I'm in desperate need of a powerful (8-10 minute) DRAMATIC piece/monologue (published). Help?!?

Question

It must be published and and about 8-10 minutes long. (i can cut it, if needed)... Please help me! If theres any part of a book, play, monologue, or anything dramatic and powerful (the harder to perform, the better), i'd love some advice. Thank you!!

Answer 1

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Answer 2

It might be a pain to cut and it's been a long time since I've read it, but Moloka'i by Alan Brennert is really powerful - it's about a girl who gets sent to a leper colony when she's 7 years old.

The only other pieces I can think of at the moment are the ones that I've seen a billion times at speech tournaments (and that won't help you much).

Some others that I've thought of:

A short book that might be useful is The Magic Circle by Donna Jo Napoli - it's the tale of Hansel and Gretel told from the witch's point of view.

This is a little random, but there's a short story in a collection called Half-Human, edited by Bruce Coville about Medusa in modern life and her daughter coming of age that might work, although I don't know if it's long enough.

It's been a long time since I've read it, so I don't know if it would work, but Eva by Peter Dickinson is futuristic story about a girl who gets into a car accident and has her brain transplanted into a chimpanzee (because her body is too damaged) and all the difficulties she has trying to be a 'person' when she's also an 'animal.'

Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver is a great story that might work, depending on how you cut it. It's about a woman who returns to her hometown and rediscovers a relationship with her father, who has alzheimers, and also her relationship with her sister who has gone to Latin America. There are some particularly powerful moments. For that matter, I haven't read it, but Barbara Kingsolver also wrote The Poisonwood Bible about a woman and her four daughters who are missionaries - I've heard that it's an incredible book.

I think all of these are pretty powerful in different ways, but I don't know if they'd all work for DI. Hope these give you some good ideas. Good luck!

Answer 3

I was in a one-act play in college called "the great american cheese sandwich" in which I had to extoll the virtues of, you guessed it, a cheese sandwich. I remember it being a 7 minute monologue, but with some creative emoting and ad lib, making it longer would be easy. It was a fun piece, and got rave reviews from the college and local papers. (Using a kitchen table and chair as a prop, you can start seated and end up standing on the table as you come to a crescendo for a wonderful dramatic effect.)

Answer 4

The final scene of M. Butterfly is a powerful monologue. Madame Butterfly is in his last days in his prison cell in paris, where he commits suicide. I performed this at a showcase and it got rave reviews.