<p>Hey guys its been a while since I've posted but I am looking for some advice on how to choose and prepare monologues for university auditions. I am still looking at/visiting colleges but it would be a great help if any suggestions could be made for a 16 year old/female. I figured starting before my senior year fall would make it less stressful when the time comes. Any suggestions and tips will be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Passing along advice from a 25-year-old actor. At your age: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Never do Shakespeare unless you've had training in it. (Others might disagree..)</p></li>
<li><p>Choose something that has an "arc" in which there's a change within the character during the short monologue. In other words, at the beginning of the piece, she was contemplating a choice but by the end she has made the choice. Avoid pieces that are a one-note emotionally (screaming at someone, begging someone for something) so you can show how your character might change. Shows you've thought about the character a lot. </p></li>
<li><p>There are whole books of short monologues and audition pieces for young women and young men; check an online bookstore! </p></li>
<li><p>If it's a piece you've already done in a school production, that might be most comfortable because you've tried it out and know how it works for you.</p></li>
<li><p>Physicality: If you need to move on the stage to accomplish the piece, that's good, for example: looking for an item, dropping to your knees, re-arrange a scarf you're wearing.... just to show you can handle a prop and occupy a stage with your body (not just a talking head, in other words). If that's very problematic for you, or makes you tense, then just skip it. </p></li>
<li><p>Know the rest of the play (synopsis, at least!) from which you pulled the excerpt.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Adding to the above: do your best to choose a character that you would have a chance of being cast as. In other words, know your type. </p>
<p>I would add (though others may well disagree and they have valid points) to consider not choosing a monologue or monologues filled with cursing, profanity, descriptions of sexual acts, and so on. Many schools' auditors are no doubt fine with that, but you may run across an auditor who finds it offensive and this is not the setting to be offending people! </p>
<p>Avoid a monologue that requires you to speak in a certain dialect or accent. Some schools, in fact, expressly forbid this.</p>