HI Online Resources: A Cut to the Chase

In your search for the perfect Humorous Interpretation piece have you tired of the library?  Have you looked through all of your team's HI scripts on file?  Are you beginning to lose that zeal you began your script search with?  Well, to aid you in locating a Humorous Interpretation script, ForCom has compiled a list of Internet resources that may be helpful.  Enjoy!

    Stage Agent. http://www.stageagent.com/ This resource is used by actors.  It's fantastic for finding the names of monologues and plays.  The site does not provide the full-text of plays, but you might find an excerpt of a one you are interested in through the monologue search.  Stage Agent allows for searches to be broken-up into genre, gender, amount of roles, etc.  This will help a Humorous Interpretation speaker find a script specific to their needs.

    Playdatabase. http://www.playdatabase.com/ Another site great for researching plays.  The site provides ways to narrow your search to help find what you need--such as searching for the number of characters and genders you are seeking.  Again, this feature works well for an HIer looking for a particular range of characters.  A cool feature this site has is their "Top Plays" list.  They provide a top ten list of the previous days most popular plays and a user-generated top 100 plays list.

Samuel French. http://www.samuelfrench.com/ One of the major play publishers out there. Buy a script you want here or look around for one that sounds interesting!

    Dramatists Play Service, Inc. http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/search.asp Yet another script database where you can search by character's gender or total characters in a script.  Unique to this site is the ability to see listings of Pulitzer Prize and Tony winning plays.  This website also allows for you to order any plays you are interested in purchasing.  After some browsing, play costs range from $5.50-$20 (if buying a manuscript); average is $7.50.  Even if you are not interested in purchasing, this site has all the most recent plays listed AND provides plenty of detail for an interested HIer.  

    One-Act-Plays. http://www.one-act-plays.com/index.html Here you can find listings of plays with the text!  Some of the plays listed even show publishing information so you do not have to track it down to be positive that the material has been printed (therefore, legitimate).  The only down-side is most of this material is in the public domain.  That means older.  Not that older plays are bad!  Just be aware that the comedy you find here might be tamer than what our current culture is used to.  If you are a Humorous Interpretation speaker who is character driven you may find something.

    Monologue Archive. http://www.monologuearchive.com/ If you are interested in older, classic comedy GO HERE!  Yet again, this type of material is perfect for a character driven performer willing to take a risk and add some paprika spice to "moldy" texts; a risk that may payoff monumentally.  Though full scripts are unavailable, The Monologue Archive is beneficial for it allows for you to read an excerpt of a play prior to checking it out of the library, which saves time.

    Broddockdebate. http://www.braddockdebate.com/files/Web_Sites_For_Scripts_For_HI.htm Here you will find a directory of publishing houses.  Though you might not wish to purchase (and rather want to see if the library has them in the stacks), you can still browse and find a play that sounds worth reading.

    Amazon. A great place to browse.  Go to some pages of plays and authors you like and see what others have bought.  You can come across some new names and titles that you would never have found.  Simply typing in "plays" in the search bar also brings up books with collections of plays that might be worth leafing through at the library.

Whatever type of Humorous Interpretation you are seeking, these websites listed above will provide you with enough avenues of information to find you the piece that has been eluding your radar.  Older plays, newer scripts, award winners, unknowns whatever your Humorous Interpretation requires can be found.  Do some research, jot a few titles onto a sheet of paper, and enter the library (or bookstore) with newly found confidence.