In Search of Dramatic Monologue...

Hey, I'm in a Speech and Debate team (Fornsics) in a category where you do dramatic/humorous readings between 8-10 minutes! It could be several monologues, one or whatever, as long as there's a common theme/author! Please help!!!!!!!! Any female part would do, please RSVP!
Or IM me at buterflieyedtrip with a suggestion.
Thanx, luv ya, bye!

 

Have you Heard of the play "Wit"? It's a drama about a woman who has metastotic ovarian cancer. It's a drama with a big monologue at the begining. You could probably pull other long lines from the rest of the play because they don't really interact with other characters. The main character is very isolated during the play as she interacts directly with the audience. I've never done the show, only read the script and memorized the large section at the begining. I can't remember how it goes exactly but it's something like this:

"Hi,How are you feeling today? I assure you, this is not my standard greeting. I tend towards something a little less personal such as, oh, say, Hello. But it is the standard greeting here. I have been asked "how are you feeling?" as I am laying in bed with a tube in every orphus. I am waiting for the time that someone asks me this and I am dead. I'm a little sorry I'll miss that."

That's not all of it and I'm sure I messed it up and missed some but that's just some that I remember from when I memorized it about two months ago. That's a good dramatic role. That's all I have as of now. If I think of anything else, I'll tell you.

 

Check out the spoon river anthology there's plenty in there.

And a humorous one would be i'm thinking it's called the role of della, it's a one-act play, oh wait are you looking for one for yourself or many for a group of people?

If so Spoon River really has a good mix... good luck!

 

It's my guess that by now "The Vagina Monologues" and "Wit" are overdone, not that they are'nt great sources of material, they are. You will probably want to try something that is done less frequently, if possible.

How much movement are you allowed? Have you considered any of Lee Breuer's Animations (The Red Horse Animation and The B Beaver Animation are both great works and might be easy to adapt to your purposes)? They would require quite a bit of movement, though, almost dance-like in their use of space.

Check out the works of smaller companies like Spiderwoman Theater.

If you need something more "normal" I suggest "The Shadow Box" by Michael Christofer. I don't know wheter it is being used anymore as it is about 20 years old now, but it has some great stuff.

 

An old standby: Margaret's speeches in Act One of Tennessee William's Cat on A Hot Tin Roof.

for movies:
http://www.whysanity.net/monos
also links to some other helpful monologue sites.
Rock on,
Lindi

 

I actually just finished the musical, working. And the entire show is monologues. I still have the script and I'd be willing to help you out if you were interested. The show is about different people with different jobs and they either REALLY love it or REALLY hate it. And each scene is a different charachter and different job. So send me a private message if you want!!