Acting School: Monologues 101

by Bob Fraser

When I was in high school (Franklin Pierce was president, I believe) I got to hang out with the smart kids once a week because I was on the speech team. I don't even know if they do this anymore, but back in the day, we had speech teams and we went to competitions almost every week. The smart kids were on the debate team. I was competing in what was called Oral Interpretation. Each competitor did a 'reading' from a play or book.

Not to brag, but I won a lot of trophies in this category.

(My high school kept those trophies ... which I thought unfair. Those babies are probably stored in a box, in the dingy basement of Cheyenne Central High School – If I'd gotten to keep them, they'd be polished and shiny and sitting on my mantle, right now.)

In any event, I'll tell you my strategy for winning those long lost trophies: Most students competing in "Oral Interp" did popular plays – while I went searching for the odd. the unusual and the arcane.

For instance, while most were doing Cat On A Hot Tin Roof or Member of the Wedding, I was doing Prometheus Bound translated from the Greek, or Archibald MacLeish's J.B. (See? you've probably never heard of these two plays.)

The point is that; neither had the judges.

So when I started my performance, I had them hooked at the title.

Curiosity is a great friend of the monologist.

The other big secret was that I always used something that had a lot of conflict in it. Big, over the top, raw emotions and lots of confrontation. (These "Oral Interp" things usually involved playing two characters.)

Now you are faced with the challenge of finding a good monologue. I think my experience in high school can help you form the beginning of a good plan of operation – with regard to finding "a killer monologue."

First, think outside the box.

It seems to me that all these books I see at Samuel French with titles like 50 Monologues for Actors or Monologues For Women, are used to death. I could be wrong, but I'm probably not. In other words, everyone has heard and seen the monologues from the monologue books dozens, if not hundreds, of times.

So your first goal is to find something that nobody else is doing.

There are many possible sources for monologues that are off the beaten path. For instance I recently saw a small piece on the net, ostensibly written by an 8 year old called "Explaining God." One of my newsletter subscribers has two young boys who are actors and so I sent this along to her as a possible monologue.

As it turns out, she had seen the piece several times in her email box but had not thought of it as monologue material. She (and her boys) loved it. I'm sure the casting people will love it too.

So, start searching in places other people are not searching. Here are some starting points:

Court TV. Some of these trials have some fascinating characters "in extremis." Get out the tape recorder and adapt.

Books. One great thing about novels is that the characters often talk at length and when they do – it's usually something dramatic.

Old movies. Again, the writers of the older films were allowed to go on a bit. Use your recorder to capture these gems.

Interviews. There are many newspaper and magazine stories where the subject is interviewed and tells a good story. Or even do your own interviews with people (with the trusty tape recorder). Ask them how they met their spouse. What childbirth was like. What did they do in the war.

Here's a strategy to use to make an old monologue "fresh." Contemporize. (If there is such a word.) Take something old and make it new by putting it into normal speech. As an example use Hamlet's famous "To be or not to be" speech. It might be, "God what a mess. I just can't stand this anymore. Maybe I should just kill myself. At least if I was dead I wouldn't have to deal with these people anymore."

Okay, that stinks, but you get the idea.

An often overlooked source of first person writing is the autobiography. If you're looking for a funny monologue you could do worse than finding the books written by funny people and digging for gold.

Drama and memory pieces are even more available.

There are three main things each monologue should contain: Story, character, and emotional impact.

In fact, the successful monologue will be just like a successful movie or play. It will contain a beginning, a middle and an end. Start thinking like a comedian. A well structured joke contains all the elements of a full length entertainment. You've got two minutes, so make the best of every second.

Story. Don't make the mistake of thinking that the viewer has any information up front. They don't. So your choice has to contain the entire story. The opening line or two should set up the whole piece. Hook us. Give us the back story. Tell us who the character is. The next bit should present the dilemma, the conflict. The end should be a "snapper."

The punchline of a monologue is extremely important. Keep looking until you find a good one.

Character. It's critical to realize that the closer the character is to you, the better the result of your monologue will be. If you're a teen-ager, the character should be a teen-ager. If you're a bald old man ... well, you get the idea. The other important point about character is this:

You are a human being. You qualify as a character. Don't forget that.

Emotional Impact. The key to a successful monologue is its ability to evoke an emotional response in the viewer. This can be sadness, anger, happiness, memory, laughter, etc.

Repetitive reminder: It's terribly important that the piece you pick has an impact on the viewer.

Too many actors look for something that allows them to act out an emotional state – this is a bad tactic. The emotion of the player is not "the goods." It's how the viewer reacts that counts.

Ignore this at your own risk.

Watching you cry or emote is not that interesting. If I cry (or laugh) while watching you, you win – Big Time.

Performance. I suggest that you find some good "in one" performances and study them. A few I would suggest are "Mark Twain Tonight" with Hal Holbrook, the Whoopi Goldberg play (the one where she was discovered) and Bill Cosby "By Himself." Richard Pryor also has some amazing techniques and he is very much worth studying.

In fact, if you want to really get good at doing monologues, you should make a study of all the "one man shows" that were good enough to end up on tape or DVD.

Don't forget that the purpose of your monologue is to show your "chops." It might be a good idea to work on those "chops" – so do your homework, which means ...

Practice. It is not sufficient to memorize the words and think you've accomplished the job. As with any performance you should rehearse until it becomes second nature. Do yourself a big favor and try out your choices on other people. Find a friend you trust (not a 'critic') and get feedback. Return the favor by watching your friend's monologue. Team up and get better results.

Let's review: Choose wisely. Think outside the box. Tell a story. Reveal a character. Evoke an emotion in the viewer. Have a "closer." Practice and perform.

As with any of the tasks facing an actor, doing this right isn't easy. In fact, it's pretty hard. But if you want to have a successful monologue you've got to be willing to do the hard work. Your monologue is one of the few chances you will get to impress a casting director or agent – it's your job to make sure it's spectacular.

Work hard at it.

... and that's my monologue for today.