<p>Hi! I've been hanging around this forum for a month or two now, and I've been able to gather alot of great information. So, finally, I decided to sign up and getting some personal questions answered. :) I'm going into my senior year, and, like all the other musical theatre major hopefuls, I'm preparing for upcoming college auditions. Which, in turn, brings me to my question.
I found a dramatic monologue from a modern play while searching on the internet, and really fell in love with it. It said that the monologue was from a young adult female, so I automatically assumed that it was in my age range. However, after purchasing the entire play and reading through, I found that the character is actually a 30-year-old female that has been through marriage and other adult experiences that a teen, such as myself, could not necessarily find previous experiences to relate to. However, I still really believe I can deliver the monologue with the right emotion, and I feel very comfortable with it. The content of the monologue could easily have been expressed by a much younger adult. So, my question is, will the fact that the age of the character is out of my age range affect what colleges think of my audition? I really don't want to jeopardize my chances because of one bad choice for a monologue. Thanks!</p>
<p>Most colleges prefer “age-appropriate” material, and this is actually specified in some of their websites. So although you may be able to deliver the monologue comfortably, you run the risk of demonstrating that you cannot follow directions. I would advise against it.</p>
<p>Very good point; well, I’m gonna go back to the drawing board on this one then. Time to search for another contemporary dramatic monologue. 
Thanks!</p>
<p>You might still consider the monologue as a possibility. I could see a problem if the character had a teen daughter, or was a grandma, or was age ten. But usually characters have age ranges. Could the character possibly be 25 or so (some 25 year olds have been through an awful lot.) Do you look young for your age, or could you pass for your early 20s?
For one of D’s monologues, the character was 26, and given the play, she had to be 25 - 30. D could probably have passed for 21, even at age 17, for those who didn’t know her. So the audition worked out well.
It’s really tough finding material you love that is in a narrow age range, so depending on the circumstances, you could still include this on your list of possibilities.</p>
<p>Well, another deciding factor that made me ditch this particular monologue was, as it turns out, it’s on a number of “overdone” lists. Sooo that’s a big negative for me. If that wasn’t a factor, I think I would have considered keeping it, since I could probably pass for a character in their twenties.</p>
<p>I’m also a senior looking for a monologue, but I pass for someone a little bit younger (such as thirteen or fourteen) should I use any monologues that could pass for a tween or stick with just the teenage, because I don’t believe that I can pass for anything over twenty. Any help would be appreciated!</p>