<p>I live close to a large flagship university. I got a community library card, and have checked out anthologies of plays (they have tons) and found monologues that way. We also have a Half Price Books store in our city … and my daughter sits on the floor in that aisle and spends an hour at a time looking at the plays (they have a lot of turnover, so she does this every couple of weeks). They’re inexpensive, and if she’s going to major in theatre, you never know when she may need them later.</p>
<p>I also did what someone else suggested. I went to the websites of about 20 colleges, and looked at their last 5 seasons of shows…to find “newer” plays and playwrights. Then I researched the playwrights and more obscure plays and looked at the cast lists for young women…then found monologues. It is time-intensive, no doubt about it. But my daughter does have a bit of a character comfort zone, and preferences with characters, so that helps us in our search. I email links to her, and she bookmarks and then goes and reads them…if they resonate with her, she structures in Word and prints and puts in a file to consider for the next audition. Right now, she has about 6-8 strong monologues in her rotation, which she only has to brush up on before auditions. It’s been a good process for us.</p>
<p>^This sounds really similar to what we did. I agree that in the bigger financial scheme of things, buying copies of plays is dirt cheap! A couple of people mentioned asking your drama teacher, and I would take that with a grain of salt. Our drama teacher is gifted in some ways and is very well intentioned, but she had NO IDEA what colleges were looking for, and relied exclusively on monologue collections (often consisting of monologues that were written as just that, not as part of plays). She actually was obsessed with having my son do a monologue that was spoken by a DOG. Because he “likes dogs.” Just…no. Not for college auditions! You will be expected to have read and to be able to discuss the play and your character. As everyone else has said, this is a big part of what you’re signing on for if you end up studying acting (or theater in general) in college, so you’d better start getting used to it now! :D</p>
<p>Monologues are TOUGH… there is no doubt about it… my son is constantly searching for the* perfect* monologue. He is really funny, so I think he needs to go that way. He is tall…6’2, good looking, and probably could be cast in a wide range of <em>types</em>. He has a pile of plays a mile high in his room… he LOVES to read plays and has an uncanny ability to dissect them to the fullest. Still… finding the perfect monologue is HARD!!!</p>
<p>Although I am often the one who says “stay away from overdone monologues” I know that statements like this are always guidelines, not rules. Every one of these guidelines can be broken succesfully by the right person. The question is “are you sure you are the right person?” That is, are you certain that when YOU do that monologue that the auditors have heard WAY too many times, possibly even a few times that very day, are you certain that your performance of the monologue will be the best they have ever heard? If not, pick a different monologue.</p>
<p>Catologs from script companies are a good way to quickly identify the cast requirements of plays, and see if there could be a role that fits you. When you just pick up a play in a library or bookstore, it should be possible just to quickly tell what the cast is like, and quickly say “Okay, all these characters are the wrong age for me (or wrong ethnicity, or wrong sex (it’s all male or all female), or wrong whatever)”.</p>
<p>Don’t try to take shortcuts if you want to succeed at this. The people who are succesful are the ones who go out and read a hundred or more plays.</p>
<p>Remember also that when you read these plays you are also looking for roles you could one day play . . .</p>
<p>Here’s a quick question that I am sure has no real answer but thought I would throw it out there. Madeleine (my D, it seems weird to not use her name ) has the opportunity to be the first one to audition at her first choice school (she is applying EA). Does order of auditioning make a difference?</p>
<p>Had to laugh at the Jessica Chastain and height. My daughter is 5’10" and we met Jessica at the stage door when she was in Heiress in NY. We were both a bit surprised to see how tiny she is. We have a picture of the two of them and my daughter towers over her.</p>
<p>Bisouu, students are usually advised not to audition at their top school first. The first college audition can be a bit rough. Students usually get better and better at auditioning as they go along. Therefore, it’s generally a good idea to schedule a top choice school later rather than earlier.</p>
<p>NJTheatreMOM…I meant where in the schedule should she audition? She has the option to be one of the first in the day if not the first…and her first pick is her EA school so she doesn’t have a choice but to do that school first.</p>
<p>Bisouu my D would always choose a bit later in the day for vocal quality. When you first wake up and for a few hours your voice is “cold” and does not sound It’s best. Even if she is only speaking and not singing this is true.</p>
<p>I defer to the board on Jessica Chastain’s height. (I may have been fooled by the size of her talent.)</p>
<p>I do think it’s interesting, given the thread title, that she apparently auditioned successfully for Julliard with a monologue from Romeo and Juliet. </p>
<p>My S auditioned very early in the day, first or second, for the school that he’s attending this fall, for what it’s worth.</p>
<p>There is no pat answer. Your daughter needs to figure out what she. Thinks will work for her. It may well be out of her hands, but it seems kind of early to have the audition schedule set u less it is some kind of private audition.</p>
<p>Not really that surprising, given that Juilliard requires four monologues, two of which must be from classical material and in verse. Also, remember she’s 36 years old and even though she was a bit older when she entered Juilliard, it’s still been a while ago. Surprisingly, monologues from R&J are not that common, from what friends who are involved in college auditions tell me.</p>
<p>As for time of day, do schools give you a specific time? I guess things have changed since the days of my D auditioning. It used to be that you signed up for a block of time and would be there with a group. Your exact time wouldn’t be known until the day of, when you arrived. In terms of order of auditioning making a difference re: admission, I wouldn’t worry about that.</p>
<p>alwaysmom, that is how it was last year when my son went through the process. It was that way at the onsite schools, some of the schools at Unifieds did give him a specific time but others put them into groups as well.</p>
<p>I actually thought Jessica Chastain is one of these ladies who keeps her age a secret . . .</p>
<p>As I said, any of these guidelines can be broken by the right person. I am guessing that she was the right person to audition with a monologue from Romeo & Juliet. I would further guess that her Juliet monologue was the best Juliet her auditors had ever seen or heard. Chastain had played Juliet in a professional production before auditioning for Juilliard. Choosing a monologue from a show you have actually been in can be a very good idea, even if it is an overdone monologue.</p>
<p>I know that the questions I have been asking have no real answers or multiple possibilities, but I respect all of your input. One of the monologues my daughter loves is from Stage Door. Her top school put it on this spring. Would it be a negative to perform that monologue at her audition in October?</p>
<p>I’ve read that it’s better to avoid doing that, Bisouu. But my son did a monologue from a show produced at one of his acceptances (it had been about a year before) and it wasn’t a problem. Might depend on the school?</p>
<p>Since everyone else has covered the question of overdone, I thought I’d stick to the specifics:</p>
<p>-Tomorrow’s Wish. I’ve heard this one a LOT over the last few years. Like I can recite it from heart and I’ve never even read it because of how many times I heard it. If I am right, it’s also supposed to be played by a mentally challenged fourteen year old? I’d avoid this one.
-Stage Door is a lovely play with some fantastic monologues (and a HUGE amount of female characters, ladies!) but if your school just did it, I’d avoid this one too - you’d be only compared to the performance.</p>
<p>Thanks again…She has found two monologues that speak to her and from what I can tell they are not overdone…they are not on any list I have researched and no one on Youtube has done them either…so hoping she is safe :)</p>
<p>She might need more than 2. You can check the schools she is planning to apply to and their audition requirements. Most of the schools aren’t updated for this year yet so I based my list off last year. Some want two contemporary and some want one contemporary and one classical. Some are two minutes and some are a minute thirty or even a minute. One of our schools asks for 4 total.
Two is a great start though. She maybe able to cut them from two minutes to one thirty fairly easily if you have different time requirements.</p>
<p>She has had her classical for awhile now and needed only one contemporary so she is has one back up so far. Finding these two was a big accomplishment. But she will keep searching I am sure. :)</p>