<p>I'm looking for a monologue that talks about life (Anything but comedy). Lifes adventure/Only Living once. Life lessons. This really speaks to me so if I could find one than I would e golden. Thanks!</p>
<p>Oh, a monologue about life. Well that certainly narrows it down . . .</p>
<p>(No it doesn’t. I’m being ironic. All monologues are about life!)</p>
<p>I don’t like to give monologue suggestions, because really you should try to find your own monologues. You don’t want to be doing the same monologues that every other auditioner is doing.</p>
<p>Who are your favorite playwrights? The ones who write about these themes you are interested in? Go and read their lesser-known and lesser performed plays. Then see if you can find a monologue that works for you from those plays.</p>
<p>Folks here say they read over a hundred plays to find the right monologue!</p>
<p>Be sure to google “overdone monologues” while you are at it.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>As the mother of a teen guy auditioning for colleges, I know how difficult it is to find a dramatic/non-comedy monologue from a play that is age-appropriate. Add in a particular theme, and it’s an impossibility. You’re going to have to read a ton of monologues and find some that speak to you.</p>
<p>My advice is a little contrary to what others might suggest because I’m sending you to monologue books and online lists of overdone material. </p>
<p>Go to the library or the best bookstore in your area to find monologue books where the material is drawn from plays, not purpose-written monologue books. Flip through all of them to find anything that’s in your age range (for my son it was 16-21). Many of these books give the character’s age at the beginning of the monologue, and sometimes even in the table of contents. If it’s something you like, rejoice. Now you know there’s a role for a teen boy in that play, who actually has more than two or three lines, so find and READ THE ACTUAL ENTIRE PLAY from which the monologue was taken. You have the option of using the excerpted monologue that’s in the book, or crafting your own monologue from the play. (College auditions are sometimes supposed to be one minute, sometimes two, etc.) For buying plays, try the local bookstores, the public library, the school library, your drama teacher, and then the online publishers. I have also had success searching online for auditions for that particular play, because occasionally the theater company will post “sides” from the play, for various roles. Probably illegal, but searching for monologues for college auditions is about as good an example of “fair use” and “educational” that you could find anywhere.</p>
<p>Also, you can search online for “overdone” audition monologues that are age-appropriate. Again, that’s a clue there’s a role for a teen boy in that play, an amazingly rare discovery. Read the play, find a different monologue somewhere in it, or even (gasp) do the “overdone” one. If you love it and can do it well, don’t sweat it. Monologues are overdone for a reason – usually they’re good. Plus, there are going to be five times as many girls auditioning as guys, so the level of overdone-ness won’t be as high.</p>
<p>(My son would tell me that I should add here that NO MATTER WHAT, don’t do the Sam Shepard monologue from “Buried Child” about seeing a reflection in the windshield. He says that he’s heard multiple guys doing that monologue badly at every audition he’s ever attended – and he’s auditioned a lot.)</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I asked some of my friends who are in college and some of my drama teachers to suggest me some plays with good monologues in them. I was also lucky enough to have worked with 31 really talented college-age actors who did wonderful monologues and let me “borrow” them.</p>
<p>I would second prodesse’s and KEVP’s suggestions. Pick some of your favorite playwrights, look at their Wikipedia page, read every synopsis of every play and I’m sure you’ll find a character that fits your “pattern”.</p>
<p>To avoid overdone monologues you should check out these playwrights and try ordering some of their plays:</p>
<p>[Who</a> are the Playwrights? | New Dramatists](<a href=“http://newdramatists.org/who]Who”>http://newdramatists.org/who)</p>
<p>Don’t forget to check out playwriting conferences and festivals or even new plays by well-known playwrights (e.g.: Durang has a new play which is very funny and has a wonderful monologue for an older man). Young playwrights are very accessible through facebook or e-mail, so if you find something you like, don’t hesitate to ask them to sell you a copy of their play.</p>
<p>Samuel French and DPS have a session with “new titles”:</p>
<p>[Search</a> | Samuel French, Inc.](<a href=“Homepage | Concord Theatricals”>Homepage | Concord Theatricals)</p>
<p>[Dramatists</a> Play Service, Inc.](<a href=“http://www.dramatists.com/]Dramatists”>http://www.dramatists.com/)</p>
<p>You can also read Charles L. Mee’s plays for free online:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.charlesmee.org/html/plays.html[/url]”>http://www.charlesmee.org/html/plays.html</a></p>
<p>And one last thing: this maybe just me, but after you’ve seen a play that you like it’s always good to buy the script. Seeing a production is even better than just reading, so you’ll have another reference.</p>
<p>You can get compilations of plays by Theresa Rebeck from the library. She writes great parts for young people, and she’s very prolific.</p>
<p>We also researched New York Times theater reviews (going back maybe 5-7 years) and award-winning plays, reading the cast lists to see if there were characters in the right age range. And ask any current acting students you know! You might read 30 plays to find one great monologue, so do persevere, and good luck!</p>
<p>When audition season is over, let’s all post this year’s monologues to help kids next year! I’m sworn to secrecy for my son’s monologues until then!</p>
<p>I think most people who are old enough to audition for college programs can safely play characters as old as, say, ten years older than the auditioner.</p>
<p>If you are auditioning for a college program you are not a little kid any more, you shouldn’t be playing children’s roles. It might be a good idea to show the auditors that you can handle the themes in an real “grownup” play.</p>
<p>I do think that when you look at “monologue books” DON’T actually use any of the monologues in the book. Use the book to find out about plays that may be interesting. Then also read other plays by the same playwrights.</p>
<p>Every other person in your situation is reading the SAME monologue books, and is looking at the SAME monologues and saying “That’s a good one, I’ll do that one!” If you haven’t yet shown up at an audition and discovered that everyone else is doing the same monologue that you chose, you can’t really understand how that feels. I really have had two actresses in a row audition with the SAME MONOLOGUE!</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>When my daughter was waiting in line for her audition at Hartt, the two girls behind her were both doing the Tunafish monologue. Another girl in the line was in a panic because she had not yet fully memorized her audition. Her strategy was to pick a different monologue for each school she applied. Apparently, she thought she could pick the monologue that would most speak to the school she was applying to.</p>
<p>Apparently the two most overdone monologues (at least in the United States), are the female “Tunafish monologue” from Christopher Durang’s “Laughing Wild”, and the MALE “Tunafish monologue” from the same play.</p>
<p>Yes, that is the one I heard two actresses in a row perform at auditions!</p>
<p>This is why I try to encourage auditioners to find a monologue that nobody else is using.</p>
<p>You don’t need to pick a different monologue for each school you apply for, but you probably won’t be able to use the same two monologues for each school because each school has different requirements. It seems like people end up pereparing about four monologues if they are auditioning for many schools. This also gives you “backups” if the auditors ask you to give them something else.</p>
<p>If you are still memorizing your monologue while waiting in line to audition, then you have NOT done enough rehearsal of your monologue. Someone with enough “raw talent” MAY get away with it, but they probably will be “found out” over the course of the callbacks.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>