Audition Monologues for Men

BFA Acting or Musical Theatre Auditions

Note to those auditioning: The Acting/Musical Theatre Division Faculty strongly recommend that you read the play from which the monologue is selected. This will allow you to make informed acting choices. Monologues must be memorized. At your audition you may be given direction by the faculty and asked to make adjustments in your performance. Please dress professionally and wear shoes in which you can move. We encourage you to seek coaching on your monologue and/or songs from your current or past theatre or music teacher or director. Please arrive at least fifteen minutes early for your appointment.

You will be auditioning for a Professional Training Program which is designed for those individuals who wish to pursue a professional career in the theatre. Admission to the Acting and Musical Theatre programs is competitive and the training is rigorous.

Pick only ONE of the below pieces to prepare as your audition (note: these are MEN'S monologues; women's are on a separate page).

The Authors Voice

by Richard Greenberg

(One of two monologue choices from this play.)

ISBN: 0822200791
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: June 1995
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service

Todd: I need you to tell me these sorts of things, Gene. I can't figure them out on my own. (beat) My life isn't good. You think it is, but it's not. Once it was, but it's not anymore. (beat) I used to be made happy by…stupid things. Parties! People around me. I was vain. I was a peacock. I looked in the mirror. I looked so hard I didn't recognize myself. I didn't recognize anything. I forgot why I did things. I got scared, Gene! I got scared outside, I got scared in my room. I didn't know where I was half the time. I wanted to drown, I wanted to be covered over…Then I found you. (beat) Make me famous, Gene. I want to be famous. People will photograph me and write about me. I'll study how they see me and live inside it…Fame will be a kind of home. But I need you to get it for me. Only they can't know it's you, they can't know it's you; if they ever see you, it will die like that. (Snaps his fingers. beat). It panics me when you leave and it panics me when you're here. You're the whole problem of my life, but without you I don't have any life. (beat) I'll give you what you want. I won't deny you anymore. Anything I can give, I'll give you.

The Authors Voice

by Richard Greenberg

(One of two monologue choices from this play.)

ISBN: 0822200791
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: June 1995
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service

Gene: You never bring anyone home! Some nights you don't come home yourself! I wait. I sit. I don't move. It hurts to move anyway. My body is sore. My muscles ache from disuse and misshapenness. I sit in that patch of darkness, that cupboard that has been allotted to me, and stare out an airshaft and wait for some noise from the hallway, some stirring, for you…and you don't come. Why don't you bring one home? I'd be still as a churchmouse. I'd hold my breath. I want to hear it, to peek through the keyhole and see it. Live. Unrehearsed. The whole event. I would be so grateful.

Lloyd's Prayer

by Kevin Kling
from The Great Monologues from the Humana Festival (Monologue Audition Series) by Eric Kraus (Editor), Humana festival, Kristin Graham (Editor) ISBN: 1880399008
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: October 1994 (1st edition)
Publisher: Smith & Kraus

Bob: Hello. Don't be afraid. I'm not. Are you new here? I'm not. This used to be my home but it seems different now…smaller. I don't seem to fit anymore. I wish I could speak to you but I've forgotten how. Sorry. I have been called many things in my life but I prefer Bob. I am an orphan. I could no more tell you my real father than the ingredients to a hot dog. I do remember my mother. I remember the night she became frozen and died. Since I was the biggest, my siblings turned to me. I remember leading them to a house for food. The large metal cans full of food, the metal trap and the sound of my arm as it broke. I remember pulling to get free, pulling on the pain. I knew I was human. I knew when I saw the trap. I was not a raccoon. I knew what I was doing. I was making a choice. I saw the trap, I saw the choice. I was human. I was human, I was trapped, and a man was running toward me with a gun. Luck for me he was a doctor.

Remedial English

by Evan Smith
ISBN: 0822209446
Format: Paperback, 32 pp
Pub. Date: January 1987
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

Vincent: Sister, I think it's very rude of you to keep me waiting like this. It's been fifteen minutes since you said, "I'll be finished in a minute," and unless I'm doing worse in algebra than I thought, you're off by fourteen minutes. Fourteen minutes may not seem like much to you – time moves pretty quickly after your hundredth birthday – but this is supposed to be my study hall. I have many important things to do during my study hall. I am developing a fascinating abstract pattern to fill the margins of my chemistry book, I'm right in the middle of Lake Wobegon Days, and I have almost finished my project of inserting the complete works of Judith Krantz into the library's card catalogue. This is a school, after all, Sister. You of all people shouldn't want to see me wasting my time.

The American Century

by Murphy Guyer
ISBN: 0822200260
Format: Paperback, 39 pp
Pub. Date: January 1986
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service

Man: Margaret from here on out it's going to be nothing but the best. I know it's hard to believe, but it's true… You know, when we were driving through those small towns in France, I don't know, you should've seen it. The streets were jammed with people. Hanging from the street lamps. Leaning out the windows. And they were all cheering, and screaming, and waving American flags. And the women were holding up their kids for us to kiss. And this one kid grabbed me and held me around the neck, and I looked into his eyes and, I don't know. I don't know how to explain it. I just felt that somehow it had all been worth it. It's a new world, Margaret… It's a whole new ballgame. That's what I felt when that kid hugged me. I felt like anything was possible. Like there wasn't anything we couldn't do, anything we couldn't have, once we put our minds to it. And it's all out there. Just waiting for us to grab it. A life more wonderful than we ever dreamed was possible… We made it Margaret. We're home.

"Winning Stephanie"

from The Ultimate Audition Book for Teens IV: 111 One-Minute Monologues, Vol. 4 by Debbie Lamedman
ISBN: 1575253534
Format: Paperback, 117 pp
Pub. Date: October 2002
Publisher: Smith & Kraus, Inc.
Edition Description: 1st
Note: This is not from a published play, but a monologue written for auditions

Ricky: Evan Coleman?! Stephanie, you do not want to go out with him. Trust me. Did you know that he bites his toenails and spits them out? I'm serious – I know. We shared a bunk at summer camp. Okay, it was 5th grade – but still, who's to say he ever stopped? Habits like that are not easy to break. Do you really want to kiss him knowing where his mouth is at night? Besides, everyone knows he just got dumped by Jenny Freemont. He's on the rebound, and you're his…bound, so to speak. He'll only use you and drop you the second Jenny wants him back. You deserve someone way better than that. Like…me, for example. I'm available. No rebound stuff going on here. And I've never, ever chewed my toenails. Not once. Steph, wait! I was just getting to me really good qualities!