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Michigan State University

Theatre Research Guide: Full Text Online Plays

This is a general guide to research in the scholarship of the History of Theatre. For a guide to Period Resources (for images and scholarship in material culture) please see: http://blog.lib.msu.edu/libdata_pos/page.phtml?page_id=1373 .

Full Text Online Plays

  • Black Drama: 1850 to the Present

    When complete, Black Drama will contain the full text of 1,200 plays written from the mid-1800s to the present by more than 100 playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries. Many of the works are rare, hard-to-find, or out of print. Nearly a quarter of the collection will consist of previously unpublished plays by writers such as Langston Hughes, Ed Bullins, Willis Richardson, Femi Euba, Amiri Baraka, Randolph Edmonds, Zora Neale Hurston, and many others. Each play is extensively and deeply indexed, allowing both keyword and multi-fielded searching. The plays are accompanied by reference materials, significant ancillary information, a rich performance database, and images.

  • LION (Literature Online)

    Within Literature Online are several databases of full-text plays: AMERICAN DRAMA 1714-1915, and ENGLISH DRAMA. For access to standalone databases within LION choose the Individual Collections button at top right..