Florida's Film, Television and the Arts Magazine
Warming Up: Just Do It!
Picking the Best Monologue
By Ginny Kopf, Professor
From the Archives May 2nd, 2016
1. Perform a piece that is appropriate to, and fits the style of, the play you’re auditioning for, i.e., drama, comedy, farce, children’s theatre. If it’s a film audition, don’t use a theatre monologue, if auditioning for theatre, don’t use a film monologue.
2. Make sure you fit the time limit. Don’t ask them to “just cut me off.”
3. Pick a piece in your age range.
4. Avoid monologues that “tell a story,” as storytelling is past tense. Instead, pick one that is ACTIONAL, one that is present moment, responding and confronting someone right now, something with a clear objective. Make it clear what you want right now from whoever you’re talking to.
5. Show range of emotion, (not just “angry” all the way through, or crying all the way through). However be careful not to just impose emotional levels.
6. Don’t pick a monologue where you have to pause to “listen” to an unseen character, as if the other person is talking.
7. No monologues on the phone.
8. Only play one character in each monologue.
9. Be careful of splicing together bits of dialogue from a scene to make it into a monologue. Get some help on the editing, so the transitions make sense.
10. Don’t pick material that’s been “done to death.” (The catch is, to find something not very familiar, but that is wonderful—which is hard.) Don’t pick something that just an imitation of someone they’ve seen.
11. For theatre schools, best to pick pieces from theatre literature, not out of those monologue books that have original pieces that are not from a play.
12. If auditioning for a theatre company or school, don’t do a poem, narration from a book, stand-up routine, or the like.
13. Pull from published scripts. Unwise to do original material you wrote. This MAY possibly work for certain professional auditions, but if you did write it, don’t say you did--or they’ll be judging your writing, rather than your talent. (Announce it with a title and author, as if it is a unknown, new play they haven’t heard of!)
14. Read the whole play it’s from. Directors may ask you questions, plus they’ll be able to tell if you don’t really know what the character is about.
15. Unwise to put a unique spin on something familiar, or do a satire on it, just to catch attention (i.e., the monologue should be in context of the play it’s from).
16. Be certain the monologue can stand on it’s own, that anyone could understand what’s going on without you having to explain it or give background info.
17. Careful not to pick material that is offensive, violent, or has curse words.
18. Avoid dialect monologues, unless one is specifically asked for. The dialect will call attention to itself, (rather than to your talent), whether you are really good or bad at the accent.
19. If you get to show 2 pieces, pick a drama and a comedy. OR a contemporary and a classical piece. And in some instances, one that is closed focus (to one person) and one that shows you can have open focus (play out to the audience).
20. Try to find one that shows an overcomer, not a loser or whiner. Everyone loves a winner.
Ginny Kopf is a voice, Speech and Dialect trainer.
Need advice on monologue selection? Training on how to wow them at auditions? Contact Voice, Speech and Dialect trainer, Ginny Kopf, 407-381-5275, [email protected]
