60 Seconds to Shine Volume Ii 221 One-Minute Monologues for Women
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1 | P a g e 60 SECONDS TO SHINE VOLUME II 221 ONE-MINUTE MONOLOGUES FOR WOMEN 2 | P a g e TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Acknowledgments CLASSICAL MONOLOGUES As You Like It, William Shakespeare The Beaux’ Stratagem, George Farquhar The Clandestine Marriage, George Coleman and David Garrick The Comedy of Errors, William Shakespeare The Constant Couple, Thomas Farquar Danton’s Death, Georg Büchner, trans. Henry J. Schmidt The Double Inconstancy, Pierre Carlet de Chamblain Marivaux, trans. Stephen Wadsworth Emily Climbs, L.M. Montgomery Enemies, Maxim Gorky Hamlet, William Shakespeare Ivanov, Anton Chekhov, trans. Mason W. Cartwright A Journey to London, Sir John Vanbrugh Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare King Henry IV, Part 1, William Shakespeare King John (2), William Shakespeare King Lear, William Shakespeare King Richard III (2), William Shakespeare The Lanchashire Witches, Thomas Shadwell Leves Amores, Katherine Mansfield Little women, Louisa May Alcott 3 | P a g e Love in a Village, Isaac Bickerstaff Midsummer Night’s Dream (4), William Shakespeare The Misanthrope (2), Moliere, trans. Hal Gelb Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare Othello, William Shakespeare Pericles, William Shakespeare The Prince of Parthia, Thomas Godfrey The Rebellion, Thomas Rawlins The Relapse, Sir John Vanbrugh A Room with a View, E.M. Forster The Rover, Aphra Behn The Ruddigore, or The Witch’s Curse, William Schwenk Gillbert The Sack of Rome, Mercy Otis Warren The Sea Gull (2), Anton Chekhov, trans. Mason W. Cartwright Sonnet XVIII, William Shakespeare Sonnet XXX, William Shakespeare Sudden Light, Dante Gabriel Rossetti Titus Andronicus (2), William Shakespeare The Tragedy of Jane Shore, Nicholas Rowe Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare The Two Noble Kinsmen (2), William Shakespeare and John Fletcher Uncle Vanya (2), Anton Chekhov, trans. Marian Fell The Wild Duck, Henrik Ibsen 4 | P a g e CONTEMPORARY MONOLOGUES 2.5 Minute Ride, Lisa Kron After Math, Jonathan Dorf The Air That I Breathe, Theresa Carilli Alchemy of Desire/Dead Man’s Blues (2), Caridad Svich All Stories Are True, John Edgar Wideman American Standard, Jonathan Joy And by His Hand, Lightning, Amy Unsworth And Now a Word from Our Sponsor, Clinton A. Johnston And the Winner Is, David-Matthew Barnes Angry Young Man, Daniel Trujillo Animal Husbandry, Laura Zigman Anne, Adam Szymkowicz Approximating Mother, Kathleen Tolan At Swim, Two Boys, Jamie O’Neil At the Salon, Maureen A. Connolly Autumn Come Early, William J. Burns Baby in the Basement, David-Matthew Barnes The Beard of Avon, Amy Freed Bee-luther-hatchee (2), Thomas Gibbons Big Boy, Theresa M. Carilli Big-Butt Girls, Hard-Headed Women, Rhodessa Jones Bird Germs, Eric R. Pfeffinger The Blacks: A Clown Show, Jean Genet, trans. Bernard Frechtman Blanca, Danny Hoch 5 | P a g e Bookends, Jonathan Dorf Broken Eggs, Eduardo Machado Caitlyn, Steve Mitchell Carrie, Steve Lyons Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2), Tennessee Williams Charming Billy, Alice McDermott Cheater Catchers, Elizabeth L. Farris Cher’s Fat Lesbian Daughter, Antay Bilgutay Circus Schism, Arthur Jolly Conditional Commitment, Terese Pampellonne Corn, Hogs, and Indians, Avanti A. Pradhan Crimes of the Heart, Beth Henley The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon Currents, Roger Nieboer Curse of the Starving Class, Sam Shepard A Day at the Beach, Beth Sager Dear Chuck, Jonathan Dorf Distance, Grace Paley Docent, R.T. Smith The Doomsday Club, Terese Pampellonne Drinking and Driving, David Epstein Eloise & Ray, Stephanie Fleischmann Erratica, Reina Hardy Father’s Day, Oliver Hailey Faye, Rob Matsushita 6 | P a g e The Feast of Love, Charles Baxter The Fish Bowl, Jocelyn Hughes Freshwater: A Comedy, Virginia Woolf Fur, Migdalia Cruz Give It up, Norman A. Bert Goodnight Desdemonda (Good Morning Juliet), Anne-Marie MacDonald Handler, Robert Schenkkan Hate Mail, Kira Obolensky and Bill Corbett Have Mercy, Hope McIntyre Herbert III, Ted Shine Horrible Child, Lawrence Krauser House Hunting, Henry W. Kimmel The House of Yes, Wendy MacLeod How I Learned to Drive (2), Paula Vogel The Hummingbird Play, Leslie Bramm Hunter!, Nuba-Harold Stuart Hurlyburly, David Rabe I Am What I Am, Aurora Levin Morales and Rosario Morales If You Went Missing, Kelly DuMar Imagine This, Alexander Speer In a Grove, Ryunosoke Akutagawa, trans. Takashi Kojima Keely and Du, Jane Martin Ladyhouse Blues, Kevin O’Morrison Learning Curves, Allyson Currin A Lesbian Appetite, Dorothy Allison 7 | P a g e Lesbians Who Kill, Peggy Shaw, Deborah Margolin, Lois Weaver LGA-ORD, Ian Frazier Liar, Brian Drader Lily Dale, Harton Foote Listening, Edward Albee Lizabeth: The Caterpillar Story, John Edgar Wideman The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Christopher Durang Mines, Susan Straight The Morgan Yard, Kevin O’Morrison My Father’s Girlfriend, Irene Ziegler My Girlish Days, Karen L.B. Evans My Left Breast, Susan Miller Never Kick a Man When He’s Down, Norman A. Bert and Deb Bert Night Luster, Laura Harrington ‘Night, Mother, Marsha Norman No Known Country, Steven Schutzman The Norbals, Brian Drader Normalcy, Don Nigro Not About Nightingales, Tennessee Williams Notes from the Edge Conference, Roy Blount Jr. Number, David J. LeMaster Olivia, Dorothy Strachey One-Dimensional Person, Jason Milligan The One-Eyed Guru, Andrew Biss The Oxcart, Rene Marques 8 | P a g e Patient A, Lee Blessing The Patron Saint of Jello (2), Nell Grantham Patter for the Floating Lady, Steve Martin Perfect Body, Cynthia Meier Personal History, Dominic Taylor The Piano Lesson, August Wilson Population Growth, Aoise Stratford The Primary English Class (2), Israel Horovitz A Private Practice (2), Andrew Biss Rat Bohemia, Sarah Schulman Rats, Migdalia Cruz Renea, Theresa Carilli The Right to Bate Arms (and Asses), Elizabeth Wong Rights Wronged, Roger Nieboer Romance, Barbara Lhota Roosters, Milcha Sanchez-Scott A Russian Play, Don Nigro Sans-Culottes in the Promised Land, Kristen Greenidge Scat song, Ernest Slyman Schoolgirl Figure, Wendy MacLeod Self Defense, or death of some salesmen (2), Carson Kreitzer Serial Monogamy, Alison Bechdel Sexual Perversity in Chicago, David Mamet Silent Heroes, Linda Escalera Baggs Small Domestic Acts (3), Joan Lipkin 9 | P a g e So This Is It?, Erin Brodersen The Speed of Darkness (2), Steve Tesich Split Britches, Peggy Show, Deborah Margolin, Lois Weaver Storage, Lisa Samra Straight Stitching, Shirley Barrie A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams Stuck Rubber Baby, Howard Cruse The Suitor’s Ward, Clay McLeod Chapman Table of Discontents, Nina Kossman Taking Sides, Clinton A. Johnston Tammy, Rob Matsushita This Wakeful Night, Rosary O’Neil ‘Tis Better, Clinton A. Johnston Tomboy, Roger Nieboer The Trophy Room (2), Hilly Hicks, Jr. Tumor, Sheila Callaghan Twirler, Jane Martin Two Rooms, Lee Blessing Vanishing, Marion, Jeanmarie Williams Vent, Sean Patrick Doyle Viral Soup, Antay Bilgutay Volar, Judith Ortiz Cofer War of the Buttons, Jonathan Dorf Waving Good-bye, Jamie Pachino We Were the Mulvaneys, Joyce Carol Oates 10 | P a g e What a Thought, Shirley Jackson Where Men are Empty Overcoats, Eric R. Pfeffinger The Winkleigh Murders, Don Nigro Winner of the National Book Award: A novel of fame, honor, and really bad weather, Jincy Willett A Woman of Wealth, Stephani Maari Booker Women of a Certain Age, John Paul Porter Your Place or Mine, Le Wilhelm Monologues by Age Monologues by Tone Monologues by Voice Rights and Permissions About the Authors 11 | P a g e INTRODUCTION Upon learning of today’s typical cattle-call audition process, Dustin Hoffman – who hasn’t had to audition in a long, long time – once declared that if he had only a minute to make an impression, he’d take off his clothes. For those of us who would rather think inside the box, here are two hundred and twenty-one monologues, all one minute or under in performance length. For those auditions or class assignments where brevity is crucial, you need a monologue that gets to the point. You need a defined character, strong emotional content, and a resonant ending. Just as important, you need a lot of monologues from which to choose. This book offers you that, and more. In our continuing effort to offer you new sources of monologues, we’ve drawn for plays, novels, short stories, poems, original monologues, essays, comics, novellas, radio plays, film scripts, and personal narratives. How to Use This Book. At the back of this volume, you’ll find all 221 monologues indexed according to age, tone, and voice, to help identify those most suited to your needs: Age is noted exactly only when specified by the author. More often, we’ve indicated an age range (20s, 20s-30s). In some instances, we’ve used a plus sign to show the character could be older than indicated, as in 40+. Classic/contemporary refers to when the monologue was written, not necessarily when the character is speaking. “Classic” texts are those that were written prior to the early 1920s. Voice refers to indications of class, geography, ethnicity, nationality, sexual identity, or physicality that may help performers gain entry into an individual character, or closely “match” themselves to a monologue. The language of any text will reveal a certain level of education, class, or knowledge. Sometimes, however, a monologue arises out of specific cultural experience, demonstrated either though content or language. Those are the selections you’ll find listed in the “Voice” index. Whenever possible, we’ve attempted to excerpt monologues with a minimum of editing. Where editing was necessary, omissions are indicated by parenthetical ellipses (…). All other ellipses were part of the original text. We offer appropriately brief contexts to help you again some entry into the monologues. But, of course, in order to fully understand and ultimately embody the characters, you are strongly advised to read the play, novel, poem, etc. from which the monologue was drawn. The greater context must be fully explored in order to answer the all-important questions: who, what, when, where, why.