I'm starting my first year as a theatre major and I have to come up with 2 contrasting 1 minute and a half or less monologues for audition. The shows are "5 women and one dress"  and "The Birthday Party".  Since I've only had cold read auditions, I'm not sure how to go about finding the 2 monologues that would show my understanding of these 2 plays that I would be auditioning for.  I know that I can't just pick anything since I am 30 yrs. old.  Can anyone possibly steer me in a direction????  It would be very much appreciated!!

Kristi

Hi Kristi, I am not sure exactly what advice you are seeking but the full title of the first play you mention is "Five Women Wearing the Same Dress" by Alan Ball (he of HBO Six Feet Under fame). There is plenty of material for several monologues. Begin by reading the play and choosing the character you would most like to do. If she doesn't have one uninterrupted long speech that works for you, you can splice together consecutive pieces of her dialogue to create a coherent monologue. Start work on it by asking  the basic question of "what do I (the character) want? "  and just imagine the other character's dialogue as a silent response to your speech. Hope this helps.

Hi Clelia, for my audition monologues they are not to be from the plays that I am auditioning for.  Because of that, I am not sure how to go about finding my 2 contrasting monologues.  I know that this probably sounds really stupid, but I'm just really ignorant in this area.  I figure that in the play "Five Women Wearing the Same Dress", I would only be considered, possibly, for the part of Georganne because of my age and I'm not exactly thin for the role of Mindy.  I hope this brings some clarity to the advice that I am seeking...

 Sorry. I misunderstood what you need to do. It's not hard to find monologue material. Have you tried looking at Monologue books? There are dozens of them on the market. If your local bookstore or library doesn't have any, check out Amazon.com. Every actor struggles to find good monologues and without knowing you , I couldn't begin to recommend any here. I am an actor too and I am always looking for a "perfect" monologue. So get your hands on some monologue collections and read, read, read. Don't be afraid to try something that is supposedly written for someone older/younger than you or even for a male. I've seen some great auditions where the actor made interesting choices of material.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Let me offer a word of caution on monologues from the monologue books.  They are done to death.  I recently read an article that was clear NOT to do a monologue from one of the books - I can't find the article but the thrust was that if you are one of the hundreds of people who has done the same monologue, the auditioner starts comparing you to others who have done the same monologue and not evaluate you as yourself. 

Audition parts are not that difficult to find.  Something from a movie or a play that you can relate to on a personal level will work best.  Re-read your favorite play and find the part that made you like the play.  Crimes of the Heart has lots of great material for women.  I have a good friend that used the part where Babe explains why she shot her husband then went into the kitchen and made lemonade.   Very funny and poignant.  I use a section from the movie "Good Will Hunting" for a comedic monologue.

Let me suggest the book "The Perfect Monologue" by Ginger Howard Friedman.  In this book she explains how to take a short piece of dialog and make it into a monologue. 

Thank you all for your wisdom and guidance!!  I'll give a reply of how things went after auditions for the semester. 

Kristi

Great advice here....but a word of caution about monologues form movies and/or TV shows...some groups...especially academic institutions hate to see them.  The thinking seems to be..."if you are studying theatre, you should be reading/performing plays". Check with others in the dept.

Good luck!

I would suggest something from Greater Tuna/Tuna Christmas or "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" for a comedic monologue.  I don't know any dramatic monologues off hand. 

I found some sites to help with searching for monologes:

http://www.longlostmonologues.com/auditions/comedic-monologues.html - http://www.longlostmonologues.com/auditions/comedic-monologu es.html

http://www.notmyshoes.net/monologues/index3.html - http://www.notmyshoes.net/monologues/index3.html

http://www.monologuearchive.com/dramatic_women.html - http://www.monologuearchive.com/dramatic_women.html

http://www.theatrelinks.com/monologues.htm - http://www.theatrelinks.com/monologues.htm

I know I'm late in posting, but I hope I help somebody out.

Mark J.

I know I'm like really late in posting, sorry.  No I didn't get cast.  I was told that it was a choice between someone who fit 3 out of the 5 parts for age (me, 30) and the rest of the girls who were around 20.  They went with the easier choice to them.  Oh, well.  There's always next time.

Kristi