How Do You Cite a Play in MLA Format?
Published by at January 23rd, 2025 , Revised On January 23, 2025
Researchers, while writing their research studies, have to use journal articles, books, survey reports, interviews, quotes, and sometimes plays as well. Students associated with liberal arts and humanities mostly use chunks of plays in their dissertations or research studies to validate their arguments or increase the value of the content.
There is a large portion of students who study literature, film writing, fine arts, and these kinds of subjects related to creating content in different forms to appeal the senses of the audience and propagate their messages. You need to learn how do you cite a play in MLA format if you are among one of them.
Stay in the loop to learn how to add your favourite play dialogues to your study using the right format.
Why Do You Need to Cite Plays?
You should ask yourself first why you need to use words or phrases from plays in your literature review before moving forward to find the answer crafted by us.
When you try to figure out the possible answers of why, then you will surely realise the importance or effectiveness of words written in the plays by great playwrights of all times, including William Shakespeare, Sophocles, Christopher Marlowe, Henrik Ibsen, Samuel Beckett, Anton Chekhov, Oscar Wilde, August Strindberg, Albert Camus, and many more.
Sometimes, the effectiveness of a few words used in plays overshadows the tons of sentences or paragraphs written in books or research articles. That’s why smart researchers prefer to use play as a reference in their research papers or other studies.
Right Format to Cite a Play In-Text Using MLA Style
If you are going to cite a play that has numbered lines then make sure to add the below elements in your parenthesis of in-text citation to comply with the MLA 9 guidelines.
- Author Last Name
- Act Name or Number (Whichever is Available)
- Scene and Line Number (If Lines are Numbered)
On the other hand, if you are looking to learn how to cite a play in text using MLA style that has no numbered lines instead of a series of continuous lines throughout the last scene of the play then follow the below format.
- Author Last Name
- Act Name or Number (Whichever is Available)
- Scene and Page Number
If you are quoting dialogue in your text of the study from any play like Antigone, then follow the below format.
- Character Names (All in Capital Letters)
- Followed by a Period
- Match the Indentation
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Examples to Add Play References As In-Text Citations
To add references in the MLA style of any play, either in print form or only published online, you need to add the author’s last name and the page number from which lines are quoted in parentheses.
In-Text Citation for a Play
(Miller 7)
If you are citing a play that has numbered or titled acts, scene, and line numbers, then you have to replace the page number with the act, scene, and line numbers, separated by periods.
MLA In-Text Citation with Act, Scene, and Line Numbers.
(Marlowe 1.4.45-67)
Some plays only have lines that are sometimes numbered or not by the author or the editor. You can write line numbers at the first citation of that play by separating them using a comma from the author’s name or title to make things clear.
Keep in mind there is no need to repeat the “line(s)” word while making a second citation from the same play according to the Handbook of MLA guidelines.
MLA In-Text Citation with Line Numbers
(Aeschylus, lines 12-23)
(Aeschylus 53-83)
What Format Needs to Be Followed While Citing Multiple Plays from One Playwright?
Sometimes, the canvas of students’ studies, whether it is assignment writing or a full-fledged dissertation, is so broad that they aim to cover a major or even all the plays of one dramatist in one study. For example, you are working on the dramatic elements commonly used by Sophocles in his plays.
It requires you to cite his different plays like Oedipus Rex, Antigone, Oedipus at Colonus, Electra, and many more in one paper. You don’t need to repeat the name of the dramatist in every citation related to the same authors’ works. Instead, use an italicised play title in each citation related to one playwright.
MLA In-Text Citation with Play Title
(Hamlet 3.2.88-102)
You can use the full title of the play in your first citation. Then, you can use universally accepted abbreviations for repeated mentions to avoid repeating the same name in your document. Make sure to use the universal abbreviations of the play title; don’t make your own because no one wants to make guesses while reading your study.
For example, if your research prose is focused on William Shakespeare, then you can easily find the universal abbreviations of his plays and use them in your citations.
MLA In-Text Citation with Abbreviated Play Title
(Ham.4.5.65)
How to Use Exact Dialogues of a Play in Your Work?
While writing a research study, sometimes an exact line or a dialogue of any character from any play can hit our mind, and we feel excited to add it to our content to make our arguments more valuable or resonate with great playwright words.
For example, if you are discussing the importance of instant decision-making in your paper and suddenly, “To be or not to be, that is the question,” the famous words of soliloquy from Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet” start ringing in your ears.
What’s better than using such perfectly resonating words in your study? But do you know how to reference a dialogue from a play in MLA style? That is the real question, read the formatting guidelines below according to MLA Handbook to cite multiple dialogues or lines from a written play or even screenplay as well perfectly.
- Write the quote on a new line, ½ inch indented from the left margin line of the page.
- Start writing the dialogue with the character’s name in capital letters, followed by a comma.
- If the dialogue of the character stretches over more than one line, then indent the next lines a further ½ inch.
- Put the citation at the end of the quote or dialogue after the punctuation mark.
Example of Quoting Dialogues from a Play Using MLA Style
How do you Compile a Works Cited List Containing Play References in MLA format?
After citing a play in a series using MLA style in your text in several paragraphs of your literature review or data analysis of the study. It is time to mention all the in-text citations in an organised manner at the end of the study, which is usually called the works cited page.
According to the Handbook of MLA citation guidelines, a dedicated works cited page needs to be added separately at the last portion of the study.
Keep in mind that the references that you have taken from the text of plays or screenplays may look different due to being published in different formats. Some are published as a whole book, some are collected in an anthology, and some are performed live or telecasted on television.
Example of a Book Play Citation in MLA Style
If the play that you have used in your in-text citations is published as a single book, then the format would be the same as used for a published book.
MLA Style
Author Surname, First Name. Play Title. Publisher, Year.
Example of Works Cited Play Entry
Ibsen, Henrik. Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen. Intl Business Pubns USA, 2009.
MLA In-Text Citation
(Ibsen 55)
Example of Play Citation in MLA Style From a Collection or Anthology
Sometimes, authors publish a series of plays in a single collection or anthology. While citing a single play from the collection, you need to place a comma after the play’s title and, after that, the details of the book in which it is published, as done above.
MLA Style
Author Surname, First Name. Play Title. Collection/Anthology Name, Editor First Name Last Name, Publisher, Year, Page number(s).
Example of Works Cited Play Entry
Shakespeare, William, and Charlton Hinman. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The First Folio of Shakespeare. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1968. pp.234-244.
MLA In-Text Citation
(Shakespeare 2.2.23)
If there is no name of the editor available, then omit this part and simply proceed straight from the name of the anthology or collection to the publisher’s information.
Example of a Live ScreenPlay Citation in MLA Style
MLA Style
Author Surname, First Name. Play Title. Directed by Director First Name Last Name, Publisher, Day Month Year, Theatre Name, City.
Example of Works Cited ScreenPlay Entry
Tracy, John, et al. Human Follies & Dark Fantasies. Directed by Jose Arthur and Tracy Mike, 05 Feb. 2018, Prince of Wales Theatre, London.
MLA In-Text Citation
(Tracy et al.)
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, according to the Handbook of MLA guidelines, researchers can use any play, whether it is staged or not, unless it has verifiable data in research studies.
No, you don’t need to repeatedly mention the author’s name or complete title of the play while adding in-text citations for the 2nd or third time and instead use universally accepted abbreviations of the play like Macbeth as Mc, and so on.
ResearchProspect encourages students to focus on writing quality content in their studies instead of maintaining citation formatting, and students can use citation-generating tools or get help from experts to keep their focus on big targets.
