<p>iheartMTT--You can read the play after you find a monologue you think you might like, too. That's ok. But if you do that try to order some more unusual (i.e. current) monologue books from a place like Samuel French so you're not buying the same monologue books anybody can pick up at the library or Barnes & Noble. But to search well you'll have to search through plays as well. Do you know how to create your own monologue from dialogue in a play? Isn't that ok, everyone? Don't even bother asking anyone for suggestions for a monologue for you. You need to find one that works for you--it's very personal. If you find a monologue you like in a monologue book look at other, less-known plays by the same playwright.</p>
<p>Thanks, Susan. APB--just another one of those things I've known and forgotten. Big sigh. My memory is sure mysterious--here one minute and gone the next. Goodnight from this point, too.</p>
<p>I'd also suggest looking outside the US and England-- try playwrights from Australia, Canada, South Africa, etc. to find something original. Both of my pieces were Canadian, and I've never met anyone who has used them.</p>
<p>While MTmommy is absolutely right that the choice is personal, getting recommendations from someone well-read who also knows you well can work. I wasn't all too familiar with the Greeks, but added Antigone to my pieces after an instructor suggested I look into the character-- I ended up adoring her. Just never let the final decision come from someone else. I ended up switching pieces a week before an audition because I felt like I was doing it for the wrong reasons. Thankfully, I found one I connected with.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>september makes a very good point. You have to "connect" to the piece you are doing. I have been in a lot of auditions and you really can tell when there is no connection. But when you are good at what you do, and that connection is there, you make "magic"!</p>
<p>September and wct are exactly right about needing to connect with your monologues and there is no substitute for reading lots of plays to find them. However, if you decide to let your teacher or somebody pick some for you, dont let him get away with giving you just a few. Get at least 10 suggestions from different experienced people that know you so you will have a better chance of finding some that say something to you. Also make sure the ones you pick all show something different. There is nothing wrong with cutting them from dialog as long as you make sure you dont do a hack job and lose the characters intention. If you do cut them make sure you run it by somebody who knows what he is doing before using it for an audition. All my contemporary pieces were cuts. It is best to leave Shakespeare alone and not cut him unless you really know what you are doing and DEFINITELY dont cut anything from verse. Here is a conversation about monologues between me and doctorjohn from last fall from the drama thread (with some of my typos cleaned up. haha) </p>
<p>DOCTORJOHN
Thesbo & Notarebel, what do the teachers at your school recommend as an approach to choosing monologues? Do they pick ones out for you? Or do they send you looking? and if so, what kind of guidelines do they give you?</p>
<p>NOTAREBEL
Hi Doctorjohn -- They assign us monologues but they are designed to be big stretches for class and would not be good for auditions. We review plays all the time and are supposed to be on the lookout for pieces we would like to try. The main thing is to find things you could realistically be cast as that fit the age range and types you can realistically play and that is different for everybody. For example, I look my age and can handle roles from 15 MAYBE stretching to 21. Thesbo is tall and uber hot with a rich, silky voice and is convincing in lots of roles up to mid 20s. We have a boy who is big and burly with a bass voice who can pull off characters into their 30s. A girl from here who got into NCSA last year had some monologues for women in their 30s that she used in her auditions, so age isn't always exact science. I think people need to work on this with somebody who will be brutally honest about what they can and can't get away with at whatever place they are in their growth. </p>
<p>I have gotten a lot of my monologues from reading obscure and Off-Broadway plays that did not have a part that would work for me but I felt akin to the playwright's style. When I find one like that, I skim other works by the same person to see if I can find a suitable character. If you keep looking that way, over time you will have a bunch to choose from and some will really say something to you. Something I have not seen here is that not only do you need to be super familiar with the whole play, but you need to be familiar with the playwright and his or her other works as well. We always get quizzed on that. We also have monologue night once a month where we do pieces we choose and the teachers keep notes on which ones we did well. I think once we get around to prepping for auditions they will help us pick from what we have.</p>
<p>DOCTORJOHN
The reason I asked, Notareb, is that I suspected that you and your teachers would have a solid process. You're doing exactly the right thing. For absolute beginners, go and get one of the monologue books, read through it completely and find a piece where the words feel good in your mouth and get your blood racing. Don't do that piece. Why not? Because all of those pieces are overdone, and some of them have been cut to ribbons. But do go and find plays by that playwright and read, read, read until you find something you really like that works. </p>
<p>What you're saying about age is also correct. Calendar age and stage age are two different things. Some 17-year-olds can play 30-somethings. Some 17-year-olds shouldn't do roles written for anyone over 16. And your advice is good: work with someone who can be brutally honest about what you can and can't do.</p>
<p>wow, i quite posting and just try to read occasionally, and here comes another dig. thanks.</p>
<p>Wow. How could I forget?! Common wisdom says that it is best to not pick pieces that require using a regional dialect. Training the speaking voice is a big part of actor training and the auditors will want to hear what your voice sounds like naturally.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for reminding me mrsark87! You were the last thing on my mind when I posted that. In fact most of it was written on another thread over 7 months ago before you even found this group! :)</p>
<p>notarebel, i have no idea why you addessed me, i have said nothing to you in days. you're not on my radar. you're not my voice of expertise when i need info on acting. my prior comment was not addessed to you. i'm really trying to just live my life here and let you guys live yours. but, if someone takes a dig at me in public, i will respond. but, what i'd really like is to just enjoy my life and not be bothered.</p>
<p>mrsark- i suggest that if you have a problem with an individual posters post, you address them directly through private message or email. there is no reason to post it on the public forum, and all it does is create negative sentiment. i for one do not see anything that related to you or your situation, but perhaps you interpreted something differently and in that case you should address the poster who "took the dig" at you. The negativity on this thread is and has been over for the past few days, and there's no reason to start it again now.</p>
<p>from notarebel....."Wow. How could I forget?! Common wisdom says that it is best to not pick pieces that require using a regional dialect. Training the speaking voice is a big part of actor training and the auditors will want to hear what your voice sounds like naturally.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for reminding me mrsark87! You were the last thing on my mind when I posted that. In fact most of it was written on another thread over 7 months ago before you even found this group"</p>
<p>this entire post was addressed to me. please tell me why she can make ugly inuendos towards me, yet when i respond, simply stating that i had not addressed her at all, it's me that's causing problems. she didn't address me privately. and the person "taking the dig" certainly did it publicly, but i guess that's ok. oh well, for some reason i've become the evil poster and i'll leave again. all i ask is that you refrain from talking about me.</p>
<p>to notarebel, since you posted me private so no one would see what an ugly thing you said, and since your pm's are blocked.....i'll just say. you've got a long way to go before you are the expert on fine universities. the things you say are cruel beyond belief. i can see why you wouldn't want your buddies to see them. you can attack me all you want. but you won't attack my daughter. she is god's gift to this earth and no matter where she goes to school, one golden thing remains....she gets to be her. and unfortunately, you have to go on being you. my pm's are blocked now so if you want to spew more evil, you'll have to do it in front of your friends. i have never before said one ugly thing to you about you or your abilities. and i can't imagine why you would take it upon yourself to demean me or anyone in my family.</p>
<p>now, let me say one more time. i won't read these anymore, thanks to a few ugly people. and i do mean a few. so many of you are wonderful. but, a few are driving away some good people. i know several will spout off ugly remarks back and i hope it makes you feel like a big person. but, i won't see it. i'm not going to subject myself to this anymore. it used to be fun to come here. but, it's just hurtful at this point, so i'll leave.</p>
<p>whine whine whine. its not about her. its about you. if i were her i would be terribly embarrassed to have to go to school with so many who read this forum. i sent you a pm so as not to hijack the thread and keep it useful for those looking for good info and ... my friends were sitting right here with me. Dont go away mad. just go away. bub-bye!</p>
<p>iheartMTT - Where have I been that I didn't know about this <a href="http://www.sheetmusicdirect.com?%5B/url%5D">www.sheetmusicdirect.com?</a> I checked into it today and feel like its a Godsend. Music right at your fingertips, printed out on your computer - no running to the copy store, and TRANSPOSED if needed! Thank you so much for the valuable information. Everyone is offering such great sites. I wish my D knew about this last year this time!</p>
<p>Here is a good link to a search engine to purchase play scripts: <a href="http://www.stageplays.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.stageplays.com/</a> I have some others but unfortunately they are on "My Favorites" at work...as much as I love CC...I am not going back to work tonight. LOL</p>
<p>One of the first things my guys did was order a catalog, containing a synopsis for each play, from various script publishers....such as Samuel French and DPS. The next thing they did was read through the catalogs and flag scripts that were of interest to them. We then assembled orders, sent away for the scripts, and read, read, read. To this day they are still doing it!! You should see their private collection...it's shaping up!!</p>
<p>I also suggest that once you have settled on plays from which your monologues come from (be sure to read the plays throughly) do a bit of background research on each of the plays. As Notarebel stated in her converstation with Dr. John...you need to be familiar with your material.</p>
<p>Hope this helps and isn't too redundant. It's really just a matter of getting a good head start on all of this and knowing what is out there. Read, Read, Read, and Research, Research, and Reasearch!</p>
<p>Fondly,</p>
<p>SUE aka 5pants</p>
<p>MtMommy, sorry I was not online to really answer and won't be for a bit, but I see SOOOOOO many helpful folks giving you so many ideas and resources beyond what I could have said. </p>
<p>As far as picking songs, I have to say that one thing that has always interested my D is kinda a "History of Musicals" in that she just has always seemed well versed on musicals written throughout history and the numerous songs in them. It is kinda a knowledge base sort of thing. In fact, at voice, it is often her who is suggesting songs to others or even to her voice teacher and in the end, every song she picked for college auditions came from her ideas, never one a voice teacher came up with. All of this is reminding me of how when she was eight, she wrote this fifteen page research paper on 100 years of Broadway and then created this ten foot illustrated timeline of musicals over those time periods. I laugh now when watching the video of her presenting this research paper, which was an independent study, to her grade 1/2/3 class and as she got to each musical through the 100 years, she broke into song and dance as a sample from each one or played it on piano or flute. I just remembered all this as I am writing this post, lol. So, I guess this "history" of all the musicals over the years has been in her head a long long time. Today she was finishing a major research project for school comparing Sondheim with Jonathan Larson and she asked me to pull this 20 page paper she wrote in sixth grade on Jonathan Larson and I think all this stuff from way back when has kinda grown and grown and so thinking up musicals kinda is in her head already. When she wrote the two cabaret shows, and they were on themes, she just seemed to know songs from numerous musicals that would fit into her themes/stories in the cabaret. And so when it came to think up songs for auditions, I think she has this "bank" of songs in her head so it was not like starting from scratch. That is why I don't think we did as extensive a search as being suggested. As mentioned her pre-1960 song was a song she had performed in a revue show at age nine and we recalled it as a possible song for this requirement. </p>
<p>As mentioned, I perused this book at the voice teacher's house and I wish I recall the title but I THINK it might be "Showtunes" and it is a thick book that chronociles all the composers/songs/musicals from every era. It is just not a place where you can hear or see the actual songs. But it helps to stir one's memory and to let ya know which year they were written. So, for instance, when perusing the book, you might come across a musical and think, oh, that one was before 1960 and so what songs do I know from that show? Also my D's voice teacher has extensive collections of song/score books and so she likes to look through those all the time. He also gives us a contact in NYC who can get any music it seems (often before we have seen it published). Also you can order music from SheetMusicPlus online or even from Colony (which is also in Times Square which she has to pop in if ever in NYC). I guess the issue is, however, if you don't KNOW the tunes or how they go, it does not help to see lists and so forth, ya gotta hear it. </p>
<p>One issue that came up with picking songs was if she found a pre1960 upbeat song, that meant for THAT college that required it, the other song had to be a ballad and so it impacted which song she picked for the second song. And some schools only let ya do 32 bars for one and 16 bars for the other so the decision in those cases was what sort of song do I wanna do for 32 bars (usually one's strength, in her case....belting) and so it got complicated sometimes in the choosing....like if she picked upbeat belting for the longer song segment, which of the two songs would be from before 1960. It was like a puzzle picking what to do for each school's requirement and one decision impacted the next decision/choice. It drove me nuts as she changed her mind many many times and also seemed so deadset on it NOT being common, so that put another limitation on it. </p>
<p>I think most of all is to pick songs that really show you. And then ACT the song. </p>
<p>Others gave much better suggestions than I could have on the monologues. This was trickier for my daughter as she did not have that same "history" in her head like she does with songs. She knows way way less plays than songs. It turned out that one of her monologues was from a play she saw at her theater camp this summer (plus at one other place over summer ) and she was very into that play. Otherwise, she got suggested plays from an acting coach and read the ones he suggested for her and picked monologues from those and it seemed to work. She had to have four in all to meet various schools' criteria. So, it did not involve ordering plays or using libraries for us. </p>
<p>I think my D owns a collection of music but much less so of monologues. I forgot to say that I did buy some monologue books (not the ones with material written as monologues but rather with monologues from actual plays) and some of those were good but in the end, she picked ones from the plays the acting person lent her. Even if ya take from a monologue book, you gotta eventually buy the play and read it. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>Lynnm - another great site is <a href="http://www.sunhawk.com%5B/url%5D">www.sunhawk.com</a> This allows you to download the music three different times and each time you can transpose the music into any desired key. Between both websites, I find most all the music I need. Also, if you e-mail them, they will add the music you are looking, although it may take too long to be useful. They have to procure the rights, and this takes a bit of time.</p>
<p>Another way to go is with the free downloadable finale notepad - a music notation program. You can download it on <a href="http://www.finalemusic.com%5B/url%5D">www.finalemusic.com</a> and you actually compose the music yourself - a bit tedious but I find it fun. Then it will automatically playback what you wrote so you can check for mistakes. PLUS you can then transpose the music into any key. It's great for when you want to create a new arrangement to a piece or transpose a piece that you can't find at the two sites above.</p>
<p>HI. I'm new to these forums, but have been lurking for quite some time. I've read and read until I can't read any more. You people definiately aren't short on advice and support.</p>
<p>I did notice, however, that most "conversations" seem to take place within a select group of people and a couple of moms have tried to voice opinions and been accused of being difficult. After reading and reading, I can't find anything that either one of these moms did to cause a problem, other than to voice their own opinions.</p>
<p>I would like to be a regular on this board as I am finding it very helpful, but can't help wondering if my responses would be respected since I'm new and some of you have been posting for several years.</p>
<p>ABlestMom - Thanks so much...that's terrific info, too! I'll pass these along to my D, as well.</p>
<p>friendofstar - Welcome to the forum!</p>
<p>Lots of wonderful advice here. I just have two things to add which I haven't seen specifically mentioned. PBS did a fabulous series last year on the history of Broadway, which is available in dvd and the music is available on cd. I believe there is even a book. It is a 'must have' for anyone who's interested in theatre and is an invaluable resource as well as just plain old fun! :) The second thing I would recommend, which is something we started many years ago, is to buy as many plays as you can find. We began giving D2 a play for her birthday, Christmas, other occasions as one of her gifts and she has a tremendous collection today. It's not only for use as a resource for monologues but it's important that these kids know plays, know how they're written and constructed, how the character development takes place, etc. It's especially invaluable to those of our kids who are also interested in writing, as my D is and I know there are several others here who are as well. The same can be said for songbooks for vocal/piano/guitar selections. We have a library of them. The original search for the perfect monologues and songs, for college, is an important one but it's just the beginning. :) Our kids are going to be repeating this search for many years to come for auditions.</p>