American / Century Play Company scripts and business papers, 1894-2006

Collection Summary

Title	American / Century Play Company scripts and business papers, 1894-2006
Span Dates	1894-2006
Bulk Dates	(bulk 1915-1998)
Call No.	ML31.A49
Creator	American Play Company
Creator	Century Play Company
Extent	approximately 16,000 items
Extent	187 containers
Extent	94.5 linear feet
Language	Collection material chiefly in English
Location	Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Finding Aid Permalink	Cite or bookmark this finding aid as: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu017012
LCCN Permalink	LC Catalog record: https://lccn.loc.gov/2015667100
Summary	The American Play Company / Century Play Company was a conglomerate publishing house that represented many of the most prominent American playwrights and dramatists of the 20th century. The scripts and business papers in the collection document numerous aspects of American theater production history, including author representation, show production, publishing, and licensing for television, film, radio, and stock productions. The script library notably includes five working copies of The Glass Menagerie (1944) by Tennessee Williams and early performance drafts of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie (1921), Mourning Becomes Electra (1931), and Strange Interlude (1923). The collection also highlights several unpublished, unproduced works by female playwrights, such as Harriet Ford and Margery Benton Cooke.