<p>Hi! I'm looking to find a few pieces for college auditions coming up in the fall. One of the pieces I was looking at is a woman in her early thirties. Though I know that she has a lot more life experience than me, she has a long monologue about her tangled relationship with her mother that I can relate quite well to. Would it be alright to plug in my own substitutions for this monologue and possibly use it as an audition piece? The only reason I question this is that a few schools (De Paul specifically) had said in interviews it was recommended to pick monologues "close to you". I relate to it well but aware that the age thing might be a stretch. The schools I am looking at are UCLA, NYU, De Paul, Carnegie, and possibly Roosevelt. Any thoughts?
Also, I was wondering if for the classic pieces, Midsummer Nights Dream is way overdone in college auditions? Any ideas for classical pieces to look over for a seventeen year old girl?
One more last question which is totally off topic. Just how important are grades, ACT and SAT scores to get into the main theatre schools? I've heard a variety of different things, but mostly that it is 50/50 with talent and grades? I know that it varies from school to school, but overall, is the audition the most important factor?
Thanks so much!:)</p>
<p>It's best to check the websites for the schools you're interested in to see exactly what/if they explain the parameters they are looking for in monologues. Generally speaking, most want you to do age-appropriate monologues so doing one which is written for a woman in her thirties would not be advisable. I'm not sure what you mean by 'plug in my own substitions' but if you mean change the wording for the monologue then I would advise against that, too. I have never heard of that being allowed because monologues must be from published plays so you shouldn't be changing the words, etc. If that isn't what you meant, then I'm not sure of the answer to that.</p>
<p>Your academics are going to be very important at some schools and less so at others. At Tisch, they are equally weighted so that your academics must be good enough as any other NYU applicant, in addition to having an excellent artistic review. At CMU, the audition is more heavily weighted, however, as has been said many times on these forums (Jamimom where are you? :)), academics are going to likely be the deciding factor at many programs, even those which weigh the audition more heavily. I'm not familiar enough with the other schools you listed to offer any information so again, it's a good idea to confirm this type of information (as it is other questions you may have) with the admissions office or drama department of the schools to which you will be applying and not rely on the information you receive here. These forums are a great resource and you'll be able to learn a lot about the process, but sometimes things change year to year, so it's always best to confirm your information with the schools themselves. Good luck! :)</p>
<p>I would check out the audition songs and monologues thread.</p>
<p>I'm with alwaysamom - stick to age appropriate material. Otherwise, the auditors might be distracted, wondering, "does she/he really think that they can play this part?"</p>
<p>Likewise, don't change the words to any literature - just as you, as a performer, labor over interpretive choices, the playwright likewise labors over each word they choose for the characters. It is your job, as the actor, to justify the character saying those words in that particular order.</p>
<p>On the Midsummer's question - are you doing the Helena "I am as ugly as a bear?" or "...and so you will quietly let me go, to Athens will I bear me back and follow you no further?" You see, I have never acted the role of Helena (I was Hermia over 10 years ago), but both are so familiar to me that I know them nearly by heart.</p>
<p>I suggest that you look at the Jailer's Daughter from Two Noble Kinsmen, Ophelia, Juliet ("gallop apace you fiery footed steeds" speech is nice), or other female ingenue. In the alternative, you might choose something like Irina's "I'm old!" speech in Chekhov's The Three Sisters - if they will consider that as "classical" (each school has their own perimeters for this classification). You might look at other Chekhov, and also look at Aphra Behn (first professional female playwright, and she wrote GREAT women's material), George Bernard Shaw, Sheridan, Congreve, Dryden, Wycherley or Moliere (there is a great ingenue role in Tartuffe - Marianne).</p>
<p>Hope this helps,</p>
<p>eve</p>
<p>Prof. H,
You are most generous in sharing your ideas for playwrights to explore. Most young actors greatly need these types of specific possibilities during the process of searching for audition material.
Having recently returned from seeing Midsummer and Romeo and Juliet performed magnificently at the Utah Shakespearean Festival, it was fun to have the dialouge of Helena, Hermia, and Juliet running through my head as I read your post! An interesting note: those three roles, as well as that of Guenevere in Camelot were played by two actresses in their early thirties. Both were petite women with strong acting skills, and were very believable playing very young ingenue roles.</p>
<p>Thank you, Monkey (and I love your moniker; my affectionate nickname for my own son)!</p>
<p>I, too, was in my thirties (late) when I played Hermia. Seems that is still a staple with many of the professional Shakespeare companies - having older actors who look young play the ingenue leads. Not that this means that students shouldn't use the material for auditions and scene study; on the contrary. If these great age-appropriate characters are type-appropriate as well, I say that you can't work on better material. The caveat? Be sure you are up to the character (bring yourself to the character, not the character to you).</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply! I gotta say, I'm becoming addicted to this website...such great discussion, information, and intelligent people. Whoo-hoo!!</p>
<p>eve</p>
<p>OK< some of you know me now and a little about my background and know I give advice from much experience. I won't bore you with my resume.
Here goes..</p>
<p>The Prof and Mom are right on about age appropriate material. There is a sea of quality material for a girl of your age. No need to do early 30's. Keep looking. </p>
<p>NEVER change the playwrites words. NEVER! Not only that, do not paraphrase the writing. Be sure you are memorizing the monologue word for word perfectly. Very important. The playwrites' words should be treated with the utmost respect. </p>
<p>I have differing opinions here:</p>
<p>It is generally thought that any play written before 1900 is considered to be classical. That would rule out Chekov and Shaw. Not to mention, Shaw should be done with a British dialect and dialects/accents are frowned upon.</p>
<p>I would not do Juliet's "Gallop apace" because it is overdone</p>
<p>The Profs other suggestions are good about Restoration comedies and Moliere's plays with rhyming couplets if they want verse. Wycherly, Sheridan, Farguhar, etc are all great choices. Also, don't forget about the Greeks. And Calderon was a Spanish peer of Shakespeare. He is often overloooked and has lots of nice roles for young actors who need classical pieces in verse.</p>
<p>Be prepared to spend a TON of time looking for material. I mean a TON. Material is the most important element of the audition in my opinion. It speaks volumes about you.
I am proud that my students' choice of material puts them on the top of the stack every time. I cannot tell you how very very important it is. There will be many great actors competing for admission. Your material will be what sets you apart.</p>
<p>One more suggestion:</p>
<p>Please find out the pronunciation of your playwright's, composer's, and lyricist's names (first and last, if you're using both). The theater community is quite small and some of these artists may be friends of your auditors. Just one more way to show that you've done your homework.</p>
<p>Is anyone out there as frustrated as I am in trying to help out with the "great monologue search"? We have taken all the suggested routes: library, bookstores, even spent hours online reading synopsis' at Internet Bookshop and ordering 10 plays (all which sounded good, but turned out to be useless). Everything really well written seems to show up on one of the 2 "avoid lists" that we have -- from DePaul's website (1 1/2 pages long) and another monologue "blacklist" from performink.com (4 1/2 pages long - dbl. spaced!). It's hard to tell from a synopsis if a play will have a usable monologue and frankly we are not finding a lot of plays with young female characters, with usable monologes! Many have lots of dialogue, but no real monologue, and many are filled with shall we say "edgy" material, not suited for a college audition. D is very focused on finding "obscure" material, at this point, but I've noticed that some plays are obscure for a reason! We've looked at short plays, one acts, full length, etc, but what I've noticed is that if a play is in a bookstore or an anthology of plays in a bookstore (like Borders, Barnes & Noble etc), and you find a great monologue in it, you can bet that it's on someone's "do not use" list! Why? Because that's where most of us have access to look for material, so they've been used before. </p>
<p>Teachers, coaches: How seriously do we need to take these generic internet "do not use lists"? I'm not talking about the 10 or so plays listed occasionally by a specific school not to use for their audition (I'm on board with that!), I'm talking about trying to find a killer monologue while avoiding over 150 plays!</p>
<p>IMHO, college auditors ought to realize that high school students at the average public high school, working with the average hgh school drama teacher just do not have the access to hunting down obscure material that others may have.</p>
<p>And reading lots of plays is a great idea (we've been doing that for years), however, there are just so many hours in the day! And frankly, it's getting expensive (to buy plays through internet bookshop based on a synopsis only, before reading them) as well as time consuming -- local library selection of plays is full of way overused choices, so that's not an option.</p>
<p>Sorry for the rant, but I'm frustrated watching my daughter trying to hunt down the "perfect" monologue, especially since she had two really good ones, (we thought) before we spotted them on an avoid list!</p>
<p>Anyone else (or their kids) having similar problems?</p>
<p>I feel your pain and hear your frustration.
Take a deep breath and re group.
Go to my advice on page 2 of the auditions/monologues thread, especially about regional theatres. Wait about a week and then start over fresh. </p>
<p>Look at it this way: she only needs two. And she doesn't need them today. The auditions won't begin for a few more months.
I know it seems overwhelming but it CAN be done. You are so right about how difficult it is to find good material. If you have a good acting coach in your area, it might be worth it to hire him/her for a couple of sessions to get help with material.
Hang in there, your daughter WILL find the PERFECT monologues. </p>
<p>P.S> Remember, think PLAYWRITES, not PLAYS. Find other works by noted writers. That will lead you to something not overused</p>
<p>WOOPS, my comments are on page 1 of the audition/songs thread, not page 2. Sorry.
Also, I could not find the link to the long plays to avoid list on the performink.com site. I would like to see it, can you give me a clue?
Thanks</p>
<p>BiGis</p>
<p>You're quite right about the frustration. And, although auditions aren't for a few months, some schools require you submit your material choice when you request your date - -which could be now. Combine the monologue reading w/ the typical summer reading and essay work that many schools require before senior year and it can be a bit overwhelming. Perhaps you could connect w/ some contacts in your community theatre/ regional theatre world around you. Some of these folks, especially the younger generation (20's and 30's), might have gone through this process not so long ago. They might have ideas on material, coaching advice - - some could possibly assist in the actual preparation, etc. You'd might be surprised at how happy they are to help, being able to mentor someone like this. Think of those you've seen on stage, more than one time I'd say, who've impressed you, and try to connect w/ them through the company they're with. Some will be happy to connect you w/ them in some way, and, if they can't help, they'll usually steer you in the right direction. As is usually the rule in this business, it is so often who you know. This is a great opportunity to put that communication skill to work. Let us know how you make out. Good luck!</p>
<p>One thing I didn't know - until I went to a seminar at ITS Festival - when you're looking for monologues, you're not necessarily looking for uninterrupted speech. Look for a "conversation" where the other person's dialogue can be omitted. It gives you a stronger "want" than a recitation.</p>
<p>Also know that even though some schools "ask" on the application for the monologue or songs your S or D will be performing, they don't always have to have them right then. When my D was applying, UM asked for this and it was still months before her audition. She was still working on several choices and hadn't decided on her final selections. I called to double check and they were very understanding (UM has an Audition Coordinator whose job it is to manage this whole process - what a great and helpful person he was!). He said as long as we submitted her choices two weeks prior to her audition (so they could organize material for the auditors - another great idea!) that would be fine and it was.</p>
<p>So double check with your schools before feeling as though you must commit to choices very far in advance of auditions.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>We had the same experience as Theatermom at UM....allowing D to submit her selections within several weeks of the audition. I also believe FSU asked for the selections early and allowed us to submit them later...when D was more secure with her choices.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone, for your suggestions. The schools which request the names of audition pieces in advance on the applications were what was causing our biggest anxiety. Now that I know they will likely be amenable to a phone call explaining that she hasn't made her final choices yet, the pressure does not seem quite so extreme!</p>
<p>I agree with you, abparent, D's summer has been filled with AP summer reading and writing assignments, summer job, drama camp counselor, theater rehearsals, college visits, coming up with a college list, working on applications and essays. And in between it all, trying to scan plays while loitering in the local bookstores and library; not to mention reading (and tossing aside in despair), the ones we already bought!</p>
<p>My advice on that: don't buy anything from the internet theater bookshops based on a synopsis; out of 10 plays that we bought which sounded promising from the synopsis, not one had monolgues (or monologues which coould be pieced together from dialogue) which were any good for D. In all, the young female character featured so prominently in the synopsis turned out to have very little to say in the actual play!</p>
<p>And I keep telling myself, to breathe......next year, this time, D will be off to college (somewhere)..... Those of you parents who have survived this process are an ongoing inspiration to a newbie like me!</p>
<p>BIGismama, I can reiterate with what others said about the UMich audition/application forms. You don't even have to call about this. I recall it saying right on the forms that you did not to put down your audition selections until two weeks prior to the audition. My daughter did that application in early fall (cause of rolling academic admissions at UM) and surely did not know what her songs or monologues would be at that point (she did not start that search of material until fall, not summer). But she sent in the required choices around the holidays to UM prior to her Jan. 14 audition, as requested. Just keep track of all these requirements and deadlines. I recall a school, maybe it was Penn State, that required specific essays for musical theater that were to be sent a couple weeks prior to the audition (but not in early fall when her academic application was sent). </p>
<p>Regarding picking material....I definitely think that someone should shy away from the overused or most commonly used songs or monologues. Try to find something not used so often so as to stand out a bit from "not another rendition of this song or monologue we have heard umpteen times". However, you can almost get too caught up in trying to be "unique" to the point that you rule out a lot of appropriate material suitable to your style/strengths. I say this because my D nearly drove me nuts all fall of the preparation season with her song selections. She kept ruling out all these songs that were good for her because she would say they were too "common" or "used" but I'm not even talking about the usual common songs but ones that are not THAT common but not necessarily mucho unique either. I felt she was getting so caught up in being unique to the point of losing sight of the point of finding material best suited to her. I don't think they are going to mark you down because they (shudder0 have heard the song or monologue before. Yes, it would not be great to use the most common ones but it really is ok to do a song of monologue that someone else MIGHT do out of hundreds of kids auditioning at that school. In fact, the head of admissions in the music school at UMich, in an appointment with her (she is great by the way), my D even asked her about how important it was to find a unique song and she said they don't care if they hear that song from more than one person but it was more important that the song be what was good for the kid and that the kid make it their own (I was saying to myself "bless you Laura Strozeski for telling my kid what I had been telling her all along but they never want to listen to MOM who knows nothing of course). And I truly believe this. Now, looking back on the process, my own kid admits she was too caught up on trying to find a "different" song and did not have to brush aside many that she was good at because it did not matter so much. I think it matters most to find the RIGHT song or monologue for YOU. That said, shy away from the MOST used ones but it is ok to use ones that someone else might. For example, with a female song, I would agree to not sing the common songs from Millie or Wicked or songs like On My Own, etc. But my D kept ruling out songs like Summer in Ohio (Last Five Years) or Music and the Mirror (Chorus Line) or recently I told her that I loved one of the songs she sang in a recent performance of Jekyll and Hyde, "A New Life", and how I thought it was a good audition song for her and she was like, NOPE, done too often. I still think unless it is super overused, it is ok to not have the most unique song or monologue in the world....it is more about finding the right one for you. </p>
<p>With regard to monologues, this was an area where my daughter knew FAR less material than songs. She has a library of songs in her head due to always being someone who is knowledgeable and has researched Broadway music from the past 100 years. She owns a bunch of music as well. But with monologues, she only owned some monologue books (collections of monologues from plays) and had not ever taken acting lessons locally or has no drama classes or teachers at school. She did not do the extensive monologue search discussed here. She had four monologues for college auditions. One she chose because she had seen the particular play twice the summer going into the audition process and liked this play very much and chose a monologue from it. We were able to luckily get her an acting coach for the purpose of choosing and preparing monologues for college auditions. This person is an acting teacher at a theater program in NYC but had just moved to VT and lives in our state on weekends (where his wife and child now reside) and commutes to NYC to teach midweek (her voice teacher does the same thing at the same theater school in NYC). So, anyway, he suggested and lent my daughter several plays from his library that he thought might be good for her and she read them and chose monologues from them. For most schools, she had two monologues, one comedic and one serious (of various lengths tailored to that school's requirement....she had one or two minute versions of each, whatever). Then she had a classical monologue that one or two schools required. And then one school, BOCO, wanted a post war monologue. That is why she had four. Actually, luckily she prepared four because CMU asked her to do four on the spot and she knew four exactly. </p>
<p>Now that her auditions are all over (thankfully!!), I have come across some lists of monologues that are on the "monologues to avoid" list, somewhere online, do not even recall where I read it. I noticed that her comedic monologue that she used at a majority of schools was on that list! Hey, well, maybe it was not what she should have chosen but her admissions outcomes were quite positive so there you go. No, she did not use overused material like Helena in Midsummer, for example. But maybe what she did was not so unique either. I shared this merely to tell you that you should not do the most common stuff so you stand out some more but do not get so concerned about avoiding anything that someone else might do and having to be so utterly unique to the point of avoiding all the stuff real suitable to your strengths. I think my D's songs were not that common but who knows, maybe someone did them before, ya know. I think her pre 1960 song was the most unique of her songs but overall, I think she did not have to get so concerned about being unique as it took up much energy and after a while, I kept saying.....you are spending all fall finding something "different" and by the time you find it, you will only have a couple weeks to prepare and put the energy into preparing...they are not judging you on WHAT song or monologue you found but are judging you on your talent! Just find the material that works for you and prepare! So, that is my feedback from the trenches for what it is worth. </p>
<p>If you can find an acting teacher to help suggest monologues and coach your D, it might be money well spent in terms of making the process easier or just knowing you have some guidance. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>Let's face it, you can't be certain to find something that NO ONE will do all year at auditions. That is unrealistc and you will drive yourself crazy.
But you can choose something that is right for you, isn't done to death, isn't a typical choice, and DO IT WELL. That's the best advice!
And be prepared to spend a good deal of time on this. It will be well worth it.</p>
<p>Here, here, Mary Anna!</p>
<p>Concise and accurate, as always.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>eve</p>
<p>I agree with Soozievt in that finding monologues was definitely the most challenging part of this audition process. She had no problem picking songs - just making up her mind on which one. After going through CMU pre-college, she still didn't feel she had found the right monologues. We too visited libraries and book stores, monologue books for "young girls her age", etc., etc., etc. We finally found a great acting coach that helped her narrow it down and helped her choose 3 monolgues - and she used all 3 depending on the school. I really don't think she could have done it without him.</p>