LibGuides: Theatre & Dance: Plays & Playbills

Below you will find a list of resources that offer plays and playbills. Please note that these are not comprehensive lists but rather a starting point for your research.

Indexes to Plays

Below is a list of indexes to plays that may be of interest to you in your search.

Ottemiller's index to plays in collections : an author and title index to plays appearing in collections published since 1900 (Reference, Non-Circulating)
The standard location tool for full-length plays published in collections and anthologies in England and the United States since the beginning of the 20th century.
English and American Stage Productions
An annotated checklist of prompt books, 1800-1900, from the Nisbet-Snyder drama collection, Northern Illinois University Libraries.
Guide to Play Selection
By the National Council of Teachers of English.
The Drama Scholars Index to Plays and Filmscripts (Reference, Non-Circulating)
A guide to plays and film scripts in selected anthologies, series, and periodicals.

Full-Text Plays

Below is a list of databases where you may find plays or playbills.

Black Drama This link opens in a new window The second edition of Black Drama contains approximately 1,462 plays by 233 playwrights, together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. The database also includes selected playbills, production photographs, and other ephemera related to the plays.
Twentieth Century North American Drama This link opens in a new window Contains 1,530 plays by 223 playwrights, together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. The database also includes selected playbills, production photographs, and other ephemera related to the plays. More than 150 of the plays are published here for the first time.
Latin American Women Writers This link opens in a new window A collection of prose and poetry, including plays, by Latin American women writers.
Latino Literature This link opens in a new window Brings together more than 100,000 pages of poetry, fiction, and over 450 plays written in English and Spanish by hundreds of Chicano, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and other Latino authors working in the United States. Some items included have never been published before. Researchers will also find numerous Chicano folk tales and audio files of selected poems and plays.
North American Women's Drama This link opens in a new window Contains 1,517 plays by 330 playwrights, together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. More than 30% of the plays in the collection have never been published before. Also includes selected playbills, production photographs, and other ephemera related to plays.

Websites

Below is a list of websites not associated with FAU Libraries. Please always exercise caution when using websites outside of library resources. Use website evaluation methods.

Playbill Vault
An online database of Broadway theater production information from 1930 to the present, created and operated by Playbill. Provides Playbill cover images, Broadway casts, who’s who biographies, awards, production credits, actor head shots, and box office data.
Internet Broadway Database
Provides records of productions from the beginnings of New York theater until today. Details include pertinent people involved, as well as production facts and statistics. Also offers historical information about theaters.
Lortel Archives (Off-Broadway Internet Database)
Includes information about off-Broadway productions going back to 1958.