Drama: Plays and Monologues: Overview

How to find plays, scenes and monologues in Hunt Library and search them in library catalogs and other databases and some new acquisitions.

Beginning March 2020

Browse new play acquisitions on the 2nd Floor of Hunt Library. Go to the back of the floor (to the right of the emergency exit door) where you will see a shelf of new plays nearby to a table and chairs.
The new location in the library catalog is called NEWPLAYS-2.

ENJOY!
 

Explore this script discovery database brought  to you by the National New Play Network, an alliance of non-profit theaters dedicated to the development, production, and continued life of new plays.' 

Features: Search, read and download scripts, view writer profiles, contact writers, read script recommendations from professionals throughout the field; search plays by using any number of options including cast size, play length, age level, genre, subject matter, gender or sexual identity and ethnicity; search people by writer type and demographics. Other features include an organization search, periodic “featured lists” of writers, plays and organization, and an index of large-cast shows, solo shows, shorts and 2-person scripts.

To find a play  in Hunt Library search the CMU Library Catalog by play title or author.

Most plays are shelved on the 2nd Floor of Hunt Library with other literary works by country, culture or region and then by playwright... e.g. Shakespeare = PR (English)

PA Greek. Roman. Latin
PG Slavic. Baltic. Albanian
PJ Oriental
PK Indo-Iranian
PL Eastern Asia. Africa. Oceania
PN2080 Monologues (Hunt, 4th floor); Other monologues on HUNT-2 various call numbers.
PN1997 Screenplays (Hunt, 4th floor)
PQ1-3999 French
PQ4001-5999 Italian
PQ6001-8929 Spanish
PR English (Shakespeare = 2750-3112)
PS American
PT1-4897 German
PT5001-5980 Dutch
PT7601-9449 Danish. Norwegian. Swedish.

M1500-1527.8 for Dramatic Music and Musical Theatre

Browse a list of monologues or scenes in Cameo
These tips will help you find most monologues. If you can't find what you need, Ask a Librarian!
1. Search the term monologues (or monologue in some cases) as one of your search terms in Cameo.
2. OR use monologues as one of your search terms to limit your search.
3. OR wearch the phrase - acting and auditions as one of your search terms.
4. OR searching the keyword scenes (in place of the word monologues) as one of your keyword searches

Browse monologues in the library stacks. These tips will find many, but not all monologues. Ask for help.
Note call number locations for some monologues and screenplays on the 4th Floor of Hunt
PN 2080 Monologue collections (scripts)...e.g. Best Stage Monologues for Men...Women...etc. HUNT STACKS-4 (4th floor)
PN 4001-4800 Oratory and Elocution HUNT STACKS-2 (2nd Floor)
PN 1530 Art of the monologue HUNT STACKS-2 (2nd Floor)

Find plays in other library catalogs

Pittcat  University of Pittsburgh Library holdings

Other Pittsburgh library catalogs  Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, Chatham University, Carlow University, Point Park University, and Robert Morris University.

WorldCat  includes holdings for all of the above as well as other local, regional, national and international library holdings

Most plays are located on the 2nd floor of Hunt Library by the country of origin of the author and then by author's name. (STACKS-2)

A monologue collection is located on 4th floor of Hunt Library (STACKS-4) by this call number:
PN2080.

Full-Text Play and Book Databases

Alexander Street Drama
A package of play collections including all the content in the following full-text play collections:
Black Drama, Twentieth Century North American Drama,Asian American Drama, North American Women's Drama, North American Indian Drama, Contemporary World Drama. Everything is cross-searchable with one combined search result. Also includes streaming audio, video and other collections.

Asian American Drama
Contains the full-text of 250 plays by Asian American playwrights. It is searchable by author, play title, characters, scenes, subjects, years, productions, theatres, and companies. The database also contains playwright biographies, details on productions, theatres and theatrical companies, as well as production photographs, selected playbills and other information related to the plays.

Black Drama
Contains the full-text of 1200 plays by black playwrights. It is searchable by author, play title, characters, scenes, subjects, years, productions, theatres, and companies, including related resource and biographical information.

Contemporary World Drama
New work from Alexander Street Press existing playwright partners alongside work from up-and-coming playwrights from around the world, including recently produced world premieres and previously unpublished works from every continent.

North American Women's Drama
over 1,500 full-text plays by women from colonial times to the present. Allows in-depth browsing and searching; includes detailed information on related productions, theaters, production companies and and more. Plays were selected by the Alexander Street Press editorial board using recognized play bibliographies and in consultation with other scholars and playwrights.

Twentieth Century North American Drama is a growing full-text database, currently containing 850 plays including the complete works of major playwrights as well as plays by emerging playwrights. Searchable by keyword, author, play title, characters, scenes, subjects, years, productions, theaters, and companies. Additional information on playwrights, theaters, companies, productions and performances is included along with a selection of playbills, posters and other ephemera.

Early English Books Online
A searchable full text database of over 95,000 titles published between 1475 and 1700.

Eighteenth Century Collections Online
Scanned images from a diverse collection of 18th century printed material including books, directories, Bibles, sheet music, advertisements, sermons; collections on the French Revolution and works by woman writers; editions of the works of Shakespeare.

Internet Shakespeare Editions (ISE) is an open-access, non-profit scholarly website presenting full-text Shakespeare plays and poems, Shakespeare’s life and times, and Shakespeare in performance.

Explore this script discovery database brought  to you by the National New Play Network, an alliance of non-profit theaters dedicated to the development, production, and continued life of new plays.' Search, read and download scripts, view writer profiles, contact writers, read script recommendations from professionals throughout the field; search plays by using any number of options including cast size, play length, age level, genre, subject matter, gender or sexual identity and ethnicity; search people by writer type and demographics. Other features include an organization search, periodic “featured lists” of writers, plays and organization, and an index of large-cast shows, solo shows, shorts and 2-person scripts.

North American Women's Drama
over 1,500 full-text plays by women from colonial times to the present. Allows in-depth browsing and searching; includes detailed information on related productions, theaters, production companies and and more. Plays were selected by the Alexander Street Press editorial board using recognized play bibliographies and in consultation with other scholars and playwrights.

Twentieth Century North American Drama is a growing full-text database, currently containing 850 plays including the complete works of major playwrights as well as plays by emerging playwrights. Searchable by keyword, author, play title, characters, scenes, subjects, years, productions, theaters, and companies. Additional information on playwrights, theaters, companies, productions and performances is included along with a selection of playbills, posters and other ephemera.

American Film Scripts Online
Over 1,100 scripts and makes available,
for the first time, accurate and
authorized versions of copyrighted
screenplays.

Play Indexes

Play Index Online
Indexes plays in published sources (1949-present) by subject, author, title, style, genre, cast type and more with plot summaries and musical, cast and scenery requirements. Includes one-act plays, pageants, plays in verse, radio and television plays and classic drama. Links to selected full-text plays on the web.

To see if a play in Play Index is accessible via Carnegie Mellon Libraries check Cameo (library catalog). Other plays may be requested online on Interlibrary Loan via Illiad. Contact Mo Dawley, Art and Drama Librarian, to request plays for the collection!

DEEP: Database of Early English Playbooks
Provides data regarding the publishing, printing and marketing of English Renaissance playbooks from the beginning of printing through 1660. Created by by Alan B. Farmer and Zachary Lesser.

Streaming Video for Performance

Digital Theatre Plus
Recent British theatre productions streamed in high definition; additional educational content.

Drama Online Globe on Screen
World-class performance at the Globe on streaming video.

Medici.tv
Offers filmed concerts performed by today’s greatest names in classical music, archive movies, inspiring documentaries on performers and composers, educational programs, and master classes.

Met Opera on Demand
Provides unlimited access to more than 450 extraordinary Met performances.

Ontheboards.tv
High-quality films of full-length performances by current provocative artists working in dance, theater, music and other forms.

Dance in Video
...productions and documentaries in streaming video with influential performers and companies of the 20th century. Includes ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, experimental, improvisational dance, and forerunners of the forms and the pioneers of modern concert dance; search, browse, cite or bookmark videos to the moment; make custom clips, annotate and share them.

Opera in Video
...important opera performances, captured on video through staged productions, interviews and documentaries; selections are based on a work’s importance to the operatic canon.

Theatre in Video
...definitive performances and documentaries in streaming video with leading actors, playwrights and directors covering a wide range of 20th century theatre history. Includes contemporary revivals of classic works, television broadcasts of New York productions, experimental performances and more; search, browse and bookmark scenes, monologues, and staging examples to a link that can be shared.

Doolee.com
Online guide to modern playwrights and theatre plays which have been written, adapted or translated, into English from 1956 onward.