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Theatre: Theatre

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Theatre Subject Librarian

Theatre Resources

Tips for Searching for Plays*

If a play has been published as a single volume, script or book (i.e., August: Osage County):

Try including the title of the play in quotation marks in the main search box. You may also want to include the playwright's last name if the title of the play is not uncommon (i.e., Art Yasmina Reza).


Searching for a play on a particular topic:

Play scripts may or may not not include the word “play” in their title or subject descriptions. Many plays (but not all!) do include the word “drama” in their subject descriptions. Type a keyword that describes your topic or subject into the search box, like “families” or “sisters” or “Asian American”, and also include the word “drama."  Your results will NOT be comprehensive, but should give you a place to start.

Where to Find Scripts For Free Online:

Play Lists:

 

* These tips were originally found in the Theatre Research Guide: Finding Plays from DePaul University.

Interlochen's Theatre collection uses a word-based classification system, arranged alphabetically.

Categories include Anthologies, Acting (Techniques), Drama (Bio, Careers, History, Shakespeare, Stagecraft, and Theory), Monologues, Musicals, One-Acts, and Plays.

Note: Sheet music for musicals can be found in the Fennel Music Library, located on the bottom floor of the Bonisteel Library. Their collection can be browsed here.

Below are some examples of what the spine label (also known as the call number) look like:


ANTHOLOGIES
ANTHOLOGY
EUROPE
THREE

Aeschylus, and Euripides. Three Greek Plays: Prometheus Bound, Agamemnon, the Trojan Women. Trans. Edith Hamilton. New York: W.W. Norton, 1937. Print.
MONOLOGUES
MONOLOGUES
WOMEN
ONE

Henry, Joyce E., Rebecca D. Jaroff, and Bob Shuman. One on One: The Best Women's Monologues for the 21st Century. New York: Applause Theatre & Cinema, 2007. Print.

ONE-ACTS
ONE-ACT
N.AMERICAN
TAKE

Lane, Eric, and Nina Shengold. Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays. New York: Vintage, 1997. Print.

PLAYS (categorized by continent of playwright's origin)
PLAYS
EUROPE
PINTER
ASHES

Pinter, Harold. Ashes to Ashes. New York: Grove, 1997. Print.

Theatre Research 101 by Lauren Quinlan

In most cases, you won't need to buy any of the books from these publishers (or from another vendor like Amazon) to have access to them! Your Interlochen ID allows you access to MeLCat, a resource-sharing program with other Michigan libraries. Log in with your full name as printed on your Interlochen ID and your library card number (the number by your ID barcode). If you have any questions about this process, please contact a librarian. Allow at least 1.5-2 weeks for delivery.

Please note: During camp, MeLCat is only available to faculty and staff (both camp and year-round.)

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Spotlight on the Catalog: Theatre Journals

Did you know that you have access to dozens of professional theatre journals through the catalog? Check them out below!

Pro Tip: If you are looking for information about a specific play or playwright, search for the play's title/playwright's name in "quotation marks" to see what has been written about them in a particular journal. 

'Theater' Journals

'Theatre' Journals

'Drama' Journals

Theatre History - Broadway and Beyond

Costume Design

Stage Design

History of Performance

Special Collections

As an Interlochen camper, faculty member, Academy student, or staff member, you have full access to all the databases and web resources Interlochen offers. Below, you will find a guide on how to access those e-resources, and some good options for theatre studies and research. As theatre artists, it is important to draw inspiration and knowledge from a wide variety of sources. The selection of databases below reflect that interdisciplinary and holistic approach to all aspects of the theatrical process. 
Please note: Access to electronic materials changes all the time. We will do our best to make sure the links in this guide are functional, but if you encounter a broken link or dead end, please reach out to a librarian and we will do our best to find a solution.
When you are on a device connected to Interlochen's WiFi network, databases should automatically log you in. If you are trying to access e-resources away from Interlochen campus, or if you are not automatically logged in, you will need to provide your Interlochen ID and password whenever prompted to on an ezproxy page. Use your Interlochen ID number for BOTH the username and password.

Full-Text Shakespeare Online

Shakespeare in Performance

Beyond the Text: Deciphering Shakespeare and His Text

Researching Shakespeare

Where to find Shakespeare in the Library

In the Theatre section, look under these call numbers: 

DRAMA / Shakespeare / Bio

DRAMA / Shakespeare / Commentary

DRAMA / Shakespeare / Technique

PLAYS / Europe / Shakespeare

Below you will find some standout selections from Interlochen's vast collection of books about Shakespeare's writings, life, and times:

Videos

By his own admission, Alan Cumming is a “happy, vulnerable, fearless middle-aged man, with a lot of baggage.” He is also an award-winning actor, advocate, and author. His latest memoir Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life recounts tales from his life in Hollywood and reminds us not to buy into the movie star ending. At CHF, Cumming shares the lessons learned from meeting legends, making bad decisions, finding joy, and acquiring baggage along the way. He is joined in conversation by editorial page editor of The Chicago Tribune Chris Jones.

The theater is about the physical expression of emotion, so what happens when a playwright can no longer smile? For MacArthur Genius award recipient, and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, Sarah Ruhl, answering this question is at the center of her memoir. Smile chronicles Ruhl’s Bell’s palsy diagnosis that left one side of her face paralyzed and her ten year search for a cure. Join Ruhl and theater artist, director, and educator Jessica Thebus for a conversation about the inner life of a playwright.

Sutton Foster is a star when it comes to our favorite pandemic pastimes: crafting, television, and showtunes. In addition to her leading roles in hits like Broadway’s Thoroughly Modern Millie and the TV show Younger, Foster is a crafter of the highest caliber, specializing in everything from cross stitch to collage. In her new book Hooked, Foster shares all the moments where crafting saved her life and tips (like crochet patterns and recipes) for how it can help you too. Spend the afternoon at CHF with Foster and Marilynn Thoma Artistic Director Alison Cuddy chatting about all things crafts and careers. 

Having helped create shows like Hairspray, Angels in America, and Into the Woods, few people have been as close to the beating heart of Broadway as Jack Viertel has. The artistic director of New York City Center’s Encores! series and now the author of 'The Secret Life of the American Musical', Viertel brings to life the story of how a musical is made—from casting and choreography to opening night and curtain call.

In advance of HAMILTON opening in Chicago, Pulitzer, Emmy, Tony, Grammy, Olivier and MacArthur "Genius" Grant award-winning actor and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda joined Chicago Tribune Theater Critic Chris Jones to discuss his life, inspiration, and past creative works including IN THE HEIGHTS and the cultural sensation, HAMILTON.

Provocative and intellectually demanding, the plays of Wallace Shawn are as multifaceted and enigmatic as the man himself, known to many from his roles as an actor ('My Dinner with Andre', 'Manhattan', 'The Princess Bride'). Join the writer whom critics have placed in the first rank of contemporary dramatists for an unforgettable conversation on his unique theatrical vision. He is joined in conversation by theater critic Kerry Reid.

In his latest book, Northwestern University theater professor Harvey Young illuminates 40 years of African American culture in Chicago. His powerful collection of oral histories includes interviews with prominent producers, directors, choreographers, designers, dancers, and actors who changed Chicago’s theatrical landscape from 1970 to 2010. In this exclusive CHF program, Young is joined by actor Harry Lennix ('The Blacklist', 'Man of Steel'), and Chuck Smith, resident director at the Goodman Theatre, to provide context and commentary for these singularly engrossing stories.

Marina Abramović has changed art. The preeminent performance artist of our time, her pioneering exploration of the genre began in the mid-1970s and continues to this day. Last year, the Serbian-born artist's work was celebrated in a retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art. In the title piece, The Artist Is Present, Abramović sat motionless in the museum's atrium every day for three months; the simple act of confronting her public for the exhibition's duration, without uttering a word, captivated viewers and brought many of them to tears. CHF is pleased to partner with the University of Chicago's Smart Museum of Art in bringing one of the 21st century's most widely-recognized culture makers to Chicago. In this CHF event, Abramović gives a lecture on performance and its future, reflecting on this provocative and enduring art form.

Our ability to believe an actor's performance springs from his or her command of fundamental physical principles of action, concentration, motivation, memory, cognition, and emotion. Their deployment can result in transcendence. Since ancient times, we have sought the source of the actor's art: is it in the head or the heart? Is it learned or is it nature? That spark makes the actor's body more than the sum of its parts. Joseph Roach, Sterling Professor of Theater and English at Yale University, and Martha Lavey, artistic director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, present historic and contemporary ideas of the actor's craft and how these ideas are based on the difficult nature of the instrument the performer inhabits.

Conceived and directed by Julia Rhoads, Endplay uses Samuel Beckett's "Come and Go" as a point of departure. With original music by Mark Messing, the piece highlights a group of characters whose rituals and games serve as a means of affirming themselves as they are lost in a cycle of endless repetition. Endplay was presented in 2004 at the Vittum Theater, and in 2006 as part of the Samuel Beckett 100-year festival at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

"Lucky Plushs Endplay is a zany comedy that deftly mixes quirky silences, musical chairs-style games, some lovely rural-tinged romantic interludes and even a nutty tea party". Chicago Sun-Times

About Lucky Plush Productions:

Led by choreographer Julia Rhoads, Lucky Plush Productions is a Chicago-based dance theater company that facilitates the relationship between dance, performance and new media technologies, offering a distinctive interdisciplinary platform for innovative artists. Since founding in 1999, the company has premiered 28 original works, including performance installations, 2 dance films, and 8 evening-length productions. For more information visit www.luckyplush.com.

Flutter into a butterfly's life! Italian visual theater company Teatro di Piazza D'Occasione returned to the Festival for this show in Spring 2009, best described as a painting in movement. Music, video, images, and dance merged to create a sensory experience depicting a butterfly's progression from egg to caterpillar to winged beauty. Audience interaction was central to the show experience.

Why is commedia dellarte, a 500-year-old Italian theatrical tradition, still relevant today? And, why does it still make us laugh?

Il Dottore (the Doctor), one of commedias classic characters and an unapologetic busybody and know-it-all, guides us through the rich history and delightfully silly machinations of commedia dellarte—literally, the art of comedy.

With a lighthearted style, a band of merry pranksters define and contrast comedy and tragedy, shed light on the language of commedia, provide a history of the art form and its masks, and perform improvisations from the tradition. Thomas Simpson, senior lecturer in Italian at Northwestern University, Italian director and teacher Paola Coletto, and performers David Gaines and Sean Michael Kaplan, who trained at the legendary Jacques Lecoq School in Paris, collaborate on this original lecture-demonstration.

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