<p>This Saturday I will be going to New York City with my dad to look for monologues for my auditions. I'm not necessarily asking what monologues to do/avoid, because I am aware there's no 100% right or wrong answer to that- rather, I was wondering if anyone had a good idea as to where to start searching... certain writers, genres, etc... I'm much more knowledgeable for musicals than plays, so I really have no idea where to start when it comes to monologues.</p>
<p>I'm looking for 2 contrasting contemporary monologues. Thanks!</p>
<p>You might browse Dramatists Play Service on-line to get some ideas before you look at the stacks, which can be overwhelming. My D found it difficult to find contemporary monologues for young adult/late teen females- so she had to do some cropping of dialogue to make it work. Apparently that’s considered acceptable.</p>
<p>Go to the Drama Book Shop. You can sit in there and read all you want and then when you find a good monologue, you can buy it and take it home :). Check out the staff picks (usually just published) and just look for characters that are your type. On most plays you can just flip it over to the back to see what type of characters are in it. For ex: 4W/1M = four women, one man. Then look on the inside cover to see if there character is age appropriate. If it doesn’t give a description skim the first few pages and you’ll be able to tell if you can play any character in the play. If it doesn’t work out, then go to the next one. Once you know what to look for, it is incredibly easy.</p>
<p>These are good ideas. What I wanted to add is this. Do not only find a “good monologue” - you do have to do that - but after you find this piece, please read the play it comes from. It is important to know who the character is, what their circumstances might be, what is their objective and what is perhaps keeping them from achieving their objective. You came come to know these things by reading the script from which your monologue is derived. It is very bad when an auditioner can sense you have no idea about the character and their situation from an inappropriate reading.</p>
<p>My D had some good suggestions for monologues given to her by friends who were working actors, and a young actress who had been out of school for about 5 years. Talk to people about shows they have seen or been in with teen or young adult roles. This will give you some plays to look for. Good luck!</p>