University Library > Guides > Drama

Syllabus for Literary Research:6. Drama

Table of Contents:

Indexes to Plays Finding Biographies Biographical Dictionaries Finding Literary Criticism & Bibliographies Indexes of Literary Criticism

Excerpts from Literary Criticism Dictionaries & Encyclopedias American Summaries of Plays

This guide lists selected titles of books and databases about drama held by the UW-Whitewater Andersen Library. It is not a comprehensive list of available titles. Follow the examples under Finding Biographies in the Library and Finding Literary Criticism and Bibliographies below to find additional books held by the UW-Whitewater or other UW-System libraries.

Locations: Call numbers preceded by Main are in the Main Collection (3rd floor) and those preceded by Ref are in the Reference Collection (2nd floor). Items without call numbers are online indexes and databases accessible from the Indexes & Databases Arranged by Subject: Humanities webpage, or by clicking on the linked title.

Indexes to Plays

• Index to Plays in Periodicals
  Ref   Z5781 .K43 1979

• Index to Plays in Periodicals 1977-1987
  Ref   Z5781 .K43 1990

• Ottemiller's Index to Plays in Collections: An Author and Title Index to Plays Appearing in Collections Published Between 1900 and 1985 7th ed.
  Ref   PN1655 .O8 1988

• Play Index
  Ref   Z5781 .P53   1949/52-1998/2002

• Plays in Periodicals: An Index to English Language Scripts in Twentieth Century Journals
  Ref   Z5781 .P3

Finding Biographies in the Library

To find books about authors of playwrights, actors and others in theater, search the library catalog. Select the Basic Search tab (default). Then select Subject Keywords from the menu by clicking on it. Click in the textbox and type a subject heading, or keywords from one. Click on . Often searches including the author's name and the word biography are productive. For example:

shakespeare william biography

or select Keyword (use and, or, not) from the menu and search for combinations of terms used in subject headings for a genre like "American drama" or "English drama," a topic like "theater," or a category like "dramatists American" or "dramatists English," "African American dramatists" or "women dramatists" with a chronological period like "early modern," "Restoration," "17th century," "18th century," "19th century," "20th century," or "21st century" and the type of resource, "biography" or "bio-bibliography. " Enclose a phrase of two or more words between quotation marks. Combine multiple terms with Boolean operators (and, or, not). Click on . For example:

"dramatists american" and "20th century" and biography

Biographical Dictionaries

• American Playwrights, 1880-1945: A Research and Production Sourcebook
  Ref   Z1231 .D7 A52 1995

• Contemporary Dramatists
  1st ed.   Main   PR106 .V5
  4th ed.   Ref   PR737 .C57 1988

• Who Was Who in the Theatre, 1912-1976: Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Directors, Playwrights, and Producers of the English-Speaking Theatre
  Main   PN2597 .W52   vols. 1-4

SEE ALSO: Syllabus for Literary Research: 2. Biography of Authors.

Finding Literary Criticism and Bibliographies

To find books containing literary criticism or bibliographies citing literary resources, search the library catalog. Select the Basic Search tab (default). Then select Subject Keywords from the menu by clicking on it. Click in the textbox and type a subject heading. Click on . For example:

shakespeare william criticism and interpretation

shakespeare william bibliography

or select Keyword (use and, or, not) from the menu and search for combinations of terms used in subject headings for a genre like "American drama" or "English drama," a topic like "theater," or a category like "African American authors," "Irish authors" or "women authors," with a chronological period like "early modern," "Restoration," "17th century," "18th century," "19th century," "20th century," or "21st century" and either "history and criticism" or "bibliography."  Enclose a phrase of two or more words between quotation marks. Combine multiple terms with Boolean operators (and, or, not). Click on . For example:

"american drama" and "20th century" and bibliography

"english drama" and "irish authors" and "history and criticism"

Indexes of Literary Criticism

• American Drama Criticism...   2nd ed.
  Ref   Z1231 .D7 P3 1979  and suppls. 1-3
  Ref   Z1231 .D7 P3 1996 suppl. 4

• Drama Criticism
  Ref   Z1231 .D7 C6   vols. 1-2

• Drama Criticism
  Ref   PN1655 .D73   vols. 1-31
  Drama Criticism online from Literature Criticism Online

• A Guide to Critical Reviews

  • 1st ed.   Remote Storage   Z5782 .S342 1966
    • pt. 4, vols. 1-2 - The Screenplay, From The Jazz Singer to Dr. Strangelove
  • 2nd ed.   Remote Storage   Z5782 .S342 1973
    • pt. 2 - The Musical, 1909-1974
    • pt. 3 - Foreign Drama, 1909-1977
    • pt. 4 - The Screenplay, Supplement One: 1963-1980
  • 3rd ed.   Remote Storage   Z5781 .S16 1984
    • pt. 1 - American Drama, 1909-1982
    • pt. 2 - The Musical, 1909-1989

• Modern Drama: A Checklist of Critical Literature on 20th Century Plays
  Remote Storage   Z5781 .A35

• Shakespearean Criticism: Excerpts from the Criticism of William Shakespeare's Plays and Poetry, from the First Published Appraisals to Current Evaluations vols. 1-115
  Ref   PR2965 .S43 1984
  Shakespearean Criticism online from Literature Criticism Online

SEE ALSO: Syllabus for Literary Research: 1a. General Sources: Literary Research Guides, Bibliographies and Indexes of Literary Criticism.

Excerpts from Literary Criticism

For excerpts from articles, essays or books containing literary criticism, search Gale's Literature Criticism Online. Perform a search by named author or work (title) to display the resulting references to the Gale series. Most of the criticism and biographical entries will be fulltext in the database. For that which is not, search by Exact Title for the series titles in HALcat, the Andersen library catalog, to find the location and call number, except for volumes in the series Dictionary of Literary Biography, in which case search by Keyword (use and, or, not) for:

"dictionary of literary biography" and [insert volume number here].

• Drama Criticism   vols. 1-18
  Ref   PN1655 .D73
  Drama Criticism online from Literature Criticism Online

• Shakespearean Criticism: Excerpts from the Criticism of William Shakespeare's Plays and Poetry, from the First Published Appraisals to Current Evaluations  all volumes
  Ref   PR2965 .S43 1984
  Shakespearean Criticism online from Literature Criticism Online

SEE ALSO: Syllabus for Literary Research: 1 General Sources: a. Literary Research Guides, Bibliographies and Indexes of Literary Criticism.

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

• The Cambridge Guide to Theatre   New ed.
  Ref   PN2035 .C27 1995

• The Oxford Companion to the Theatre   4th ed.
  Ref   PN2035 .O9 1983

American

• American Theatre Companies, 1931-1986
  Ref   PN2266 .A54 1989

• Cambridge Guide to American Theatre
  Ref   PN2220 .C35 1993

• The Encyclopedia of the American Theatre, 1900-1975
  Ref   PN2266 .B68

• The Oxford Companion to American Theatre
  Main (2nd ed.) and Ref (1st ed.)  PN2220 .B6

Summaries of Plays

• American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama vol. 1 (1869-1914), 2 (1914-1930) & 3 (1930-1969)
  Ref   PN2266 .B66 1994

• Critical Survey of Drama. English Language Series   vols. 1-6
  Ref   PR625 .C74x 1985

• Critical Survey of Drama: Foreign Language Series   vols. 1-6
  Ref   PN1625 .C74 1986

• Drury's Guide to Best Plays   4th ed.
  Ref   Z5781 .D8 1987

• MagillOnLiterature Plus (EBSCOhost)
  This online database contains all of Masterplots and Masterplots II as well as several other books.

• Masterplots   vol. 1 (Drama Series)
  Ref   PN44 .M32

• Masterplots II: Drama Series   vols. 1-4
  Ref   PN6112.5 .M37 1990

SEE ALSO: Syllabus for Literary Research: 1b. General Sources: Literary Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, Histories and Summaries.

For assistance, contact a reference librarian at (262) 472-1032, by email or chat or in person at the Library's Reference Desk.

Last Revised: MS - 11/6/2009