How to Cite a Play: A Guide to MLA, APA, & Chicago Styles

Knowing how to cite a play is a specific skill that differs from citing a standard book or article. The structure of a play script, with its acts, scenes, and lines, introduces unique elements to the citation process. Whether you’re referencing a classic tragedy or a contemporary drama, getting the citation right is all about pointing your reader to the exact moment you’re analyzing. If you need a quick start, a good citation generator can help you build the basic framework for your sources.

A quick tip: What if you need to omit some words from a line or several lines you’re quoting? MLA guidance suggests using an ellipsis, but for verse, there are special rules to maintain the poetic structure. You can find a detailed explanation on how to handle these omissions on the MLA Style’s official site.

Verse vs. Prose Plays: Which Citation Applies?

Not every play uses the same numbering system, and the citation you choose depends on the text in front of you. A verse play, like most of Shakespeare’s work, prints numbered lines in the margin, so your citation should always use those act, scene, and line numbers instead of a page number. A prose play, such as many modern scripts, is often typeset like ordinary paragraphs with no line numbers at all, so a page number is the correct choice instead.

When a printed edition mixes both, for example a script with numbered verse passages and unnumbered stage directions, cite whichever numbering system covers the specific text you are quoting. If you’re not sure which type of play you have, check the front matter of your edition. Publishers usually note whether the text is presented in verse or prose right in the introduction. The same numbering logic applies when you’re citing a poem instead of a play, since verse poetry follows the same line-number convention.

• Numbered lines in the margin = verse
• Plain paragraphs, no line numbers = prose
• Mixed formatting = cite by the type of text you’re quoting

Quoting Dialogue in MLA

Knowing how to quote a play correctly matters most when several characters speak in the same passage, since dialogue from a play has its own peculiar formatting rules. When a quote runs more than three lines, you must set it as a block quote. Start on a new line, indented half an inch from the left margin. The character’s name should appear in capital letters, followed by a period. Any subsequent line of dialogue for that same character is indented further. The parenthetical citation goes at the very end.

Here is an example of quoting dialogue:

VLADIMIR. Do you remember the gospels?
ESTRAGON. I remember the maps of the Holy Land. Coloured they were. Very pretty. The Dead Sea was pale blue. The very look of it made me thirsty. That’s where we’ll go, I used to say, that’s where we’ll go for our honeymoon. We’ll swim. We’ll be happy.
VLADIMIR. You should have been a poet.
(Beckett 5)

For general guidance on introducing any quoted passage into your essay, not just dialogue, see our guide on how to introduce quotations. If you’re summarizing the scene instead of quoting it directly, see our guide on how to paraphrase.

Creating the Works Cited Entry

Your Works Cited page is where your reader finds the full details of the play. The entry for a play in an essay depends on how you accessed it, and the table below covers the three most common formats.

Source Type	How to Format the Entry	Example
Stand-Alone Book	List the author’s name, the italicized play’s title, the publisher, and the publication year, the same as any other book citation.	Friel, Brian. Translations. Faber and Faber, 1981.
In an Anthology	Cite the author and play title first, then add the anthology’s title, the editor’s name, the edition, the publisher, and the play’s page numbers. The Purdue OWL has a full breakdown of this entry shape.	Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works, edited by John Jowett et al., 2nd ed., Oxford UP, 1998, pp. 2501–2565.
A Live Performance	Capture the ephemeral nature of the event with the play’s title, the director’s name, the performance date, the theater, and the city, as shown for this musical below. If you’re citing the show’s soundtrack recording rather than the live performance, see how to cite music instead.	Parker, Trey, et al. The Book of Mormon. Directed by Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker, 20 Feb. 2019, Prince of Wales Theatre, London. Performance.

Citing Shakespeare: Referencing Multiple Plays by One Playwright

Essays that examine more than one play by the same playwright quickly get confusing if every citation repeats the author’s name. Once you have introduced the author in full, switch to the play’s title in your parenthetical citations so each reference stays unambiguous, as in the example below.

Hamlet delays his revenge while Macbeth rushes toward his (Hamlet 1.4.5) and (Macbeth 1.2.94–95).

This title-first approach works for any playwright with multiple entries in your Works Cited list, and it is the convention most citation guides recommend for in-text citations once the author has already been named in full at least once. If your essay also draws on a screen adaptation of the play, remember that film versions are cited differently: see how to cite films for that format.

APA and Chicago Styles at a Glance

While MLA is common in the humanities, you might need to know how to cite a play in other formats. APA and Chicago styles handle plays differently, often prioritizing the publication year. When directly quoting from a script in APA, you must include a location, whether it’s a page number or the act scene and line. Sometimes, a source may not have a page or line number. The APA provides clear guidance on handling direct quotations from such sources.

Here’s a quick comparison for citing a play script.

Style	In Text Example	Reference / Bibliography Entry
APA (7th ed.)	(Shakespeare, 1603/2008, 1.4.5)	Shakespeare, W. (2008). Hamlet (S. Greenblatt, Ed.). W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. (Original work published 1603)
Chicago (17th ed., Author-Date)	(Shakespeare 2004, 1.4.5)	Shakespeare, William. 2004. Hamlet, edited by Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House.

A Note on Capitalization

Should it be “Act 3” or “act 3”? This tiny detail can be maddening. But there is an answer. According to the Chicago Manual of Style’s inquisitive Q&A section, terms like act and scene are typically lowercased in prose. You would write, “The conflict escalates in act 3,” not “Act 3.” It’s a small distinction that lends your writing a professional sheen. For more help with these kinds of questions, you can always explore general citation questions to refine your work.

Copyable Citation Templates

Use these fill-in-the-blank templates as a starting point for your own Works Cited entries and in-text citations, then swap in the play’s details.

Citation Type	Template
In-text (verse, numbered lines)	(Author’s Last Name Act.Scene.Line–Line)
In-text (prose, page numbers)	(Author’s Last Name Page)
Works Cited (anthology)	Author’s Last Name, First Name. Play Title. Anthology Title, edited by Editor Name, Edition, Publisher, Year, Page Numbers.

Prefer not to fill in the blanks by hand? Our MLA citation generator builds the entry for you from the play’s details. Need a title page to go with it? Try our MLA title page generator.