Drama and Drama Criticism

Introduction to the Databases and Print Sources located in Buley Library

To locate books and other library materials use CONSULS (the online catalog of holdings for CSU libraries)

To Locate a playwright use the Subject Search option:
Subject= Mamet, David
(note: “criticism and interpretation” will be listed here under the name of the playwright)

To Locate works authored by a dramatist or playwright:

Author= Shaw, Bernard

To Locate a specific play, search first by Title, then by Keyword:

Title= Oleanna (2)
(note: ECSU has a copy. Use the request a book function to borrow from other CSU libraries) Use the limit option to specify SCSU and to limit by material type or year.

Title= Sunshine Boys (0) Since there are not matches by title, try a keyword search to see if the play is included in a collection:

Use the keyword option to do combined searches
Keyword= Sunshine Boys (play listed in table of contents)
Keyword= Tennessee Williams and criticism (47)

Additional broad subject searches:

Subject= drama (also look under related subjects)
(“Here are entered works on drama as a literary form. Works on drama as acted on the stage are entered under Theater.”)
Subject= theater

Subject= one act plays

Subject=monologues

Location of books in Buley: Check the holdings box for each item, it will specify a call number and location: Reference (on first floor), SCSU Stacks (A-N on1st floor, P-Z, 2nd floor), Oversized Books (basement level)

*Note: Another resource containing the text of plays is “Best Plays.” To find a list of these volumes: Title= Best Plays ( SCSU Stacks PN 6112.B45)

Also try a keyword search: Keyword= “best plays”

 

DATABASES (Locate databases alphabetically or from the subject list, use the “Arts and Humanities” pull down menu)

Academic Search Premier EBSCO (some full text) Indexes/abstracts articles in 3000+ scholarly journals in social sciences and humanitites, and general interest magazines and newspapers. Many articles available in full text. All Ebsco databases (for combined searching).

Asian American Drama Hundreds of plays with detailed information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more.

Black Drama (1850-present) Information on 1,000+ plays, related productions, theaters, production companies,

Essay and General Literature Index Find contents in collected works focusing on humanities and social sciences.

Gale’s Literature Resource Center Full-text author biographies, critical essays, and more drawn from several Gale resources, including Contemporary Authors , the Dictionary of Literary Biography and the Literary Criticism sets. Full-text author biographies, critical essays, and more drawn from several Gale resources, including Contemporary Authors , the Dictionary of Literary Biography and the Literary Criticism sets.

LION is a fully searchable library of more than 350,000 works of English and American poetry, drama and prose, 136 full-text literature journals, and other key criticism and reference resources

MLA Bibliography (for scholarly criticism of plays)

Wilson Select Plus (full text)Full text articles in a variety of humanities and social sciences.

World Almanac (FS) full text of the: Funk & Wagnall's New Encyclopedia The World Almanac and Book of Facts The World Almanac of the U.S.A. The World Almanac of U.S. Politics The World Almanac for Kids

 

REFERENCE SOURCES (located in the reference section on the first floor)

To locate individual plays:

Play Index (located in Index area on first floor)
Ottenmiller’s Index to Plays in Collections: an Author and Title Index to Plays Appearing in Collections Published between 1900 and 1985 (Ref Z5781.O8) Look up the title of a play and get the name of the anthology or collection in which it is published.

To locate reviews:

Drury’s Guide to Best Plays (Ref Z5781.D8)
A Guide to Critical Reviews (Ref Z1035. A1S53)
New York Times Index (Index Area/precedes reference collection)
New York Times Theatre Reviews (Ref PN181. N48)
*****Readers Guide to Periodical Literature (Index area first floor

To locate drama criticism:

Cambridge Guide to World Theatre (Ref PN2035. C27)
Contemporary Dramatists (Ref PN 1861. V5)
Critical Survey of Drama. English Language Series (Ref PR 613.C75)
6 volumes. Arranged by author.
Critical Survey of Drama: Foreign Language Series (RefPN1625C74) 6 volumes.
Crowell’s Handbook of Classical Drama (Ref. PA 3024. H35)
The Crown Guide to the World’s Great Plays (Ref PN 6112.5S45)
Drama Criticism (Ref PN 1601.D9) 6 volumes
Major Modern Dramatists (Ref PN 1861. M27)
Masterplots II . (Ref PN6112.5 M37)
McGraw Hill encyclopedia of World Drama (5 volumes) (Ref. PN1625.G3)
Oxford Companion to the American Theatre: (Ref PN 2035.H3)
Oxford Companion to the Theatre (Ref PN 2035. H3)
Performing Arts Biographies Master Index (Ref PN1583. M37)
Readers Encyclopedia of World Drama (Ref PN 1625. G3)

Indexes to Drama Criticism

American Drama Criticism: Interpretations 1890-1977 (Ref Z1231 D7P3)
American Playwrights since 1945: A Guide to Scholarship, Criticism and Performance (RefZ1231.D7A53)
Drama Criticism Index (Ref Z5781. B8)
European Drama Criticism (Ref Z5781. P2)
Latin American Dramatists Ref PQ 7082 D7 L373
Modern Drama: A Checklist of Critical Literature on 20th century plays (1967)
(Ref Z5781.A35)
More Black American Playwrights: a bibliography (Ref Z1229 N39 A73)
Modern Drama Scholarship and Criticism, 1966-1980 (Ref Z5781.C37)