologies, And Periodicals. This online database contains more than 18,000 entries for plays. Note: Must check Alkek Library Catalog to search for source in our collection.
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Literature Online (LION)Literature Online (LION) is a searchable library of more than 350,000 works of English and American poetry, drama and prose, 192 full-text literature journals, and other key criticism and reference resources.
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LitfinderIncludes more than 126,500 full-text poems, 850,000 poem citations and excerpts, 5,000 full-text short stories, 2,800 full-text essays, 1,800 full-text speeches, and 1,000 full-text plays. LitFinder also includes biographies, work summaries, photographs, and a glossary.
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Ottemiller's Index to Plays (eBook version)Online version of the 2011 edition. Single user access.
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Play IndexPlay Index allows searching for plays by title; author; subject (sisters, culture conflict, marriage); style (symbolism, experimental theater); genre (comedy, melodrama, musical); cast type. It includes plays published as single volumes and also plays in anthologies and collections
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Twentieth Century DramaTwentieth-Century Drama will contain 2,500 plays from throughout the English-speaking world, covering the history of modern drama from the 1890s to the present. Release Four includes more than 1,050 plays.
See also the entire Theater & Performing Arts database list, the Newspaper databases, and possibly the Literature and Language databases for more search options.
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Art Full TextArt, antiques, archaeology, architecture, art history, computers in art, crafts, decorative arts, fashion design, folk art, graphics art, motion pictures, musicology, painting, photography, sculpture, textiles, TV, new artists, contemporary art, exhibition reviews. Includes Latin American, Canadian, Asian and other non-Western art.
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Film & Television Literature IndexFilm & television theory & research, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews.
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Google ScholarAccess Google Scholar via this link to enable links to Texas State University's databases & subscriptions. Multi-subject resources from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities & other scholarly organizations
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Humanities SourceArea studies, theology, religion, performing arts, literary & political criticism, language & literature, music, philosophy, history, and classical studies, area studies, art, communications, dance, film, folklore, gender studies, and journalism.
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Literature Online (LION)Literature Online (LION) is a searchable library of more than 350,000 works of English and American poetry, drama and prose, 192 full-text literature journals, and other key criticism and reference resources.
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Literature Resource CenterLiterary biographies and criticism, covering approximately 130,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists, and other writers. Includes several major Gale publications such as: Dictionary of Literary Biography, Contemporary Literary Criticism, Contemporary Authors, & other Gale publications.
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MLA International BibliographyContains article citations from scholarly journals, chapters of books, and dissertations. Our provider for MLA is EbscoHost. Although MLA does not include the full-text of articles, it does link to the articles if it is available in another EbscoHost database that we provide access.
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Project MUSEProject MUSE offers full-text current and archival articles from 500+ scholarly journals from major university presses covering literature and criticism, history, performing arts, cultural studies, education, philosophy, political science, gender studies, and more. Updated continually.
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World Shakespeare Bibliography OnlineCitations to books, articles, book reviews, dissertations, theatrical productions, reviews of productions, audiovisual materials, electronic media, and other scholarly and popular materials.