Email a librarian at library-help@interlochen.org.
We will do our best to respond quickly, but please allow at least a 24 hour window.
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).
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.
* 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.
Please note: During camp, MeLCat is only available to faculty and staff (both camp and year-round.)
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.
With over 120 drama plays in print, including works from Robin Soans, Manjula Padmanabhan and Germaine Greer, as well as a formidable list of non-fiction books on theatre, Aurora Metro Books has built a wide-ranging and highly contemporary list of new drama, with collections of women’s drama, international drama and drama by black and Asian writers, proving to be popular with colleges and universities. Aurora Metro Books’ list of plays for Young People is the finest in the UK.
This collection features film adaptations of classic and contemporary plays from Sophocles and Shakespeare to Oscar Wilde, Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, Bernard Shaw and contemporary writers, Michael Frayn and Joe Penhall.
The L.A. Theatre Works Audio Play Collection for Drama Online includes more than 350 important dramatic works in streaming audio from the curated archive of the US’s premiere radio theatre company. The plays – which include some of the most significant dramatic literature of the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries –…
Drawing on 10 years of NT Live broadcasts, alongside high-quality recordings never previously seen outside of the NT’s Archive, the National Theatre Collection makes this rich body of work available to students in schools, universities and libraries around the world.
PLEASE NOTE: The library only has access to Collection 1.
Playwrights Canada Press is a publisher of new plays, theatre history, criticism, and biography.
The Globe now welcomes over 1.25 million visitors a year to take part in workshops, tour its exhibition and theatres, and watch plays which experiment in hugely different ways with the original playing conditions of Shakespeare’s theatre.
In 2013 the company began live screenings of its Shakespeare productions. The collection will continue to add new RSC productions as they are filmed,
In the Theatre section, look under these call numbers:
DRAMA / Shakespeare / Bio
DRAMA / Shakespeare / Commentary
DRAMA / Shakespeare / Technique
PLAYS / Europe / Shakespeare
Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human by
Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human is the culmination of Harold Bloom's life's work in reading, writing about, and teaching Shakespeare. It is his passionate and convincing analysis of the way in which Shakespeare not merely represented human nature as we know it today, but actually created it: before Shakespeare, there was characterization; after Shakespeare, there was character, men and women with highly individual personalities -- Hamlet, Falstaff, Iago, Cleopatra, Macbeth, Rosalind, and Lear, among them. In making his argument, Bloom leads us through a brilliant and comprehensive reading of every one of Shakespeare's plays. According to a New York Times report on Shakespeare last year, "more people are watching him, reading him, and studying him than ever before". Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human is a landmark contribution, a book that will be celebrated and read for many years to come. It explains why Shakespeare has remained our most popular playwright for more than four hundred years, and in helping us to understand ourselves through literature, it restores the role of critic to one of central importance to our culture.
Thinking Shakespeare (Revised Edition) by
Practical advice on how to make Shakespeare's words feel spontaneous, passionate, and real, from a leading American director and teacher. Thinking Shakespeare is based on Barry Edelstein's thirty-year career directing Shakespeare's plays. It provides the tools that actors, directors and students need to fully understand and express the power of Shakespeare's language. 'Barry understands how Shakespeare's words work, and how his characters think. He makes Shakespeare accessible to the actors who embody the characters and to an audience. He explains things in terms that actors like, concrete terms that an actor can really use. This book captures his voice and his knowledge, and, like him, it's clear and fun. I recommend it for any actor, or anyone who wants to know more about Shakespeare' Blair Underwood 'Barry Edelstein is a marvel, someone who combines a scholar's precision with a showman's sense of delight. This book is simply essential reading for those who are passionate, or even curious, about Shakespeare. Barry is one of America's most distinguished Shakespeareans, an artist and a scholar, and a beautiful guide to the mystery and power of the greatest writer in the history of the globe. His book is accessible, detailed, loving, learned, and delightful.' Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director, The Public Theater. This revised edition was published by Theatre Communications Group, USA, in July 2018.
The Eloquent Shakespeare by
An actor's deepest desire is to be understood. But when asked to pronounce such words as "chanson," "phantasime," or "quaestor," many otherwise unflappable actors can be rendered speechless. The Eloquent Shakespeare aims to untie those tongues and help anyone speak Shakespeare's language with ease. More than 17,500 entries make it the most comprehensive pronunciation guide to Shakespeare's words, from the common to the arcane. Each entry is written in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and represents standard American pronunciations, making this dictionary perfect for North American professionals or non-native speakers of American English. Renowned Shakespearean voice and text coach Gary Logan has spent years teaching Shakespeare's works to some of the best actors in the world. His book includes proper names, foreign words and phrases, as well as an extensive introduction that covers everything from how to interpret the entries to scansion dynamics. Designed especially for actors, directors, stage managers, and teachers, The Eloquent Shakespeare is a one-of-a-kind resource for performing Shakespeare's dramatic works.
Great Shakespeare Actors by
Great Shakespeare Actors offers a series of essays on great Shakespeare actors from his time to ours, starting by asking whether Shakespeare himself was the first - the answer is No - and continuing with essays on the men and women who have given great stage performances in his plays fromElizabethan times to our own. They include both English and American performers such as David Garrick, Sarah Siddons, Charlotte Cushman, Ira Aldridge, Edwin Booth, Henry Irving, Ellen Terry, Edith Evans, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Peggy Ashcroft, Janet Suzman, Judi Dench, IanMcKellen, and Kenneth Branagh. Individual chapters tell the story of their subjects' careers, but together these overlapping tales combine to offer a succinct, actor-centred history of Shakespearian theatrical performance.Stanley Wells examines what it takes to be a great Shakespeare actor and then offers a concise sketch of each actor's career in Shakespeare, an assessment of their specific talents and claims to greatness, and an account, drawing on contemporary reviews, biographies, anecdotes, and, for some of themore recent actors, the author's personal memories of their most notable performances in Shakespeare roles.
The Shakespeare Book by
The Shakespeare Book brings the work of William Shakespeare to life with full-color photography, images, idea webs, timelines, and quotes that help you understand the context of Shakespeare's plays and poems. From Shakespeare's most-famous plays, such as Romeo and Juliet & Julius Caesar, to less-frequently performed works such as King John & Henry VIII, every play of the Shakespearean canon is collected in this comprehensive guide, along with his major poems and best-loved sonnets. Each play includes an at-a-glance guide to story chronology, so you can easily get back on track if you get lost in Shakespeare's language. Character guides provide a handy reference for casual readers and an invaluable resource for playgoers, and students writing reports on Shakespeare. Packed with infographics and explanations of plots and including an introduction to Shakespeare's life and times, The Shakespeare Book is the ultimate guide to understanding the work of William Shakespeare.
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.
