Help with Choosing a Monologue

Hello all,

While I’m not applying to be a musical theatre major, I am applying to be a directing major, and apparently some schools (namely, NYU) still require you to audition with a monologue in addition to your portfolio review.

Now, I’m kind of at a loss. I know many, many shows, but for the life of me I cannot think of a single contemporary play with a solid monologue for a teenage girl. The closest I could think of is one of Molly’s monologues from Peter and the Starcatcher, but I’m hesitant to use it for a number of reasons (one, it’s a modern, popular play, two, she’s technically thirteen, not seventeen, and three, she’s British).

If more information about me would help: Physically, the most important things I could think of are that I’m white (as a ghost, really) and noticeably short (~5ft). Obviously, acting isn’t my strong suit. While I am arguably one of the better performers in my school, that really doesn’t say much on this scale. On that vein, I don’t think anything extremely dramatic or extremely comedic would be preferable, because I don’t have the proper training/practice for it. I’m also definitely not a ingenue type (in every other thread I’ve stalked that question has come up, so I figured I’d get it out of the way).

If anyone could help me out, that would be wonderful.

Thanks in advance!

It is really, really important that you read and read and read contemporary plays until you find something that speaks to you. If someone on CC tosses you a monologue, not only will your delivery almost certainly be inauthentic-but the auditors will know it. IMHO, one of the biggest traits that makes a great directing major would be a high “Theatre IQ”: Who is YOUR favorite playwright? Why? Why did you choose that play? That monologue/scene? Good luck!

Btw, it’s fine to do a monologue of a 13-year-old character, especially if you’re short and young-looking. Basically you want a character that’s within 5 years of your age (in either direction) and that you could theoretically play right now. I’m sure the actress who played Molly on Broadway was 18+ to play younger.

Here are some tips:

  1. Go to Mary Anna Dennard's "College Audition Coach" website and watch her VLogs on Monologues, she has several videos on how to find monologues.
  2. Here is a list of playwrights who write contemporary plays with great parts for young female actresses (recommended by Mary Anna):

Bekah Brunsteader
Claire Barron
Annie Baker
Brooke Berman
Bridget Carpenter
Julia Cho
Lauren Gunderson
Katori Hall
Amy Herzog
Heidi Schrek
Sarah Treem
Lauren Yee

  1. Call the Drama Bookshop in New York and ask them to help you - they can give you some ideas. Order your plays from them, they are great.
  2. Check through the works of playwrights on the list at the New Dramatists website.
  3. Stage Agent dot com has a "part finder" that may be of some help.

Break a leg!

Here is a link to the Backstage search engine - The Monologuer - that you might find helpful.

https://www.backstage.com/monologues/

But as others have pointed out, be sure if you find a monologue that speaks to you be sure you read the entire play. That context is very important and you may be asked questions about your character that can only be addressed by having a thorough understanding of the play.

And another suggestion…my daughter was asked in an interview what other plays had the author of her monologue written!

My D was asked how her character related to a character in another play. Now to be fair, that was with her Shakespeare -but still, they expected her to know more than those specific lines