InfoGuides: Global Theater History: Find Scripts

New Scripts

Find PHYSICAL SCRIPTS

George Mason's plays are currently integrated with the literature collection, so it is difficult to browse the scripts we have by looking on the library shelves. Therefore, we have created a digital collection for you to be able to browse virtually.

Mason Library's Collection of Physical Playscripts

You are able to search within this collection for whatever subject, author, or play you wish. Please note that it can only search for words within the play's record. Some of the play's records are more complete than others. If one search doesn't work, try another.

See the tutorial below for more details:

Find DIGITIZED Scripts

You can find thousands of digital scripts through the Mason Search bar on the main page, if you search for the title of the script or the playwright and then filter by "Available Online" and by "Resource Type: Book."

TIPS

Put quotations marks around the title to ensure that it searches for the complete title (ex. "We're Gonna Die").
If you are getting irrelevant results, (ex. articles about housing when you search "Rent"), filter by Subject.

If you wish to search in individual databases, which are created with theater artists in mind, and often do not integrate with our catalog search, these are great places to start:

Drama Online This link opens in a new window
Collection provides full text access to dramatic works from the early Greek period to the present day, as well as some works of criticism and information on theatre craft. Contains scholarly notes, annotated texts, contextual information, synopsis, biographical entries, and material on acting, directing, and lighting. Features drama titles from the Oberon Books Collection and the TCG Books Play Collection. Includes epics, monologues, and one-person plays in all time periods, as well as translations of major foreign works. Features play tools with character grids, words and speech graphs, and images.
New Play Exchange This link opens in a new window
A cloud-based system that lets you find, read, and evaluate exactly the scripts you're looking for, leverage the expertise of literary managers and dramaturgs throughout the new play sector, and share opportunities with writers.
Twentieth Century North American Drama This link opens in a new window
Contains 2,059 plays by 434 playwrights, together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. Also includes selected playbills, production photographs and other ephemera related to the plays.

English Verse Drama Database
English Drama contains more than 3,900 plays in verse and prose from the late thirteenth century - the likely date of the Shrewsbury Fragments - to the early twentieth. It offers exhaustive coverage of the prodigious dramatic literature of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, as well as Restoration plays, medieval morality plays and mystery cycles, and nineteenth-century closet dramas. In addition to works by major dramatists such as Ben Jonson, Aphra Behn, William Wycherley, Oliver Goldsmith, Richard Sheridan, Oscar Wilde and J. M. Synge, English Drama includes the dramatic writings of many more neglected writers long inaccessible in print form. (Hosted at the University of Virginia for the VIVA libraries.)

We also have some excellent collections of female and BIPOC playwrights:

Asian American Drama This link opens in a new window
Brings together more than 250 plays, along with related biographical, production, and theatrical information. Begins with the works of Sadakichi Hartmann in the late nineteenth century and progresses to the writings of contemporary playwrights, such as Philip Kan Gotanda, Elizabeth Wong, and Jeannie Barroga.
Black Drama: Third Edition This link opens in a new window
Contains the full text of more than 1,700 plays written from the mid-1800s to the present by more than 200 playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries. More than 40 percent of the collection consists of previously unpublished plays.
Latin American Drama This link opens in a new window
Contains plays written by Latin American playwrights in the 19th-21st centuries. Supports the study of American history, ethnic diversity, immigration issues, and political history.
North American Indian Drama: Second Edition This link opens in a new window
Contains over 200 plays representing the stories of American Indian and First Nation playwrights of the twentieth century. More than half of the works are previously unpublished, and hard to find, representing groups such as Cherokee, Métis, Creek, Choctaw, Pembina Chippewa, Ojibway, Lenape, Comanche, Cree, Navajo, Rappahannock, Hawaiian/Samoan, and others.
North American Women's Drama: Second Edition This link opens in a new window
Collection contains over 1,500 full-text plays by women from colonial times to the present. Many of the works are rare, hard to find, or out of print. Almost a quarter of the collection consists of previously unpublished plays. The collection also includes selected playbills, production photographs and other ephemera related to the plays.

External Resources

The Dramatists Play Service Playfinder
Search for published plays by keyword, genre, and cast makeup, and then see if we have access to them at GMU. If not, please ask for us to purchase it!
UCI Drama Library Tagpacker
A robust search platform for searching for plays created by the University of California, Irvine Libraries.