Monologue Suggestions

Hi Jeremiah,
I am a person with no little or no experience in the field of acting. I send my CV and headshots to a lot of agents and by sheer luck one of them responded. They asked me to come to an audition on the 1st of April. They asked me to come prepared with an audition piece. This is taking place in London.

Would you have any audition piece with you that I would be able to perform with relative ease bearing in mind that I come from India and have an Asian accent.

I look forward to hearing from you. Please help me.

Thanking You
Sanjay

Hi Sanjay,

I hope you get this in time to be helpful. Congratulations on getting the call from the agent. First of all, the big question is do you want to do a comedic or dramatic monologue. Secondly, you should identify which type of parts you want to play: Leads, character roles, the sad boyfriend, the angry drill sargeant, etc. I would go with something that is at least a little funny if you chose a dramatic monologue because if you can make someone laugh that's a good way to hook them in an audition. Also, don't choose a piece where you're yelling. Nobody likes to be screamed at, especially agents in their offices. And I would also recommend getting a monologue from a play you have read and seen. If you can't think of any plays you know that you want to take monologues from I'd consult a collection of one acts by various authors. Actually, I think the best thing to do is to go to a bookstore that specializes in plays and the performing arts. Tell one of the bookstore people that you're looking for a monologue. Ask if they recommend an anthology of one-act plays that have good monologues. The person will probably ask you what type of monologue you are looking for. Tell them what type of roles you see yourself being good at and ask if they know of any monologues that would be good for those parts. I know you probably wanted me to mention a specific monologue but I can't think of one. Some people think that collections of monologues are a bad source, I don't think so if you can make it sharp. But you should know the play. I hear a lot of people recommend the Humana Play Festival Anthologies for monologues. It's a one-act play festival done by the Actor's Theatre of Louisville. Best of luck!

Jeremiah