Use these for auditions or classes with no restrictions. Use them for public performances with permission. You may not publish or distribute these without written permission.
YOU-TUBE, TIKTOK and VIMEO: If you share your performance, include my full name credited as author and you MUST provide a link to the publisher, or if unpublished, to this page in the video description. Thank you!
There's also a page just for Comedic Monologues!
If you require PERMISSION for a Thespian State Festival, contact me. Note: Permission for monologues from plays published by YouthPLAYS are automatically included with a purchase of the play!
These monologues are available in the dyslexic-friendly font 
on request - just email me!
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JIM HAWKINS from Long Joan Silver. dramatic, m, tween or young teen, 1 minute A monologue adapted from LONG JOAN SILVER. Jim Hawkins makes a stand against a gang of bloodthirsty female pirates - and delivers what he believes will be his last words. 
This play is published by YouthPLAYS
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PEYTON from Snakes in a Lunchbox. dramatic, any gender, teen. 1 Minute A repentent bully reveals the nightmarish moment that has changed their entire attitude. A serious moment in a funny play. CW: References to witnessing domestic violence. 
This play is published by YouthPLAYS
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KIRSTIE from Past Curfew. dramatic, w, teen. 1 minute A monologue from the AOPW Fellowship winning play PAST CURFEW. Kirstie realizes her mother's favorite story - about a tiger trying to put out a fire - makes no sense. 
The play is published by NEXT STAGE PRESS.The monologue is also available in The Theatre Audition Book 2. 
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SUGAR ON MY FINGERS. dramatic, w, teen. Two minutes. A teenage girl confronts her older sister about an abusive boyfriend. CW: References to witnessing domestic violence. The monologue was written for a local high school drama teacher's class - and is also available on the New Play Exchange. 
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EVERY KIND OF SMOKE HOME ALONE from There Is No Play. dramatic, any gender, teen. 2 minutes (Every Kind of Smoke), 1 minute (Home Alone) There Is No Play concerns eight High School students who attempt to put on a banned play - while each conceals a secret from their classmates. In these two monologues, Dallas and Ocean reveal their secrets. In Every Kind of Smoke, Dallas recalls burning down their house as a young child and the lingering trauma; while in Home Alone, Ocean rejoices that their abusive mother abandoned them and their younger siblings. CW: References to past trauma, abuse and neglect. 
This play is published by YouthPLAYS
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DOING THE MATH dramatic, w, teen. 5 minutes or 2 Minute version. A freakily intelligent girl - possibly on the autism spectrum - discovers her father may not be the man she thought in this five minute monologue. If you need a two minute audition monologue, try looking at this one from the line "Relax - I'm not some idiot savant... through to "The numbers add up - but the math is wrong." Read more about the play. First Place winner in the 2012 Monoslam Competition in Los Angeles! 
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MY DAD IS A SCAR. dramatic, m, teen. Two minutes. A teenage boy tries to comfort his teacher after she inadvertently references his father's suicide during a class. CW: References to veteran suicide, PTSD and implied abusive parenting. The monologue was written for a local high school drama teacher's class - and is also available on the New Play Exchange.
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THE CAPTAIN COLEMAN FINALE from Thicker than Water. dramatic, w, adult. 2 minutes A contemporary monologue from THICKER THAN WATER. Sally is talking to her live-in boyfriend on the night he has walked in the door with unexplained blood splashed on his shoes. Sally holds up as best she can, but eventually loses it - and in this monologue, she reveals the root of her phobia about blood. THICKER THAN WATER has been broadcast on NPR as a radio play, and produced in Chicago, Minneapolis and Nova Scotia. 
The play is published in the collection THIN LINES from NEXT STAGE PRESS. |
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JOE from
Thicker than Water. dramatic, m, adult (new parent), 2 minutes. A contemporary monologue for a male, 20's-30's. Joe talks to his newborn child about the night he and his girlfriend learned they were pregnant. CW: References to drug use, self-harm and eating disorders.
The play is published in the collection THIN LINES from NEXT STAGE PRESS. |
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HOWIE'S LAST WORDS from
Howie's Last Words. dramatic, m, adult, 3 minutes. A stuntman confesses to his wife that his last full body fire burn went disastrously wrong. 
The play is published by ORIGINAL WORKS PRESS. |
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UNCOMFORTABLE from
A Very Modern Marriage. This piece contains strong language. dramatic, m, adult, 2 minutes. A dramatic moment in an otherwise comedic play. Chris, a flamboyantly gay character, confronts his hetero best friend (and love interest) who has finally confessed that Christopher's sexuality makes him "uncomfortable". In this powerful monologue, Chris reveals a secret that transforms his friend's point of view. CW: Includes descriptions of homophobic violence and reference to (but not use of) slurs.
This play is available from the playwright or can be downloaded free by members of the New Play Exchange.
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GABRIELLE from Still Waters. dramatic, w, adult. 90 seconds. Gabrielle, stricken by the drowning death of her young daughter, confronts her husband. CW: deals with the drowning death of a child.
This play is available from the playwright or can be downloaded free by members of the New Play Exchange.
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RACHEL from Childish Things. Contains moderate language. dramatic, w, 20's-40's. 2 Minutes A woman confronts her estranged father when she learns her alcoholic mother is still drinking. 
This play is available from the playwright, can be downloaded free by members of the New Play Exchange, and is published in the Best American Short Plays 2015-2016.
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KATIE THE MAID from The Ithaca Ladies Read Medea. dramatic, w, adult. 2 Minutes After being fired, this Irish maid lets her "ever so proper" employer know exactly how she feels on her way out the door. CW: References to losing her husband during the war. 
This play is published by Next Stage Press.
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THE TIGER AND HIS PREY IT'S JUST A KISS THE HONEYMOON SUITE Three contemporary monologues from Tiger in a Cage. m, adult. 2-3 mins. A recidivist sex offender, trapped in a jail cell, rants at his psychiatrist - whom he also is in love with. In a twisted way. A chance to run the gamut of emotions. CW: references to pedophilia, self-harm, a character who struggles with consent and controlling his sexual impulses, Honeymoon Suite also contains strong language. The play is published by ORIGINAL WORKS PRESS.
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MY SISTER THE GRAPEFRUIT HOMECOMING MOM'S STUFF Mom's Stuff contains moderate language. Three contemporary monologues from the award winning TRASH. dramatic, w, adult. 1 minute/2 minutes/2 minutes Two estranged sisters clash when they attempt to recover their mother's dying message - a letter that has been thrown out with the trash and now resides in a municipal dump. This play won the 2011/2012 Joining Sword and Pen competition and was an official selection for the Last Frontier Theatre Conference and a semi-finalist for the Eugene O'Neill Conference. CW: References to mother dying, Mom's Stuff has moderate language (1 instance), Homecoming refernces drug use. 
This play is published by Next Stage Press.
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SHE'LL GROW ON YOU from Past Curfew. SHE'LL GROW ON YOU Extended Version dramatic, w, 30's. 1 minute / 2 minutes A monologue from the AOPW Fellowship winning play PAST CURFEW. Sarah, half drunk, resentful of her teenage daughter, drags out this story as a weapon in their ongoing conflict.
The play is published by NEXT STAGE PRESS.The extended version adds some lines of Sarah's from elsewhere in the play to make a two minute monologue. |
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MOPPING THE STAGE dramatic, m, 30's up. 20 minutes. Yes, 20. This contemporary monologue - a full twenty minutes long when performed - is actually a stand alone short play in its own right. It was developed over a year long process as part of the ensemble drama I SHOULDA EATEN MY PEAS AND CARROTS, created by Bill Hyatt and Jeni Elliot. A writer mops the stage in preparation for a play - while discussing his choices to become an instructor pilot for the U.S. Army at the start of the Iraq War, and his decision to quit to become a writer. And mop stages. CW: Discusses 9/11, the invasion of Iraq and death. |
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BARBED WIRE FENCE the inspiration for Better by Candlelight. dramatic, m, 30's - 40's. 2 mins. A traumatized man relives the particularly painful accident from his childhood that scarred his genitals. This monologue was the original inspiration for the play, rather than the other way around, although a lot of it did not make it intact into the final version. CW: Well, the whole scarring of genitals thing.
You can also purchase the entire play from ORIGINAL WORKS PRESS. |
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A POINT TO WINDWARD AN APPLE FOR THE SQUIRE Two contemporary monologues from Long Joan Silver. dramatic, w, adult. 2 minutes/3 minutes Long Joan Silver has several powerful monologues for a woman in this new interpretation of the classic "Treasure Island." It's a comedic play with some serious moments - like these ones. Who doesn't want to play a pirate? Here, Joan Silver harangues her female crew for rushing into danger in A Point to Windward; and convinces a naive maid to join the mutiny and turn on her over-bearing master in An Apple for the Squire.
This play is published by YouthPLAYS.com.
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THE BRICKLAYER. dramatic, m, 50's- 60's, 2 mins. An original monologue, first produced by the Atlantis Playmakers in the 2006 Short Attention Span PlayFEST. The photo is Paul Messinger in the 2008 production in Los Angeles. 
The monologue is published in InterJACtions - Monologues at the Heart of Human Nature. from JAC Publications.A bricklayer talks to his son about the the importance of making each brick square and true, the importance of the big picture, of small parts playing roles in larger issues... as he builds an industrial chimney in a concentration camp. CW: the piece references the holocaust. Watch Bruce Barton perform this one on You Tube courtesy of the NYC Playwrights Monologue Project.
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SVETLANA from the award winning A Gulag Mouse. dramatic, w, adult. 1 minute. Svetlana, a Russian prisoner in a Siberian gulag, comforts a young woman (Anastasia) who has returned from what Svetlana believes to be a sexual encounter with a guard... but there's a a lot more subtext to this moment! A feature film Where We Disappear" based on this play is available on Amazon Prime and other streaming services. CW: References sexual coercion. 
The play is published by NEXT STAGE PRESS. |
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THE BOAT SINKS from Bailing Out. dramatic, m, adult or older adult, 2 minutes. A contemporary monologue for an older actor. A patient in a hospice ward for the terminally ill reveals to his nurse that he witnessed a suicide by drowning that changed his life.
The play is published in the collection THIN LINES from NEXT STAGE PRESS. |
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THE FINE PRINT from
The Fine Print. Any gender, ageless. 2 mins. A monologue from my short play "The Fine Print", Audience Favorite Award winner at The New Plays Festival and Competition, Los Angeles, 2009. The Devil tempts an Electrical Systems Designer with the specs for a new weapons system.
The play is published byOriginal Works Online. |
On Writing Monologues
A drama teaching friend of mine asked me to muse on what makes a strong standalone monologue for her class... so here's my take on it!
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