How did you find your monologue(s)?

<p>If you wish to share what monologue you chose, go ahead, but I'm really wondering how you found it. Did you just read a bunch of plays, did you find it on a website, did someone recommend it? I'm going to start the process of finding some monologues soon, so I'm curious as to how other people went about it.</p>

<p>from what I hear, the best way is to read a bunch of plays and find one that fits u. Check the other recent threads on here too as another mom gave great advice on how her daughter found her monologue which I think was looking through plays but she also looked through monologue books. The latter is generally “not recomended” but it worked well for her kid.</p>

<p>The serious students here all find their monologue by reading a lot of plays. Yes, this is a LOT of work. But it is so important that you really shouldn’t be looking for “shortcuts”.</p>

<p>You want your performance of the monologue to be the best performance of that monologue the auditors have ever heard. It’s harder to do that if you are using a monologue that the auditors have heard a zillion times. If you download a monologue from a website, so are many many other people. If someone recommends one, isn’t that a monologue THEY are using?</p>

<p>Identify the playwrights you like and admire (and who have written the plays you want to be in!). Read their plays, especially the ones that aren’t well known or often performed.</p>

<p>The monologues from the monologue books the auditors have already heard a zillion times. You might glance at the monologue books just to get names of playwrights. But always make sure you have read the WHOLE PLAY that the monologue comes from. You have to really understand the monologue and how it fits in the play. And you may be asked about the play by the auditors.</p>

<p>There are lists of overdone monologues online so that you have some idea what to avoid.</p>

<p>KEVP</p>

<p>To avoid overdone monologues, find lesser-known works by playwrights you like. Check out Canadian playwrights, etc.</p>

<p>The best thing, if possible, is to have someone knowledgeable recommend plays and/or playwrights you might want to look at. Many students whose parents post here have had college audition coaches who suggest plays for their students to read and look for monologues in.</p>

<p>Current students in college theatre programs can be a great source of suggestions, too, as they are usually familiar with many plays.</p>

<p>My contemporary dramatic I found by reading a bunch of plays. I found a writer I really liked when working in my summer program at Guildhall and looked through his plays that had characters my age range. I found one in another one of his plays, which oddly enough was a dramatic monologue in a comedic play. </p>

<p>My contemporary comic, was suggested to me by my MTCA coach, I read the play and felt I really connected to the character and went with that.</p>

<p>For the classical ones, I was given a list from Central that I was to choose from, so with help from my coach, I chose two from that list and prepared a third that my coach gave me to have for an extra one.</p>

<p>Well,… <em>awkward chuckle</em>
I went into my search KNOWING that I should be reading plays and picking from there. Maybe the selection at my library sucked, or maybe I was stubborn, I don’t know. But, my comedic monologue ended up being the first one I liked in a monologue book. I knew I wasn’t supposed to pick from monologue books because they are all “overdone, etc…”. But after MONTHS of searching and even temporarily choosing a different monologue (pieced together dialogue from a Christopher Durang short play), I went back to it. I was like “screw this overdone stuff, I perform this piece the best, I love it, and I know I’ll do it well.” In the end, that’s what matters. It comes from a popular play with popular monologues by a different character, but this particular one is not overdone. And it works. That piece is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I’ve already gotten early acceptance into the only program I’ve auditioned for, and I thank that piece!
My Shakespeare I found from a Shakespeare database. I must’ve read 100 monologues. I picked a lesser known one from there.
My classical serious is from a monologue book. (Same situation as my comedic. It was SO HARD for me to find a “good” serious monologue.) But, I like this one a lot.
My contemporary serious is from a show I did a couple years ago that I settled with because this whole serious monologue search was not my friend. </p>

<p>Best of luck with your search! In the end, if it comes down to an overdone monologue that you can perform great, or lesser-known one that you can perform OK, pick the one you can perform great.</p>

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<p>That’s not a good way to think about it. If you want to be the best, you will certainly not be the best. Furthermore, a perfect performance is not necessarily what they are looking for---- if you’re already that great, why would you need to go back to school? You’re there to show them that you are a promising young talent who could really find your wings in a training program. </p>

<p>I went to a Juilliard presentation and they said that the most important thing is to choose a piece that you really love, and that you want to do it well FOR YOU, not for them. According to the admissions recruiter, the teachers on the panel have reviewed tens of thousands of auditions over the years… there is literally no monologue that they probably haven’t heard before at some point. So, if you feel strongly about something, practice it, get it down well and when you go into your audition, run with it!</p>

<p>It really doesn’t matter how or where you find your materials as long as what you choose shows you off well. A monologue suggestion from someone who has no sense of you and your strengths as an actor is meaningless. It’s not about the monologue, it’s about how you perform the monologue. Monologue books and the internet can be a good place to start but you have to make sure you read the whole play before you start preparing the character.</p>

<p>There are two approaches I think. On the one hand, I think it’s important to identify with the character in the play or piece that you choose a monologue from. It comes across as far more natural and believable. </p>

<p>On the other hand, portraying a character that you have nothing in common with or no shared experience with can be challenging, but rewarding, if you get it right. The monologues in this piece [Anna</a>, alone - a one act drama script about a girl dealing with multiple personality disorder](<a href=“http://offthewallplays.com/2012/04/24/anna-alone-a-one-act-drama-about-a-girl-dealing-with-multiple-personality-disorder/]Anna”>http://offthewallplays.com/2012/04/24/anna-alone-a-one-act-drama-about-a-girl-dealing-with-multiple-personality-disorder/) are becoming quite popular with students for auditions.</p>

<p>Re: the post above, I would just encourage you guys to read VERY CAREFULLY the advice and instructions provided by the programs you’re auditioning for–really analyze and understand what they want you to show them. </p>

<p>In past threads, people have mentioned the Drama Bookshop in NYC as a good source for plays/scripts, and plenty of students have gone there in person to browse the shelves. They have a link on their website now for monologues–it includes different categories (including type, period, age of character, male/female) with short descriptions of the plays and a link for ordering the book. The lists actually include most of the plays that we ferreted out for my son’s monologues–there’s some good (NOT overused) stuff in there. Since I"m not sure if it’s okay to post the link here, just google-search “drama bookshop” and look on the right-hand side of the page under “special sections” for the link to monologues. Hope that helps.</p>

<p>If you know a monologue is becoming popular with students (Anna, alone) for auditions, then you really should avoid it. Try to find a monologue nobody else is using.</p>

<p>And, yes, always read and follow all instructions and advice from the program. That is the only “RULE” that must be followed. Everything else (including what I said at the beginning of this very post) is guidelines that can be broken by the right person.</p>

<p>KEVP</p>

<p>My D’s classical monologue was suggested to her by her theater teacher and her contemporary ones she found by reading plays by a couple of her favorite authors. Finding her monologues was the most time consuming part of this process for her. Don’t give up if you don’t connect with something right away. Keep plugging away. The right pieces will speak to you. Good luck.</p>