One of the best places to start your monologue search is the search box on the front page of the UTA Libraries Website. This is a really good tool for searching broadly in our collections and it is fast and easy to use. Try using monologue as a term and adding descriptors like classical, comedy or women to narrow down your search. Pay attention to publication dates when looking for modern collections. A collection of contemporary monologues published in 1995 won't be contemporary to now.
Alternatively. you can start with the recommended collections in the box below this one. These are far from complete, but have been selected to get you looking at plays as quickly as possible.
And if you prefer a more analog experience, the monologue collections in print are mostly in the PN2080 range on the 5th floor at Central.
You can also schedule an appointment or send me an email. I am happy to help with your search.
The Classical Monologue (W)
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First Published in 1993. The Classical Monologue in two volumes, one for men and one for women, is a fresh selection of the best speeches from the repertoire of the classical theatre, from the Greeks to the beginning of the 20th century. These great dramatic monologues--from all periods and styles, all varied in tone and genre--make an indispensable actor's companion for auditioning, rehearsing and performing. Each monologue is accompanied by textual notes explaining any unusual vocabulary or syntax, and by commentary in which the editors offer interpretative points and practical advice in preparing the speech for performance. Both beginners and experienced actors will find The Classical Monologue a treasury of theatrical riches waiting to be released on stage.
The Classical Monologue (M)
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The Classical Monologue in two volumes, one for men and one for women, is a fresh selection of the best speeches from the repertoire of the classical theatre, from the Greeks to the beginning of the 20th century. These great dramatic monologues--from all periods and styles, all varied in tone and genre--make an indispensable actor's companion for auditioning, rehearsing and performing. Each monologue is accompanied by textual notes explaining any unusual vocabulary or syntax, and by commentary in which the editors offer interpretative points and practical advice in preparing the speech for performance. Both beginners and experienced actors will find TheClassical Monologue a treasury of theatrical riches waiting to be released on stage.
Award Monologues for Women
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Award Monologues for Women is a collection of fifty-four monologues taken from plays written since 1980 that have been nominated for the Pullitzer Prize, the Tony and the Drama Desk Awards in New York, and The Evening Standard and Laurence Olivier Awards in London. The book provides an excellent range of up-to-date audition pieces, usefully arranged in age groups, and is supplemented with audition tips to improve your acting, and to ensure that the best possible performance.
Award Monologues for Men
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Award Monologues for Men is a collection of fifty monologues taken from plays written since 1980 that have been nominated for the Pullitzer Prize, the Tony and the Drama Desk Awards in New York, and The Evening Standard and Laurence Olivier Awards in London. The book provides an excellent range of up-to-date audition pieces, usefully arranged in age groups, and is supplemented with audition tips to improve your acting, and to ensure you give your best possible performance.
The Contemporary Monologue: Women
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The Contemporary Monologue" is an invaluable resource for acting classes, competitions, auditions and rehearsals. It is an affordable and necessary tool for serious actors everywhere.
The Contemporary Monologue: Men
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The Contemporary Monologue is an exciting selection of speeches of all types, serious and comic, realistic and absurdist, drawn from plays written by contemporary playwrights over the past ten years. Updating the popular Modern Monologues, this fresh collection of speeches represents the best American and English playwrights of today including Caryl Churchill, Ariel Dorfman, John Guare, David Mamet, Tony Kushner, Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman. Organized for maximum benefit to the actor gleaning for background material, individual selections are introduced with a summary of the play's action up to the point the speech begins. A brief sketch of the character is also given, utilizing, where possible, the playwright's own words. Finally, a commentary follows each monologue, alerting the actor to details in the speech that could help him/her perform it better. Some of the highlights of TheContemporary Monologue for men include selections from Angels in America, by Tony Kushner; Frankie and Johnniein the Clair de Lune, by Terrence McNally; States ofShock, by Sam Shepard; and Speed-the-Plow, by David Mamet. Highlights of The Contemporary Monologue for women include selections from: TheContemporary Monologue is an invaluable resource for acting classes, competitions, auditions and rehearsals. It is an affordable and necessary tool for serious actors everywhere.
Queers
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A young soldier returning from the trenches of the First World War recollects a love that dare not speak its name. Almost one hundred years later, a groom-to-be prepares for his gay wedding. Queers celebrates a century of evolving social attitudes and political milestones in British gay history, as seen through the eyes of eight individuals. Poignant and personal, funny, tragic and riotous, these eight monologues for male and female performers cover major events - such as the Wolfenden Report of 1957, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the debate over the age of consent - through deeply affecting and personal rites-of-passage stories. Curated by Mark Gatiss, the monologues were commissioned to mark the anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, which decriminalised homosexual acts in private between two men over the age of twenty-one. They were broadcast on BBC Four in 2017, directed and produced by Gatiss, and starring Alan Cumming, Rebecca Front, Ian Gelder, Kadiff Kirwan, Russell Tovey, Gemma Whelan, Ben Whishaw and Fionn Whitehead. They were also staged at The Old Vic in London. This volume includes: The Man on the Platform by Mark Gatiss The Perfect Gentleman by Jackie Clune Safest Spot in Town by Keith Jarrett Missing Alice by Jon Bradfield I Miss the War by Matthew Baldwin More Anger by Brian Fillis A Grand Day Out by Michael Dennis Something Borrowed by Gareth McLean
The Oberon Book of Monologues for Black Actors
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Foreword by Naomie Harris How many Black British plays can you name? Inspired by both classical and contemporary plays, The Oberon Book of Monologues for Black Actresses gives readers an insight into some of the best cutting-edge plays written by black British playwrights, over the last sixty years. This collection features over twenty speeches by Britain's most prominent black dramatists. The monologues represent a wide-range of themes, characters, dialects and styles. Suitable for young people and adults, each selection includes production information, a synopsis of the play, a biography of the playwright and a scene summary. The aim of this collection is that actors will enjoy working on these speeches, using them to help strengthen their craft, and by doing so, help to ensure these plays are always remembered.
Hear Me Now: Audition Monologues for Actors of Color
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A brand-new collection of original audition pieces written by and for actors of colour, commissioned by Tamasha Theatre Company and edited by Titilola Dawudu, with a foreword by Noma Dumezweni. Hear Me Now is a unique collection of over eighty original audition monologues, expressly created by a range of award-winning writers brought together by producer Titilola Dawudu and Tamasha Theatre Company. They're ideal for actors of colour searching for speeches for auditions or training, writers, teachers, and theatre-makers who are passionate about improving diversity.The book provides varied, nuanced stories that expand beyond the range of existing material available - from a cross-dressing Imam, to the first Black Prime Minister, the British Indian girl with dreams of becoming a country music star, or the young Black boy who loves baking as much as football - Hear Me Now is an essential tool for actors of colour to showcase their range, and seeks to inspire, empower, and create a legacy for generations to come.
Monologues for Actors of Color: Women
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Actors of colour need the best speeches to demonstrate their skills and hone their craft. Roberta Uno has carefully selected monologues that represent African-American, Native American, Latino, and Asian-American identities. Each monologue comes with an introduction and notes on the characters and stage directions to set the scene for the actor. This new edition now includes more of the most exciting and accomplished playwrights to have emerged over the 15 years since the Monologues for Actors of Color books were first published, from new, cutting edge talent to Pulitzer winners.
LGBTQ Comedic Monologues That Are Actually Funny
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(Applause Acting Series). The first and only book of its kind, this cutting-edge and incredibly hysterical monologue book is specifically for actors auditioning for LGBTQ roles. LGBTQ Comedic Monologues That Are Actually Funny features works by LGBT writers and comics (and their allies) who have written and/or performed for Comedy Central, Backstage magazine, NBC, the Huffington Post , the Onion , Second City, E!, and many more. This collection is the go-to source for the comedic monologue needs of actors seeking LGBT material, as well as a paean to LGBT characters and artists.
The Angel in the Trees and Other Monologues
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A lapsed academic haunted by her past, and by an ambiguous angel, in the backwoods of the American South; a Midwestern widower dreams of returning to the Ireland of his youth; a heartsick cabbie auditions for his ex in a pub-theatre in Cork City; a schizophrenic grapples for freedom from the mother in his mind; three voices of the COVID-19 pandemic seek long-distance resolution and reunion. In these and other monologues, selected from over two decades of work, award-winning American playwright Dan O'Brien illuminates, in heartbreaking and unwavering fashion, the humanity of lost souls longing to be heard. "Dan O'Brien is a playwright-poet who, like a mash-up of Seamus Heaney and Dashiel Hammett, puts the audience in the middle of an unfolding mystery promising both revelation and terror, and delivering an equal measure of both." Robert Schenkkan "O'Brien is an outstanding wordsmith and a sharp observer of character." Variety "emotionally gripping, psychologically astute...a bracing and absorbing piece of theater." New York Times (Critics' Pick) on The Body of an American "A masterpiece of truthfulness and feeling" The Guardian on War Reporter "utterly riveting...frequently exhilarating" The Washington Post on The Body of an American
100 (monologues)
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This new collection by one of America’s premier performers and most innovative and provocative artists includes 100 monologues from his acclaimed plays and solo shows including: Drinking in America; Men Inside; Pounding Nails in the Floor with My Forehead; Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll and more. Also included are additional pieces from Talk Radio and Notes from Underground.
Zoo
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At Miami's Cherokee Valley Zoo & Conservation Centre, the most dangerous thing that ever happened was the tapir's caesarian section. That is until Hurricane Jonas sets itself on a crash course straight towards it. Now zookeeper Bonnie must rush to batten down the hatches and ensure the safety of her animals - and herself. Halfway across the world in the Yorkshire Dales, Bonnie's friend Carol feels the repercussions of that tempestuous night. Will she be able to help from afar? Or will the danger they all face turn out to be deeper and darker than a spot of bad weather? Lily Bevan's play Zoo is a wildly inventive comedy drama about courage, female friendship and flamingos. It premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2018, where it was selected as one of the Guardian's Best Shows of the Fringe. It also enjoyed London runs at Theatre503 and the 2020 VAULT Festival. This edition also includes twelve comic monologues for female performers, some of which featured in the BBC Radio 4 series, Talking to Strangers (co-written with Sally Phillips), and were performed by Olivia Colman, Jessica Hynes and Emma Thompson, amongst others.
Act Normal
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Act Normal includes 31 contemporary monologues from Too Much Punch For Judy, Hard To Swallow, Missing Dan Nolan, I Love You, Mum - I Promise I Won't Die, Game Over ... and many more of Mark's plays and musicals. Written with young performers in mind and available for classroom or audition use, they offer a range of characters and topics - both comic and serious - along with acting notes for each monologue. Many of the monologues are verbatim, providing a unique opportunity for actors and directors to explore this exciting form. Act Normal is the first exclusive collection of Mark's monologue work. 'Surprise your teacher, your friends, your family, your audience and last but not least, yourselves!' - Mark Wheeller Monologue topics: True stories and verbatim pieces British World War II evacuee experience Testimony of world champion blind athlete Graham Salmon Account of sisters involved in a drink-driving accident Story of a woman's battle with anorexia A young woman's struggles breaking into the football world Two pieces on the life-changing consequences of a car accident Recounting of a prison assault Dan Nolan's 2002 disappearance Grooming and human trafficking Students excluded from the mainstream education system Accidental drug overdose Young people and self-harm Online predators Fiction Absurdist, allegorical tale about a fantasy King Unplanned teenage pregnancy Fandom and mourning an idol (reference to David Bowie) Theatre in Education piece on road safety Featured plays, with character options and ages (NB: all are suitable for performers of any age and gender) Blackout - Operation Pied Piper - Jean, aged 9 Graham - World's Fastest Blind Runner - Junie, pre-teen/ Graham, adult Too Much Punch For Judy - Judy, young adult/ Duncan, adult Hard to Swallow - Anna, young adult/ John, adult Sweet (W)FA / Lethal In The Box - Miss Vallas, adult/ Spanner, adult Chicken! - Nut-Job, teenager/ Chris, teenager Legal Weapon 2 - Andy, young adult Wacky Soap - Storyteller, adult Missing Dan Nolan - Pauline, adult / Sarah, young teenager/ Andy, adult One Million to Stop The Traffik - Mary, adult Kids Who Look Out of the Window - Tonisha, teenager Chequered Flags to Chequered Futures - Jane, adult/ Driver, adult I Love You, Mum - I Promise I Won't Die - Jack, teenager Scratching the Surface - Louise, adult This Is For You - Susan, adult Can You Hear Me Major Tom? - Mark, adult/ Jasmine, adult Game Over - Lorin, adult
The Ultimate Scene and Monologue Sourcebook, Updated and Expanded Edition
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All actors and acting teachers need The Ultimate Scene and Monologue Sourcebook, the invaluable guide to finding just the right piece for every audition. This remarkable book describes the characters, action, and mood for more than 1,000 scenes in over 300 plays.This unique format is ideal for acting teachers who want their students to understand each monologue in context. Using these guidelines, the actor can quickly pinpoint the perfect monologue, then find the text in the Samuel French or Dramatist Play Service edition of the play. Newly revised and expanded, the book also includes the author's own assessment of each monologue.
The 24 Hour Plays Viral Monologues
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Since 1995 The 24 Hour Plays have been responding to theatre in the moment. As the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic brought an end to live theatre in the USA and Europe, the company sprang to work to keep the arts alive. Bringing together some of America's most prolific writers for the stage and screen, this unique and contemporary book of monologues collates the responses in dramatic fashion, making for an anthology of work that is timely, moving, irreverent and at its best, transcendent. Featuring original monologues by writers such as David Lindsay-Abaire, Clare Barron, Hansol Jung, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Christoper Oscar Peña, Jesse Eisenberg and Monique Moses this is a rich collection that can be enjoyed by actors, writers and those looking for creative responses to the global COVID-19 crisis. With over 50 monologues from the first three weeks of the project, edited by Howard Sherman, this is an important collection that documents an unprecedented moment in history whilst also offering practical resource for actors and performers.
The Kilroys List, Volume One
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Not your typical book of monologues, this collection embodies the mission of The Kilroys, a gang of playwrights and producers who came together in Los Angeles in 2013 to stop talking about gender parity in theatre and start taking action. In 2014, The Kilroys released their first annual List: a vetted collection of plays written by female and trans writers, nominated by hundreds of professional artistic directors, literary managers, professors, producers, directors, and dramaturgs. This collection includes a monologue or scene from each play from the 2014 and 2015 editions of The List. 'And at last there are the Kilroys. A group of kick-ass theatre artists who declare there is no excuse, in the twenty-first century, for producers and artistic directors to insist they cannot find women or women of color in the field. The incredible Kilroys List makes visible proof that there are infinite playworlds of which our current pipelines can only dream. The Kilroys have amassed writers aplenty to fill hundreds of pipelines' Paula Vogel, from her Foreword
The Kilroys List, Volume Two
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'When I look at the list of women and nonbinary writers included in this volume, many of whom I have mentored or taught, it is a beautiful reminder that we are a community to be reckoned with, and that there is an abundance of vital narratives awaiting a larger audience. While there remains a great deal of work to be done to reach racial and gender equity in the theater, the powerful and provocative writing presented here is part of the inciting incident that will no doubt shake up the status quo.' Lynn Nottage, from her Foreword The Kilroys are a gang of playwrights and producers who came together in Los Angeles in 2013 to stop talking about gender parity in theatre and start taking action. In 2014, they released their first annual List: a vetted collection of plays written by women, trans, and nonbinary writers, nominated by hundreds of professional artistic directors, literary managers, professors, directors, and dramaturgs. This collection includes a monologue or scene from each play from the 2016 and 2017 editions of The List. 'This is a historic compilation of fervent, fierce, and formidable voices, who have been left on the margins for far too long, but who now, with the caliber of their writing, stake claim to what it means to be an American playwright, in this time and place.' Tanya Saracho 'Too often women and trans writers get overlooked and underproduced, and this anthology is just one way we're hoping to change this. These monologues show a fraction of the underrepresented and underserved voices in the American theater. Read these monologues, support these playwrights' careers and productions--and help make our homogeneous playing field look a little more like our America.' Zakiyyah Alexander
Outstanding Women's Monologues
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Editors Craig Pospisil and Danna Call compiled this new collection of more than fifty monologues selected exclusively from Dramatists Play Service publications from recent seasons. Inside these pages you will find an enormous range of voices and subject matter, characters from their teens to their sixties and authors of widely varied styles, but all immensely talented. These monologues represent some of the best writing in the American theatre today, and we are proud to bring them together in this new volume.
Outstanding Men's Monologues Volume 2
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Editors Craig Pospisil and Danna Call compiled this new collection of more than fifty monologues selected exclusively from Dramatists Play Service publications from recent seasons. Inside these pages you will find an enormous range of voices and subject matter, characters from their teens to their sixties and authors of widely varied styles, but all immensely talented. These monologues represent some of the best writing in the American theatre today.
Monologues
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50 speeches for men. The speeches are contemporary to the books publication in the early 80s.
She Speaks
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A collection of contemporary Canadian monologues for women, compiled and edited by Judith Thompson, offering many fresh and exciting speeches for auditions. Includes monologues by: Ronnie Burkett, Drew Carnwath, Florence Gibson, Linda Griffiths, Daniel MacIvor, Yvette Nolan, Djanet Sears, Jason Sherman, Judith Thompson, Colleen Wagner and many others. Also available: He Speaks: Monologues for Men
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