August 2, 2022
How to find a good monologue for an audition in this video, we will explore. Remember folks, you can't play. What you can't say. So how to find a good monologue for an audition. How about how to find six monologues that are always ready? So the actors love to panic or become what
I call an emotional terrorist to themselves. So know your own nervous. Yeah. Some people become adrenaline junkies product
of the house you grew up in. Probably. Maybe not. Maybe. So the actor is cultivating a toolbox right now. When a carpenter gets a call to go frame a building, he doesn't freak out and go, I don't have any tools. Oh my God. What am I gonna do? Right. Calls this buddy. Can I use your tools? No, I'm on a job, man. Oh, no. Going don't be that person again. That's the halfassed Hamlet. Don't be that. Now I convinced myself. I am an artist in the world as my witness, cultivate six monologues, minimum that you work on daily, those monologues are your scales. People will be like, well, you know, I don't do monologues because I'm interested in film and television and they never ask. And I say, do you ask to do them, do you have six? What I think of as one minute plays, you know, monologues a one minute play, it's got a beginning, a middle and an end. It has humor. It has mischief. It has architecture. It has opposites. Do you have that? Do you think you're gonna cultivate that in a day or two for an audition? Why would you do that now? If you don't have a monologue.Six, you can't demonstrate that you can do this. Okay. Now, when I began, the, the, nobody had a VCR yet, so you had to have monologues. Now you have an actor real, but that real might have some great stuff on it, but that stuff might be 10, 20 years old. So we're not sure if you could still do it. And you know, you want to be eager to demonstrate.
So once again, I convince myself, I am an artist by my actions in the world as my witness. If you are nervous in your work, overwhelmed, underprepared overwhelmed. under prepared. So you need to double triple down on your work and your work is the monologue because you get to use your voice. Now, what should those six monologues be? Well one of them must be Shakespeare. It's gonna call you out vocally and physically I'd recommend a checkoff in there. That leaves four, at least one demonstrates your ability to do dial. I'd work on that one is very physical in the event that you end up in a large space. So you could fill that space and take that stage. One of them ought to feel somewhat tonally like a sitcom, cuz those will come up. But you know, guys, I've worked with actors that have 20 monologues. Why not? They're free. Don't cost you anything. Write down. Love, takes time. Love makes time. If you really love this stuff, it doesn't feel like work. So are you learning how to find a good monologue? You want the next piece subscribe below. So finding that material it's counterintuitive, I'm gonna tell you something that might seem somewhat sack religious but it'll make sense to you in a second. Don't read the entire play or the film script first to find that. Page through right or scroll through online, look for a chunk of words. Does it have a beginning, a middle and an end?
Does it speak to you? Because some very, very, very great writers wrote some monologues in place that don't work, especially well, or at all outside of that particular play that monologue may come later in the. And it refers to all of these other characters, but we watching the monologue. We don't know who those, those characters are. So the monologue must stand on its own. Now, once you've deemed that this vessel is seaworthy, of course, you're gonna read the play and you're going to highlight what every other character says about your character. So do that. But first, don't read the play because you're looking for a piece that stands on it. , this is really important. Most actors are intimidated by the monologue, cuz you're looking at a chunk of words and you're thinking, how am I gonna do that? Well, you don't do that. You do this and then you do this and then you do this, this, this, this, and then you do this. And this and this, and then this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, you find vocal variation, rate, inflection, pitch dynamics. You find different viewpoints in it, but it's a slow process. Folks never memorize the words and just go through it. You will take all of the architecture out of it. You'll take all the specificity out of it. You will not personalize it that way. Rehearse slowly to later perform swiftly. Remember folks, attention spans are getting shorter all the time.
I recommend this monologue is one minute. I would prefer to do two, one-minute monologues than one, two-minute monologue, but I might just do one. The old Ville adage, write it down, always leave them, wanting more. Look at the films of the thirties, the forties. A lot of those movies are 89 minutes and the people talk really swiftly and they overlap. So whoever told you, oh, we can't overlap. We need a clean audio track. That is a very dull filmmaker. Right. You're gonna make a nice, boring show and you'll understand every word, but you know what? You won't care. you won't feel anything. You gotta have your daily workout and write down. My choice of material speaks before I do my choice of wardrobe speaks before I do my background speaks before I do my lighting speaks before I do, these are all within your control. That's a good thing. But do that work, you know, when I meet actors that don't have monologues, they go, well, You know, that's like meeting a plumber or carpenter that doesn't have a toolbox. My buddy, Hans, who's a favorite plumber. He's never come over and said could I borrow your snake? I don't have one going. He's a plumber. He's got a snake. Develop your snake, or be bitten by one. Remember Mr. Stalowski said, you've gotta develop radical imaginative. But first, have that empathy for yourself. Do not put yourself in situations that are going to wreck havoc on your nervous system. I see it all the time. You're like I have an audition. I'm going, wow. You're clearly not ready for it. Remember folks auditioning is part of the actor's life and it's gonna be part of it forever, no matter how successful you be, you know, but we want it to be picked by you because if you love it, we'll love. And if you don't like it so much, we're probably not gonna like it so much. And why would you go about the world? You know, doing something you don't like very much.
I have heard this many times folks I'll meet an actor in a deli late at night with another friend who's in this world who I'm dining with and say, well, you're clearly an actor to our server. You got a monologue. We like you. I think maybe we make a phone call. And they'll say this wow monologue. Like they've never heard the word. Gosh, man. Wow. Well I have one, but I really hate it. Oh, I'm excited. Let's see the monologue. You really hate. I mean, hello. Remember that the monologue for you, the monologue that you choose is marketing for yourself. So pick something that's quite close to you. I don't wanna see you play 180 degrees different than who you are. I want to get to know you through that piece of work. So. Once again, love takes time. Love makes time, enjoy the search, but the most important thing, whether you want a career in this, or to pick a monologue, you must be infinitely curious about everything. Control what you can. I was a boy scout. Be prepared, come prepare with us on Saturday, come as a guest, check it out. It's an incredible community. I challenge you to work more deeply than you ever have before. If you do what you've always done, you're gonna get what you always got. Come get something new, click below.