Finding Plays

Plays published between 1953-2002.

Contains author and title entries for plays appearing in periodicals through 1976.

The International Dictionary of Theatre is a three-volume work, international and historical in scope, covering the theatre from the festivals of ancient Greece to the productions, plays, players, directors and designers of the modern stage. The 3 volumes comprise 1500 entries, selected by an international advisory board.

In Blood on the Stage, 1975-2000: Milestone Plays of Crime, Mystery, and Detection: An Annotated Repertoire, Amnon Kabatchnik provides an overview of the most important and memorable theatrical works of crime and detection of this period. Continuing the work of his previous volumes (1900-1925, 1925-1950, and 1950-1975), Kabatchnik describes more than 80 full-length plays produced in the last quarter of the 20th century, with an emphasis on New York and London performances. Arranged in chronological order, the productions are all works of enduring importance, pioneering contributions, singular innovations, or outstanding success. Many of the most notable playwrights of the era are represented, including Ariel Dorfman, Larry Gelbart, Ira Levin, David Mamet, Terence Rattigan, Reginald Rose, Sam Shepard, Stephen Sondheim, Aaron Sorkin, and Tom Stoppard. The stories involve murder, theft, chicanery, kidnapping, political intrigue, or espionage, with each entry including a plot synopsis, production data, and the opinions of well-known and respected critics and scholars. The plays in this era encompass suspenseful melodramas, psychological thrillers, baffling whodunits, and even musicals, including such memorable works as Assassins, City of Angels, Deathtrap, Death and the Maiden, A Few Good Men, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Sweeney Todd, and The Phantom of the Opera.

For years, stage plays have provided a rich source of inspiration for the film industry. Yet there hasn't been a book that has adequately addressed this artistic phenomenon -- until now. An excellent companion to Facts On File's The Encyclopedia of Novels Into Film, the volume opens with an introduction that traces the history of stage plays adapted for the silver screen. Each of the 300 entries is classified within one of three sections: Dramatic Adaptations, Shakespearean Adaptations, and Musical Adaptations. Each entry includes an overview of the stage play -- the title, playwright, plot summary, cast, production notes, critical acclaim -- along with an assessment of related film adaptations. Seventy-five black-and-white film stills and twenty-five line art portraits of select playwrights are included throughout the book. Informational appendixes include: -- "Backstage with the Bard": movies that have been inspired by or are connected to Shakespeare -- "Opera on Film": operas that have been adapted for the silver screen.

This is a very old title, but you may find it useful if you are looking for historical one-act shows to read.

In this one-of-a-kind collection of monologue plays, Eric Lane and Nina Shengold have gathered a breathtaking array of human voices and stories by master playwrights and emerging new writers. Each of the plays, ranging from one-acts and ten-minute plays to full-length works, creates a rich and specific world. In these pages, readers will meet a dazzling group of dramatic and comic characters: an actress chasing a role as a prison guard on a soap opera, an Indian waiter new to America, a lesbian performance artist taking her father to Auschwitz, a surfer dude trying to summarize the plot of Moby-Dick in under two minutes, and a Dutch librarian hunting down a book that's 123 years overdue. Because each selection is a complete monologue, Talk to Me is an unprecedented source for actors in search of material for auditions, classes, and performances, as well as a literary gold mine for anyone who loves drama.

Informative and economically written, this book is a useful tool for theatre and literary practitioners. "American Theater" This guide to the state of research on forty major American playwrights and the history of their productions is among the first of its kind. It is actually many books: a bibliography, a stage history, an assessment of scholarly works about each playwright, and an invaluable guide to the types of research studies--biographical, bibliographical and critical--that remain to be done on each playwright. The essays were written by leading experts in American drama and theatre and focus on playwrights whose works have in some way shaped and influenced the American stage. Each essay follows a standard format and provides information on the playwright's reputation and achievements; primary bibliography; production history of where, when, how often, and how well his or her works were performed; a rigorous identification and evaluation of secondary materials on bibliographies, biographies, influence studies, general works, and analyses of plays, and, most significantly, a detailed analysis of future research opportunities.