By Claire Langdon

This past Thursday, I was in New York City for an audition. Before the appointment, we walked around the Theater District and Times Square in order to find a book store so that we would have something to read in the waiting room. It was then that we stumbled across a very unique book store: The Drama Book Shop. 

As suggested by its name, the shop carries merchandise related to show business. Entire plays by a spectrum of authors await the hands of voracious actors, authors and directors alike. Often, actors pass the time before auditions in the rickety yet comfortable assorted chairs and couches, because the overall atosphere of the Drama Book Shop is amicable and inviting. 

The merchandise itself includes scripts from the newest Broadway plays, to books on costume making, to guides on the lighting of Wicked the musical. There are even examples of elaborate and avant garde costumes of such originality, that one would only see anything like them in the tiny “theater world” nestled within the shop’s walls. 

Personally, we settled for the classics; there was an entire wall dedicated to Shakespearian plays in a variety of different publishers. On our way to the register, we even found a print of William Shakespeare completely composed out of phrases and titles from his plays. The timelessness of his plays go to show the integral role that quality literature plays in the lives of individuals and audiences, even over the course of centuries. 

The Drama Book Shop is a very original and unique store. Conveniently located on the outskirts of Times Square, it provides a familial atmosphere and a source for the inspiration and study of all things theatrical.