The Importance of Monologues

Monologues are an extremely important tool all actors should have in their bag of tricks. You never know when someone will ask you to perform a monologue. It's common to have to perform a monologue for agent and manager auditions as they want to see your theatrical talent from prepared material to see if they think you're worth taking on. But sometimes in theater casting you'll be asked to perform a comedic or dramatic piece. Or even once in a while for film and television auditions. Heck, I've even heard of someone having to do a comedic monologue for a commercial audition. Thus, you better have a good monologue ready.

But what's the right monologue for you? You should think about your character type. What type do you typically play? If you answered "everything" stop right there. I'm sure you're amazing and insanely talented and everything, but to make it in this industry to have to type cast yourself in the beginning. The better you know what you are and what you play the better your chances are for getting the job. Believe me, it's true. Once in a while you'll be cast out of the box but for the most part in the beginning years at least, stick to your type. So start looking for monologues in your character range. If you're a biker, you probably don't want to do the mad scientist bit. Be smart about it. If you can't figure it out or have trouble deciding, ask someone else for help. Other people may be more objective and be able to simplify the process for you.

There are hundreds of monologue books out there. My recommendation for ingenues is Moments of Truth: Monologues for Teen Girls and Young Women. It's a workbook as well so it will help you practice and prepare your monologue. It's available for download or purchase at: http://www.lulu.com/content/2231856 .