<p>I am a 22 year male. This season my school is producing Cloud 9, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and The Imaginary Invalid.</p>
<p>Auditors are requesting, simply two contrasting monologues. Here's the problem: under 60 seconds. I find this process incredibly stressful because I am never sure what to do.</p>
<p>Do you think the monologues I have are appropriate? Links below. I like them both a lot. I'm planning on cutting out a lot of the second one and focusing on about three of those paragraphs.</p>
<p>StageAgent</a> - I Remember Everything from Oklahoma
26</a> Year Old Bar Mitzvah Boy - The Monologue Genie</p>
<p>Under 60 seconds TOTAL? Or 60 seconds for each monologue?</p>
<p>Neither of them seems to have yet made it to the “overdone” lists, but they may be headed that way since both of them are on the internet.</p>
<p>You have read both plays entirely, right? The auditors may ask you about the plays. You will be able to tell them the title and author of the plays these come from, right? You know that the Bar Mitzvah monologue is from a play called “Goodbye Charles”?</p>
<p>The correct way to introduce your monologue is to say the name of the character, the play, and the author. Monologues don’t really have titles of their own.</p>
<p>I’m not quite sure you have enough contrast here. Both of them are guys talking to women who don’t want to have anything to do with them. “Two contrasting monologues” usually means they want one comic and one dramatic. Which means one that makes them laugh, and one that is serious.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you can do with the Oklahoma monologue. Most actors will just read the whole thing as being angry. Angry is actually a fairly easy emotion to play, like sarcasm. Some really bad auditioners just do everything either angry or sarcastic because they can’t do anything else. Auditors are never impressed by this.</p>
<p>Do you have any faculty at your school who can help you find good monologues? Probably not the people directing these plays, but some other acting teachers? Does the school have a class about how to audition?</p>
<p>The “Jud” monologue from Oklahoma does seem problematical. Knowledgeable people on this forum have advised students to avoid doing monologues from musicals (ditto with monologues from movies). </p>
<p>How old is the Jud character? I don’t think he is a young adult, is he? You need a monologue by a character whom you could plausibly portray on stage.</p>
<p>KEVP makes a good point about the anger in the Jud monologue, too…</p>
<p>I agree with both RealKEVP and NJTheatremom. The Jud monologue should be ‘disqualified’ both because it’s from a musical, and because this character is supposed to be the Bad Guy in the musical–as a physical type he’s usually played as very big (over six feet and muscular) and physically threatening and emotionally unstable. Of course, a very strong actor could play this with some subtlety, but I don’t think it would be a good choice for a college audition.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with taking a monologue from a character who is “the Bad Guy”. In a well-written play the villain will be just as interesting and three dimensional as anyone else. I’m a character actor, so often my monologue choices go with villains or questionable people.</p>
<p>If you have the right physical type, this isn’t a problem.</p>
<p>The problem is that I can’t really see what someone would DO with this monologue. It seems like all you can do is just “angry-angry-angry-angry-angry. End of monologue.” Maybe there is something I am overlooking. Just being angry (and doing nothing else) is not going to be very impressive if the auditions are at all competitive.</p>
<p>I thought the Jud monologue was interesting. Jud doesn’t have to be older. Laurey is younger than 18 so he could be anywhere from 22 - 35. To do a monologue like that, you need to be completely sure of your objective. Don’t just well up with rage. What is he trying to do to Laurey? I personally think he’s trying to scare her, which is an interesting choice.
Neither of them are the right time. The Jud monologue is too short and the other is waaaaaaayyy too long, you’d have to cut it in half, I’d say.
Neither of these choices are terrible, but they’re not great. I would suggest looking at monologue books. Spend a couple hours with several different books until you find a speech that is active, your age, and speaks to you. You won’t find very many great speeches on the internet, and the ones that are great are more than likely overdone.</p>
<p>If you use a monologue book, make sure you read the entire play that any monologue you choose is from.</p>
<p>The monologues in monologue books tend to be overdone.</p>
<p>Here are three suggestions for finding appropriate monologues:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Work with a coach; the coach can help you select a monologue.</p></li>
<li><p>Search through lesser-known plays by playwrights you like.</p></li>
<li><p>Look at the websites of colleges with theatre programs to see what plays they have done in recent seasons. Search out other plays by these same playwrights.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I am trying to think of how Cory Allen, the OP, managed to become a 22 year old theatre student–in a program that clearly does serious plays–without ever learning how to choose appropriate monologues.</p>
<p>Cory never said he was studying theatre in college. He may never have auditioned for many plays.</p>