We’ve been very busy at OKTC T.A.G.! We’ve now had two dance classes (guest instructed by Cameron Carver and Emilee Nimetz), two vocal music classes (guest instructed by Jenn Floris and Andrew Rethazi), we’ve studied tableau and mime, clowning, and two person acting scenes, and this weekend we worked on monologues.

In my opinion, it’s important to get young actors exposed to monologues as soon as possible, to get them used to and comfortable with identifying and performing them ALL BY THEMSELVES.  Despite the fact that many kids love being dramatic and performing for people, the idea of performing a monologue in front of others is often stressful or nerve-wracking or downright terrifying for them.  (I know many adults who feel the same way about monologues!)  I want to give the T.A.G. students the opportunity to practice performing them as much as possible before they audition for roles in their spring shows!

I selected a bunch of monologues that I found in plays and online that would be age-appropriate for each class, and the kids chose which one that they wanted to prepare and present to the class!  Every kid screwed up the courage to get up in front of their classmates and present their monologue, and I’m so proud of each one of them.

A good website I found for practice monologues was http://plays.about.com/.  The Neverland 911 Operator from CSI: Neverland was especially popular with my students.  I would not recommend using these monologues in a real audition though, simply because they are used SO frequently for auditions — mostly because that site is one of the first ones that pops up when you do a search for “comedic monologues” online.

For audition pieces (not for classroom practice) I always recommend that people choose monologues from plays or books, because you can actually read the whole thing and learn about the characters.  I also recommend tailoring your audition piece to the show you’re auditioning for!  It would be pretty silly to recite Shakespeare when you’re auditioning for Avenue Q!  I don’t recommend using monologues from movies, because that’s just copying someone else’s performance!

My best piece of advice for anyone working on a monologue or an audition is just to practice, practice, practice!  Read tons of plays, find as many monologues as you can, and figure out which ones work for you.  It’s good to have a variety of go-to monologues (dramatic, comedic, classical, modern) and if you’re really serious about doing theatre, audition for as many shows as possible!  Good luck!  🙂