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Stageplays.com

Dec 20, 2007

I want to read plays

Someone explain this to me:

Why is there no online bookstore that has all play publishers?

If I want to read a bunch of plays by a particular playwright, how do
I track them down?

It's easy if they're published by DPS or Sam French, but the other
publishers suck at visibility.

There should be an aggregate.

Is there one that exists that I'm missing?

8 comments:

J W said...

there's several, mister.
who are you looking for? and why not just go through the drama bookshop. their database is online

Adam Szymkowicz said...

Well, I want "Leave it to Beaver is Dead" by Des McAnuff. But really I want lots of plays. I don't think playscripts is available through DBS. Or at least the ones I searched aren't. Plays from Broadway Play Publishing are also not in most stores. Do play publishers not want people to read their plays? WTF?

Adam Szymkowicz said...

like go to the drama book shop and type in adam bock. They have no idea who he is.

J W said...

it's sad; they don't publish plays like they used to... i think that people just don't buy and read them like they used to either. so as far as des goes, i bet a lot of his plays just haven't been published --- this is why the library at new dramatists is a good thing. :)

but one thing you can do, but it won't include small pubs like playscripts and whatnot, is search the library of congress site. then you can get the isbn.

Adam Szymkowicz said...

I mean doollee is helpful. and worldcat tells me what libraries things are at but if plays were easier to get, maybe more people would read them.

J W said...

i agree.
and if our work can't get published, then how else are we going to change the lives of some high schooler who needs to fall in love with theatre...

if beckett hadn't gotten published, and that old tattered copy of waiting for godot hadn't made it into my hands in high school - i dont think i would have become a playwright. until then, i thought it was all neil simon and the like - fun, good for what it is, but not inspiring.

a lot of the playwrights i love don't get published. our career choice is stupid. no one loves us.

meeegan said...

You can search www.findaplay.com for the catalogues of most of the major American play publishers. It's actually a subset of the Playscripts site, oddly enough.

The Drama Book Shop covers most of the major British publishers. The Playwrights Guild of Canada (www.playwrightsguild.ca) has a publishing division that carries the work of most playwrights from that country.

And by the way, you live in New York. Which has one of the best public library systems in the world. Do you have a library card, my friend?

Adam Szymkowicz said...

Thanks, M! The findaplay needs an update but I'm glad to know of it as I am to know about the others.

I should get a library card. I also have access to the columbia library.