Hi all! I am getting ready to audition for BFA Acting programs. I am currently prepping my monologues for prescreens. If invited to an in person audition do most schools prefer you do the same monologues again? Please let me know your advice for this. Thanks so much!
I asked my son who is a rising third year at UNCSA. He said that he changed one of his monologues because he wasn’t loving it anymore but most people use the same because of the preparation issues. Most places will expect you to use the same but it isn’t mandatory.
Thanks os much, that’s great news!
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It depends on the school. Some will ask for a new monologue or redirect you to perform it in a different way. Not counting a consortium audition where they performed once for multiple schools, my kid had 11 auditions after pre-screens and ultimately prepared 7 monologues for the process.
That is not typical. My son prepared 5, and only because he changed one. Two classic two modern. One dramatic and one comedic for each.
I know Juilliard requires two classical and two contemporary, but two classical also is not typical. The vast majority of programs will be covered by prepping just three monologues: two contemporary and one classical. And depending on your list you may be able to get by with just two, each school typically asks for either two contrasting contemporary or one contemporary & one classical.
If you have 2 contrasting contemporary & 1 classical - close to 90 seconds each and you can do 1 min cuts of them, you’ll be set for nearly everyone’s requirements.
Actually, for my students I recommend they have 6 monologues MINIMUM. What they ask for in prescreen and what they ask for at callback or the audition can vary quite a bit. Schools expect that you will have bring several to choose from and some will ask you what you have.
Often, students of mine have been asked “what else do you have?” Be prepared with more than the minimum. Also have a variety. Hopefully, no one else will have your monologue or play, but if they do, you’ll have another one to swap.
I recommend at the minimum that you have 6 monologues within 5-ish years of your chronological age (so if 17 then 14-24) with characters/roles that have different circumstances, different motivations, and different emotions. It is harder to find material that is not overdone for this age. But worse, a lot of the monologues are about the same thing: love, parents, etc. Strive to find monologues that have something different about them but are relatable to the actor. Stay closer to material where you can be believable and authentic.
This is the list I recommend:
2 Comedic (or Seriocomic that is closer to the “comedic” end):
2 Dramatic (or Dramedy that is closer to the “dramatic” end)
1 Classical Shakespeare (but only if you have experience and have worked with heightened speech. If not, look for something else — for most schools, you have a wide berth from which to choose — Greek/Roman all the way to 1940s)
1 Classical Non-Shakespeare (contrasting with the Shakespeare Classical — if Shakespeare monologue was comedic, choose something dramatic)
We’ll agree to disagree I suppose. Students have so much going on in their senior years on top of this process and I think they’re going to be in a good place if they feel strongly about the job they’ve done selecting and prepping what’s been asked for.
As with number of schools being applied to, there is a point of diminishing returns on all this work, and I worry for the anxiety levels of kids going through this process who think 10 schools isnt nearly enough or that they better be able to nail a half-dozen monologues in case they’re asked to do a lot more than what has been asked.
For sure my sample size is small but my child was often asked if he could play a monologue again with a given note on how to perform it, but never to perform something beyond what he’d been instructed to prep. Sometimes there’s not even time for all the things they’ve been asked to prep.
I have been working with actors for decades. I donate my time to underserved students who cannot afford coaching. Auditions have greatly changed over the years and the pandemic dialed in some other changes as well. I understand that over 10 may seem like overkill, but many programs only have 6-12 spots per freshman class. Some programs have 400-800 applying and auditioning for those 6-12 spots. If the school is trying to balance those spots to have a diverse balance of students and their “types” within a class, there may only be 1-2 spots for you in any given program. If you are leaning toward mostly reach schools (which nobody should be, no matter how talented you are — you should always have a balance of schools), then you may not actually get much of a choice when it comes down to the end. You WANT a choice. You do not want to go to a school simply because they accepted you. You need to make sure it is a good fit in every way. All programs are not created equally: from the faculty to your peers to what is offered/curriculum to location to cost to future opportunities (and whether they allow you to explore other opportunities while in the program). This is just the beginning.
I tell my students is it never simply about talent. It is 50% talent and 50% “do we need another one of you.” In some cases, no matter how much they love you, they don’t.
And there are programs who regularly ask for additional material at callback and expect you to be prepared and have something else to show. Or did not see what they wanted from the material you performed and would like to see something else. I have had students asked to perform something specific (do you have another dramatic monologue? or a classical non-Shakespeare monologue?) Classical is still requested by some programs while others care more about contemporary.
My comments here are not based on “maybes,” they are based on actual experiences with the students I have worked with (both BFA Acting and BFA MT).
And, the fact that they have “so much going on senior years” is why I often recommend that they take a gap year. Last year, I had a student who was President of his student body, played football, did all the school shows and a few other activities. He was auditioning for Musical Theatre (which is a LOT more work than Acting). I explained he would likely need to drop some of his activities and he was very respectful but indicated he didn’t want to. His dad and I talked and we decided I would let them know if I thought we were off the timeline and things were not getting done. I have had many arts kids who could not handle the rigor of that much activity senior year. Well, this kid (and I have to think his football/baseball training had SOMETHING to do with it) was up at 4 am each day for workouts and in bed at 10 every night and managed to DO.IT.ALL. And ended up with over 40 acceptances (he attended two group auditions where he was able to see many schools at the same time). Financial aid was an important part of this so his dad wanted more offers so they could find the best program that would allow him to have the most aid. (Again, that varies wildly from program to program.) I always have this talk with parent and student because the process is stressful. Everyone knows this. And for other kids I have worked with who were also VERY busy and overcommitted, it worked better for them to take a gap year. Also tremendously successful but they got to leave their senior year having done it “all” and then go find the right programs and money they needed to attend the programs.