Playscripts
The library QuickSearch includes links to the individual plays in most of these collections, so if you are looking for a specific play, search there first. See the Plays and Monologues tab on the left for some strategies to browse playscripts in the UNLV Libraries book stacks.
Good for: Studying plays by Asian-American playwrights.
Contains: Plays, biographical information, and production details.
Good for: Studying plays by Black playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries.
Contains: Playscripts.
Good for: Reading play scripts and scholarly books analyzing drama.
Contains: Scripts for over 1000 plays, from Aeschylus to the present day, including modern classics from Tom Stoppard, David Mamet, Caryl Churchill and many more.
Good for: Examining scripts of plays submitted for license in England before 1824.
Contains: Archive of plays, diaries, playbills, theatre records, and correspondence.
Dates covered: 1737-1824.
Good for: Reading novels, short stories, poems, and plays written by Americans of Spanish or Latin American heritage.
Contains: Literary works.
Dates covered: 1872-present.
Good for: Researching literature, literary criticism and theory, and finding interviews with authors and book reviews.
Contains: Poetry, drama, prose, literature criticism journals, e-books, and key reference resources.
Good for: Reading or performing Shakespeare's plays and consulting scholarly editions.
Contains: Modern spelling and critical reference editions of Shakespeare's plays.
Good for: Finding plays written by women in the United States and Canada.
Contains: Plays.
Dates covered: 1770-present.
Good for: Finding play scripts in multiple genres including Irish drama, off-Broadway and alternative theatre, political plays, and global and postcolonial theatre.
Contains: Play scripts.
Dates covered: 1900-2000.
Good for: Finding plays published in the United States and Canada.
Contains: Plays.
Dates covered: 1900-2000.
Good for: Examining scripts of plays submitted for license in England before 1824.
Contains: Archive of plays, diaries, playbills, theatre records, and correspondence.
Dates covered: 1737-1824.
Good for: Theatre history research examining firsthand evidence of 19th century stage productions
Contains: Prompt books, playbills, photos, and theatre company records, plus biographical and thematic essays
Dates covered: Late 1600s-1960s
Good for: Studying the music, film, broadcasting, and theater industries.
Contains: Trade publications including Variety, Billboard, and The Hollywood Reporter.
Dates covered: 1880-2015.
Good for: Theatre history research.
Contains: Reference texts, posters, playbills, photos, architectural images, floor plans, and ephemera.
Good for: Learning about design concepts for various performance types.
Contains: Books, periodicals, archival material, and instructional videos.
Good for: Records and plans about the modern reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.
Contains: Performance and architectural archives.
Dates covered: 1997-2016.
Good for: Studying Shakespeare's plays in performance using evidence from prompt books.
Contains: Prompt books, primary sources like correspondence, photos, and playbills.
Good for: Finding scholarly and popular materials related to Shakespeare’s plays.
Contains: Index of scholarship, performance reviews, recorded performances, and more.
Dates covered: 1966-present.
Good for: Locating scholarly resources focused on literary interpretation or critical theory.
Contains: Citations to literary criticism in journal articles, book chapters, books, and more.
Dates covered: 1926-present.
Good for: Searching articles that analyze film, television and aspects of popular culture.
Contains: Articles published in scholarly journals and popular magazines.
Good for: Finding literary criticism.
Contains: Scholarly articles, overviews, and literary reference works.
Good for: Researching literature, literary criticism and theory, and finding interviews with authors and book reviews.
Contains: Poetry, drama, prose, literature criticism journals, e-books, and key reference resources.
Good for: Finding scholarly and popular materials related to Shakespeare’s plays.
Contains: Index of scholarship, performance reviews, recorded performances, and more.
Dates covered: 1966-present.
Good for: Conducting academic research on all subjects.
Contains: Journal, magazine, and newspaper articles.
Good for: Exploring a wide range of scholarly topics.
Contains: Scholarly journals, ebooks, art images and primary source collections
Good for: Researching humanities and social sciences topics.
Contains: Scholarly journals and e-books.
Dates covered: 1995-present.
Good for: Identifying how often a particular author has been cited in the work of peers or to discover the most influential scholarship on a topic.
Contains: Bibliographic information and cited references.
Dates covered: 1975-one week ago.
Good for: Finding journal articles in the humanities and social sciences.
Contains: Journal articles.
Dates covered: 1802-1995.
Good for: Searching American magazines and journals published mostly before 1900.
Contains: Magazines and journals.
Dates covered: 1740-1940.
Good for: Conducting academic research on all subjects.
Contains: Articles, theses, books, abstracts, patents, and court opinions
Newspaper databases are a great resource for finding reviews of specific performances. Consider including the following: work title; playwright or performer; critic's name. Also, use quotation marks to keep titles and names together.
Good for: Finding newspaper articles from around the world, including Nevada.
Contains: Newspaper articles from global news outlets, both print and web-only.
Good for: Accounts of life, culture and historical events reported in newspapers from every U.S. state.
Contains: Historical newspapers.
Dates covered: 1690-1923.
Good for: Studying the music, film, broadcasting, and theater industries.
Contains: Trade publications including Variety, Billboard, and The Hollywood Reporter.
Dates covered: 1880-2015.
Good for: Searching all ProQuest U.S. historical newspaper collections simultaneously.
Contains: Newspapers.
Dates covered: 1841-2014.
Good for: Finding news articles from the Los Angeles Times.
Contains: Articles.
Dates covered: 1996-present.
Good for: Finding regional news articles and broadcast television transcripts.
Contains: Regional newspapers and transcripts.
Good for: Researching published news, legal, medical, patents, and business information.
Contains: News, legal, medical, and business information.
Good for: Finding articles from The Times (London).
Contains: The Times newspaper.
Dates covered: 1785-2019.
Good for: Finding current and recent news articles from major U.S. newspapers.
Contains: Articles from newspapers like the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.
Dates covered: 1980s-present.
Good for: Searching across historical newspapers and books for primary sources about American life and culture.
Contains: American historical newspapers, printed books, pamphlets, and ephemera.
Dates covered: 1639-1922.
Print collections of theatre criticism
Good for: Finding primary sources related to entertainment in the Victorian era in Great Britain, including music, theatre, and popular literature.
Contains: Books, popular magazines, play scripts, playbills, scores.
Dates covered: 1800-1900.
Good for: Exploring printed menus, advertisements, cards, playbills, poems, and other ephemeral items from the past.
Contains: Printed ephemera.
Dates covered: 1749-1900.
Good for: Examining scripts of plays submitted for license in England before 1824.
Contains: Archive of plays, diaries, playbills, theatre records, and correspondence.
Dates covered: 1737-1824.
Good for: Searching across British and American historical primary source collections, including newspapers, periodicals, and archival collections spanning the 18th-20th centuries.
Good for: Theatre history research.
Contains: Reference texts, posters, playbills, photos, architectural images, floor plans, and ephemera.
Good for: Learning about design concepts for various performance types.
Contains: Books, periodicals, archival material, and instructional videos.
Good for: Records and plans about the modern reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.
Contains: Performance and architectural archives.
Dates covered: 1997-2016.
Good for: Studying Shakespeare's plays in performance using evidence from prompt books.
Contains: Prompt books, primary sources like correspondence, photos, and playbills.
Good for: Finding primary sources related to popular entertainment in America, Britain, and Europe.
Contains: Books, posters, scrapbooks, and optical toys.
Dates covered: 1779-1930.
