L. E. McCullough - The Ultimate Audition Book for Teens 2: 111 One-Minute Monologues

THE ULTIMATE AUDITION BOOK FOR TEENS 2

111 One-Minute Monologues

A Smith and Kraus Book
Published by Smith and Kraus, Inc.
177 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH 03755
www.SmithandKraus.com

Copyright 2000 by L.E. McCullough
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Cover and Text Design by Julia Hill Gignoux

First Edition: September 2000
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Smashwords Edition published at Smashwords by Crossroad Press

CAUTION: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that the material in this book is fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America, and of all countries covered by the International Copyright Union (including the Dominion of Canada and the rest of the British Commonwealth), and of all countries covered by the Pan-American Copyright Convention and the Universal Copyright Convention, and of all countries with which the United States has reciprocal copyright relations. All rights, including professional, amateur, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio broadcasting, television, video or sound taping, all other forms of mechanical or electronic reproductions such as CD-ROM and CD-I, information storage and retrieval systems and photocopying, and the rights of translation into foreign languages, are strictly reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Milstein, Janet B.
The ultimate audition book for teens: 111 one-minute monologues / by Janet B. Milstein. 1st ed.
p. cm. (Young actors series)
Summary: A collection of 111 original monologues, all about one minute long, to be used by male and female teenage actors in auditions.
1. Monologues. 2. Acting. 3. Auditions.
[1. Monologues. 2. ActingAuditions.] I. Title. II. Young actors series.
PN2080.M47 2000
812.6dc21
00-035864

THE ULTIMATE AUDITION BOOK FOR TEENS 2

111 One-Minute Monologues

By
L.E. McCullough

YOUNG ACTORS SERIES

A Smith and Kraus Book

DEDICATION

To my parents who continually ask, Where did this kid come from? Someday it will make sense to all of us.

FOREWORD

Show Miss Manners a grown-up who has happy memories of teenage years and Miss Manners will show you a person who has either no heart or no memory.

Miss Manners Guide to Rearing Perfect Children

Almost everything is double like that for the adolescent; their lies are true and their truths are lies, and their hearts are broken by the world. They gyre and fall; they see through everything and are blind.

Ursula K. LeGuin, Stone Telling

Live as long as you may, the first twenty years are the longest half of your life.

Robert Southey, The Doctor

W hat, precisely, is teenage? According to the dictionary: Teenage.Adj. Of, being or relating to people in their teens.

Okay, thats both helpfully vague and vaguely helpful. Once upon a time, you became a teenager at fourteen, then thirteen, now some people say twelve, but possibly even as early as eleven or ten or nine, if you think of some of the social behavior and verbal sophistication formerly associated with older teens now being exhibited by younger children. And at the upper end, if you join the Army at eighteen and routinely operate weapons of mass destruction, does that make you more or less of a teenager than your twenty-year-old counterpart whos still living at home, hanging out on the basketball court, and slagging fries at Mickey Ds?

Thus, these monologues are not age-specific. Because no teen is so average that his or her experience can be quantifiable in terms of whats happening to him or her at a particular time. So dont worry about it. If youre a twelve-year old actor, it might be a good idea to try a monologue from an older character just to stretch yourself. Older actors can sharpen their versatility by taking on younger roles. Experiment, cause youre a teenager and thats cool.

Over half of these monologues are suitable for both male or female exponents, and even some marked specifically male or female can be easily altered to fit your circumstance. Feel free to change a word or two here and there, if needed, and to adapt a monologue to your gender or home town or personal history or situation. The more personal the monologue is to you, the more power you can summon in your delivery.

Why? Because power and personality are two things that define a monologue. A good monologue (i.e., a monologue that captures and holds the attention of your listeners) is all about character, all about crystallizing for just a vital few moments the essence of a character and expressing that essence in a novel, exciting, memorable manner.

A good monologue is an effective monologue, effective in compelling your audience to listen to you and only you, to be caught up and confined totally in the Moment of You. And yet at the same time to be transported beyond you to other people, other places, other times. Maybe even transported somewhere deep inside themselves a place they might seldom venture, or thought theyd forgotten, or wondered if theyd ever reach.

The key to unlocking the character in a monologue? Language. Each one of us on this planet uses language in a distinctive way that imprints our uniqueness as thinking, sentient beings. The language we choose to relate to the world and to ourselves reveals much about who we think we are and who we think we can be. When combined with appropriate gesture and intonation, words allow the character in a monologue to emerge and take shape before your very eyes.

These monologues cover a wide range of situations, emotions, and people. Read them through, find what feels good to you, what feels right for your experience or the character you want to inhabit and express. Some set-up directions have been provided to enhance your understanding of the situation and event sequence, and youll likely do these in mime, unless you really do have a basketball or cell phone or soft drink bottle handy. But to develop better acting technique, you should strive to do the monologue without props. Its a skill that will come in handy when youre at an audition and handed a fresh side that says: walking on a tight rope above Grand Canyon carrying a stuffed platinum mongoose.

Above all, have fun meeting 111 new people. Each one of these monologues is a person, and theyre waiting to talk to you, eager to let you know whats on their minds. Listen, and youll definitely learn a few things about their world and yours.

L.E. McCullough

Humanities Theatre Group

Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis

Indianapolis, Indiana

FEMALE
MONOLOGUES

MY SPECIAL TALENT

They say you find true happiness if you focus on nurturing your special talent. (holds up exacto knife) My special talent is biology. Dissection, to be precise. But for some strange reason people dont think dissection is fun. I mean, when was the last time I got invited to a dissection party? Hi, Lisa, were all sleeping over at Kimberlys tomorrow and want you to bring your collection of lizard spleens. (sighs) People act like Im, you know, weird, just for wanting to get to the heart of the matter. See whats really inside things. Explore the unknown universe of a still-beating salamander heart! But I understand. Science is a lonely calling. (raises blade aloft) And I hear it calling me now.

TERMINALLY SKOOCH

(wrings a scarf in her hands) Just took off the training wheels on Brittany and Chantelle, yo, bump that, girlfriend, these princess shorties got my props I vote them both in as full Kweens of Kleen! Took this hoser down like puddin, mucho phat! We were on study hall patrol, and Brittany saw him by the bagelria, scratching his fleawhiz, what a pile! Then Chantelle showed him some beak, and he was, like, stiffie-city and followed her round back, licking his eyebrows all the way to the loading dock where Brittany barked him with a rodeo flip. She was