The monologue audition is alive and well. Monologues are commonly used for college auditions (both undergraduate and graduate programs), Equity auditions, theater conference auditions, as well as in agents’ offices and industry seminars for both agents and casting directors.
There are certainly no rules where monologue material is concerned. However, it has been my 25 years of experience as an agent and manager (and in teaching and coaching monologue selection and performance as well) that most industry people watching monologues lean toward active material. Meaning, material that contains conflict and a strong potential for the character performing the monologue to show a strong emotional want or need to change the other character’s point of view and/or behavior. Why? Material of this nature usually has a certain clarity and even universality readily grasped by whomever is watching it.
In short, it generally holds up well outside of its original context. As such, much of the material I select for my students—or suggest they seek for themselves—often begins with lines such as, “I don’t want you to pay me, I want you to listen to me,” or, “I don’t want to get
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