Plays: Locating Plays: Electronic -Text Versions
This guide lists resources for locating the full-text of plays published individually, in periodicals, as part of collections and anthologies, or online. Resources for monologues, play digests and synopses, and production histories are also listed.
Last Updated: Jan 8, 2024 4:29 PM
MAJOR ELECTRONIC-TEXT COLLECTIONS
- Alex CatalogA catalog of electronic texts containing about 2,000 entries from electronic-text collections including the Oxford Text Archive and Wiretap. Alex is no longer being maintained, however, so if you do not find the particular play you are looking for, search the other indexes to electronic-text collections listed here.
- Electronic Text Archives and Plays OnlineIn addition to searching by playwright, links to French, classical, Renaissance, and Spanish Golden Age plays are provided.
- Literature Online This link opens in a new windowIndividual collections of poetry, fiction, drama & much more. More InfoFull-Text UB ONLY
- The On-line Books PageAllows you to search across several large electronic-text collections at once; it provides access to over 6,000 online texts including texts in specialty and foreign-language collections. Allows for author and title searching as well as author, title, subject and Library of Congress classification browsing.
- Playwrights on the WebProvides access to new plays submitted and reviewed for acceptance. Playwrights and their websites are also included.
- Project GutenbergOnline database containing hundreds of electronic texts. Due to copyright law, many of the items contained in this e-text collection are works written prior to 1920. Browsable by author or title.
SELECTED SPECIALIZED ELECTRONIC-TEXT SITES
- American Memory Collections--Library of CongressLarge digital collection which includes "The New Deal Stage," a selection of playscripts and production materials from the Federal Theatre Project (1935-1939), and "The American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment," a selection of English and Yiddish playscripts as well as sound recordings and ephemera (1870-1920). Allows for keyword searching and limiting by document type, as well as title and topic browsing.
- Complete Works of ShakespeareProvides electronic access to Shakespeare's works.
- English Literature: Early 17th Century (1603-1660)Provides biographical information, essays, articles, and images as well as links to electronic texts.
- Native American Women Playwrights ArchiveA collection of original materials by Native women playwrights of the Americas.
- Perseus Project--Texts and TranslationsDigital library which includes ancient Greek works, Latin works, English translations of Greek and Latin texts, and (strange as it may seem) the complete works of Christopher Marlowe. Searchable by keyword, browsable by author. (While the site is outdated, it is still very useful.
- ThéâtralesA hypertext collection of French plays.
- Victorian Women Writers ProjectIncludes drama by British women writers of the late 19th century. Browsable by author.
