Expert: Wanda Reinholdt - 11/25/2007

Question
Hi, I've browsed the web for hours on end trying to find a good monologue for my audition coming up but I can't find one, so I've decided to simply write one instead, I'm not too bad a writer. However, I'm completely short on monologue ideas, I just can't think of anything. I was hoping that maybe you could help me find an idea, or maybe suggest a site with a list of ideas or something like that. If it helps at all I'm 12 years old and I'm auditioning for Peter Pan

Thanks in advance
Jamie

Answer
Hi there Jamie.  Thanks so much for writing.  I appreciate your honesty about what you have done and your decision to write.  

Honestly though, Jamie, if you are interested in being an actor someday as a career, anyone who goes to an audition with their own work as the audition piece is usually frowned upon.  It's not that the directors auditioning you think that you are not talented.  It is more that bringing your own writing as the piece usually says in the real world of acting that you are more interested in pushing your own works rather than interpreting other people's works.  It looks selfish.  Acting is about interpreting other people's writings.  And if you perform your own piece, they will automatically disqualify you because it is your own piece.  (This is in the real world of acting.)

So I would caution you on writing your own if you want to learn about being an actor for a career.

And the internet really is NOT the place to find monologues.  Are you able to go to the local library?  Or a university library?  Those would be the best places to find a monologue.

As for monologue ideas, choosing to write or perform something that is about something close to your heart or something you can understand is really the best idea.  So a trip or a hobby or a friend or an experience with someone that means a lot to you would be best.

Write what you know.  Perform what you know.  It is the most honest and the most fun.

If this audition is just something you are having fun with and you are not really sure you want to be an actor and your teacher is ok with you auditioning with your own piece, then go ahead and write one.  Otherwise, I would suggest going to the library.

Does that help?

Wanda