These databases allow access to thousands of plays digitally:
Available through June 30, 2025
Black Drama 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 More than 40 percent of the collection consists of previously unpublished plays by writers such as Langston Hughes, Ed Bullins, Willis Richardson, Amiri Baraka, Randolph Edmonds, Zora Neale Hurston, and many works are rare, hard to find, or out of print.There is no special section for plays in the library. Plays are mixed in the book stacks with traditional literature. So knowing the name of the play and author is important when searching for plays in OneSearch
HOW TO LOCATE A PLAY IN OUT LIBRARY COLLECTION:
1. Start with the OneSearch
2. Do an AUTHOR search to see everything we own by your playwright
Example: Williams, Tennessee (Last Name, First Name)
3. Do a TITLE Search by the name of the play.
Example: The Glass Menagerie
4. Do a GENERAL search entering the name of the play and the playwrights last name.
Remember: Collections of plays will sometimes include your play.
Sample collection of plays: Best plays of the seventies / edited by Stanley Richards
NEED INSPIRATION?
If you do not have a playwright or play title in mind browse some of these website to find a play that might interest you. Once you found something interesting search for the title, author, or ISBN in OneSearch
*** Do not purchase off of these website, check OneSearch to see if you can get these plays through the library first***
Here is a selection of books containing monologues available through the library. This is not a comprehensive list. Search for "monologues" in Onsearch to discover more.