monologues?

Question

I need help picking out monologues for a college audition. They have to be around 2 minutes in length. Something very good that can show that a person is really good at acting. help?

i need monologues to look at for a college audition that are really good BUT, are not done by a lot of people. I don't want to be guy number 7274 to do a monologue. So, please help!? :)

Answer 1

If you're going into a college audition, chances are you'll be going up against a lot of people who are trying out the same material. It's helpful to pick out a monologue that won't be recited a million times, so consider looking at contemporary play collections. These usually provide good material that hasn't been done to death.

And remember, it's more important to find a monologue that you can do well than to find one that shows you're "really good at acting," if by "really good at acting" you mean "dabbles in Shakespeare and Chekhov and Brecht, but is more suited for Neil Simon." That's not a bad judgment of you in particular, it's just a problem I've noticed with many young actors :')

These are some books I've found helpful:

The Best American Short Plays series (1994-1995 has some great Christopher Durang in it)
222 Monologues 2 Minutes and Under
Women Playwrights (the Best Plays series)

And if all else fails, "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams has great monologues for young men and women.

Answer 2

Since it is a competition, I would see what sort of monologues have won in past years. Doing a monologue about finding a monologue might be funny, but they might not approve of original monologues. Also the question of length is important as well. Look at past years' winners and see what type of monologues the judges have favored and if you can tell where those monologues came from. That's your best bet!

Answer 3

I don't know if it's what you had in mind, but have you considered using a song and turning it into a monologue? A friend of mine did a wonderful monologue of "There Are Giants In The Sky" from Into the Woods. It's Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk, just after his first visit to the giant's home. Turned out really well. The most difficult thing about it is that you have to work the rhyming lyrics in a way that doesn't get sing-songy. But it wouldn't be something common.

Also, Stage Manager in "Our Town" has some good stuff.

If you wanted to try something from a movie, consider one of the sermons the minister in Pollyanna gives. There's a good one about the importance of being "glad." Compared to an earlier one about damnation and the fires of Hell, it's a good bookend.

Answer 4

Ryan: you really want to nail the auditions? Here's what you have to do. You have to pick monologues that are just exactly right for you, something you would be cast in. Then they have to be something to really wow the auditors. In order to select a monolgue for you I would need to know how old you are, how tall, how much you weigh, what your hair and eye color are and what your build is like. Or I need a snapshot of you that gives me that info. Only then can I select posssible monologues for you. So read my profile, and write to me at my aol address and supply me with what I need, and I will suggest monologues just perfect for you.

Answer 5

Shakespeare's "Oh that this too, too solid flesh would melt," soliloquoy, from Hamlet. Always a good choice.