Soliloquy: Chicago's Theatre Bookstore

If you're new to Chicago, and you came here to get into the theatre scene, there's a place that will make your life a whole lot easier: Soliloquy.

Soliloquy is a bookstore that specializes in actor's resources. In fact, if you're looking for any book that's not theatre or film related, you wont find it there. What you will find is an unbelievable selection of plays to choose from. In all my years of book store haunting, I have never seen the selection of theatre material they have, including monologues, acting techniques, musical scripts, vocal selections, writing, dialect CD's and film. If they don't have it, they can order it.

Normally my reaction to "We can order it!" is "Yeah, I've got the Internet too.", but plays can be a tricky thing to hunt down. Sometimes a play is only available in an anthology and if you not a librarian, I wish you good luck in finding it. Such a scenario occurred with me, and the clerk located the anthology it was in and had it for me within a week.

Perhaps the handiest thing they offer, is in-store made mailing packets for every theatre and agent in Chicago. These packets come with pre-printed address labels, so all you have to do is slip your headshot and resume into the envelope and mail it.

Soliloquy also offers a Monologue and Audition service. For $150 they consult you on your "type", go over several audition scenarios you're likely to encounter in Chicago, and assess your existing material to see whats missing. The $150 gets you two hours of tutoring, and two acting editions of your choice. If you don't want to get as in depth as all that, the clerk I talked to just sort of looked me over and pointed me in the direction of a few plays that might work for me. Other services include: Customized cover letters, career planning, performance coaching and artist resumes. They also occasionally offer various workshops related to the field.

To top it all off, they have an excellent bulletin board with audition notices, a selection plays to read that are currently in the casting process, and free copies of PerformInk (The local theatre publication).

My only gripe is the location, and the store hours. It's not exactly in a heavy foot-traffic area, and the July hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 12-5. The exact address is:

1724 W. Belmont Ave
Chicago, IL 60657
773-348-6757

Paulina is the closest stop via Belmont bus #77.

Stop on in, I can't recommend this book store enough.