Finding Monologues

1. Browse in the Bookstacks by these call numbers:

PN2080 for MONOLOUGES

PN2266 for BEST PLAYS (U.S.)

**Not every play is published or translated; try contact playwrights directly.

2. Search the Tufts Library Catalog:

These are some pre-formatted searches you can click on:

Subject browses:

Monologues
acting
acting auditions
method acting.

Keyword search

Monologues and women

Visual materials on acting

DVDs and Videos

Tufts University Catalog

Quick Lookup:

Online:

The Cambridge Guide to Theatre

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre & Performance

In print:

Thematic Guide to Modern Drama.
Stacks: PN1861 .A235 2003

The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama.
PN1861 .C65 2007

The Oxford Dictionary of Plays.
PN1625 .P38 2005

Media Sources

Images

ARTStor

Image Quest (rights-cleared images)

Videos

DVDs and Videos at Tisch

Dance in Video

Opera in video

The Shakespeare Plays (BBC-Television productions)

blinkx

Hulu

Finding a Play

1. (First, understand) WHERE a play is published.

a. In an anthology (a collection of plays; collected works by a playwright.)

b. As a singular volume

c. In a magazine/journal

2. Browse the Catalog for Collections of Plays at Tisch

Drama -- Collections.

3. (if you know the title/playwright,) Use Library Catalogs to find the play:

A. Search Tufts Universtiy Catalog

A Keyword or title search, “Death of a Salesman” to find the play

As a single volume:

Author

Miller, Arthur, 1915-2005.

Title

Death of a salesman: certain private conversations in two acts and a requiem / Arthur Miller; with an introduction by Christopher Bigsby.

Publication Info

New York : Penguin, 1998.

Location	Call No,	Status
Tisch Book Stacks	PS3525.I5156 D4 1998	Available

Or, in an anthology:

Title

Thirteen plays: an introductory anthology/edited by Otto Reinert, PeterArnott

Publication Info

Boston : Little, Brown, c1978.

Location	Call No,	Status
Tisch Book Stacks	PN6112 .T48	Available

Contents

Sophocles. Oedipus the King.--Shakespeare, W. The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.--Molière. Tartuffe.--Ibsen, H. A doll's house.--Chekhov, A. The cherry orchard.--Shaw, B. Major Barbara.--Strindberg, A. The ghost sonata.--Pirandello, L. Six characters in search of an author.--Miller, A. Death of a salesman.--Beckett, S. Act without words I.--Pinter, H. The dumb waiter.--Albee, E. Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?--Baraka, I. A. Dutchman.

Keyword search: Christopher Durang
Or, Author search: Durang, Christopher

B. Search WorldCat :

Search by title and playwright; be sure to use quotation marks.
Select “Libraries Worldwide”

blc worldcat

There will be four possible results:

a. Find the play in Tisch Library

b. Find the play in Boston Libraries Consortium (BLC) member libraries with the link,

c. Find the play beyond BLC with the link,

(sign up for your interlibrary loan account, first)

d. Fail to find the play (not every play is published or translated into English from other languages). Contact your research librarian, Chao Chen (chao.chen@tufts.edu) and your teaching faculty.

4. (if you are looking for plays with certain criteria,
e.g. modern American Comedy with female characters, etc., )

Use Play Index (a database)

This is how Play Index traces where the play, Surprise, surprise by Michel Tremblay, is published.

Play Title:	Surprise, surprise
Play Author:	Tremblay, Michel
Source:	La Duchesse de Langeais & other plays
Play Abstract:	Telephone conversations of three women planning a surprise birthday party for a fourth called Madeleine, but the complication is they have the wrong Madeleine--and have let the secret out to the right one.
Cast:	Women: 3
Play Subject(s):	Birthdays; Conversation; Telephone

Next, use the two catalogs mentioned above, Tufts University Catalog or WorldCat, find the book, La Duchesse de Langeais & other plays, in which your play is published.

5. Additional sources for finding plays

A. The Best Plays (1899 – present). Stacks: PN2266.A2 B4

Contents of the annual volumes vary somewhat but include such sections as: 1. digests with critical comment on selected plays of the year; 2. title list of plays produced in New York during the year, giving for each: title, author, number of performances, theater, cast of characters, and brief outline of plot; 3. plays produced outside of New York; 4. Shakespeare festivals; 5. statistics of runs. 6. list of actors; 7. prizes and awards, and 8. index.

B. Play Index. 1949-02. Ref. Z5781 .p53 (the index in print)

I. Author, title, and subject index; II. Cast analysis; III. List of collections indexed.