Audition Monologues for Women
by D.L. White
Are you
making the most common audition killing mistake?
~ Do you look at your casting people and see that 'empty' look?
~ Are you tired of hearing a plain old 'thank you' at the end of your audition?
~ Do you want to know how to stand out from the crowd?
Well, you're in luck, because I'm going to tell you how to fix all that for free. Plus, I'll give you some free monologues to work with at your next audition.
Be sure to read the Introduction to '44 Fantastic Audition Monologues for Women' below. In it, you will learn how to avoid the most common mistake actors and actresses make in choosing and delivering monologues.
I hate to see good and talented actors and actresses struggle in auditions, so I'm more than happy to share this information and these wonderful monologues with you. I sincerely hope they will help you really shine in your next audition!
Take the time to read the article and get to know the audition material really well. It is my firm belief that you will find your auditioning experience go to a whole new level.
If you want more of these great monologues, be sure to check out the e-book version of '44 Fantastic Audition Monologues For Women'. Inside this easy to read and printable eBook you will find many more of these incredible monologues, plus you'll learn the inside track on how we learned to approach them during the second year of Sanford Meisner's professional acting program!
These monologues present a literal wealth of opportunity to 'show off' your chops. Believe me, I've seen them put up in front of a full house and the effect is show stopping incredible.
Read on to learn how to make your casting people to feel the same way!
Introduction
(From '44 Fantastic Audition Monologues for Women' by D.L. White)
We all know the difficulties of choosing a strong monologue, especially when it comes to women characters.The last thing anyone wants to be is the 105th ‘Blanche DuBois’ the casting director has seen that day.Unfortunately for the aspiring actress, there seems to be a real limit on quality material that hasn’t been performed into the ground.
I decided to put this little collection together after receiving numerous requests from women looking for audition advice. More specifically, for information about not only how to prepare a monologue, but how to choose one that is appropriate. Now, I am no acting coach here, but I have a fair amount of experience on both sides of the camera, as well as the auditioning table. I’ve seen a lot of what works and what doesn’t and, more importantly, the things that have stood out from my point of view.
The first thing I want to focus on is connection. That is connection with your audience, in this case the casting people. I feel the major stumbling block with most monologues is the fact that they end up being introspective. Now, that’s great if you’re playing a role that requires that, but the casting people see that constantly. Just about every woman that walks into the audition is going to launch into her best rendition of whichever character she may have chosen. These are generally from well-known plays and therein lies a two-fold problem.
The fact that most of these plays are well-known, a lot of the casting people will have seen some or, even worse, many renditions of that particular character…often times many in the same day! It’s kind of like wearing your favorite little black cocktail dress to a party and seeing every other woman in the room wearing the same thing. Now, imagine that every woman in the room is vying for the affections of just one gentleman. How are you going to stand out?
My advice is would be to wear something different. Choose something vibrant and fresh, something that no one else is wearing!
Why compete on the same level? Setting yourself apart from the crowd is a great first step in my opinion. To continue with the cocktail party analogy, now imagine that every woman is a really great person, but they are completely self-absorbed. Everything they talk about is to themselves, or to the wall or the ceiling. How interesting do you think they will be to our gentleman in question? Probably not very, am I right?
It's all about the connection! Now, imagine when you walk into our make believe room, you are the only one wearing a red dress and when you talk to our gentleman you are the only woman that talks directly to him and engages him in your conversation. If the tables were turned, which person would you rather spend the evening with?
That's where choosing a monologue correctly can really make you shine. If you have a really strong, unique, emotionally filled, audition piece that directly engages the casting people, you will most likely be the only one that day that does! So, what’s so hard about that, right?
The first major problem is finding unique material. As you are already reading this, I imagine that you have been looking and are discovering how tough unique audition monologues are to find! They have either been done to death, or they are too lightweight or amateurish Even worse, if you do choose one that has been done to death, it’s usually not something that will engage you with the casting people! This is because they are usually scenes lifted from plays and often the best material isn’t directed at the audience.
That's where these monologues are completely different. They are from the same book that Sanford Meisner chose for his acting class and he used them for his entire career! To this day, Meisner students still use this material in class, and more importantly, in auditions. It’s been working for them for over 70 years and some of the best in the business used these very same monologues to audition with in their careers.
They are unique, because they concisely blend excellent, emotionally filled writing that engages the audience and the material is not very well known outside of the Meisner circle. Call it the ‘Ace up your sleeve’ version of audition monologues!
With these monologues, you are almost guaranteed to be unique, because almost no one else is using them! Like wearing that red dress at the cocktail party. Further, when you deliver them, you are talking directly to the casting people. They are designed so that you command attention and you draw the casting director into your world instead of having them sit back and watch you in your world.
Let me tell you, the casting folk will never know what hit them!
Free Audition Monologues For Women
(From '44 Fantastic Audition Monologues for Women' by D.L. White)
Mrs. Benjamin Pantier
I know that he told that I snared his soul
with a snare which bled him to death.
and all the men loved him,
and most of the women pitied him.
But suppose you are really a lady, and have delicate tastes,
And loathe the smell of whiskey and onions.
and the rhythm of Wordsworth's 'Ode' runs in your ears,
While he goes about from morning till night
Repeating bits of that common thing;
"Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?"
And then, suppose
You are a woman well endowed,
And the only man with whom the law and morality
Permit you to have the marital relation
Is the very man that fills you with disgust
Every time you think of it - while you think of it
Every time you see him?
That's why I drove him away from home
To live with his dog in a dingy room
Back of his office!
Flossie Cabanis
From Bindle's opera house in the village
To Broadway is a great step.
But I tried to take it, my ambition fired
When sixteen years of age,
Seeing 'East Lynne' played here in the village
By Ralph Barrett, who enthralled my soul.
True, I trailed back home, a broken failure,
When Ralph disappeared in New York,
Leaving me alone in the city -
But life broke him also.
In all this place of silence
There are no kindred spirits.
How I wish Duse could stand amid the pathos
Of these quiet fields
And read these words.
Nellie Clark
I was only eight years old;
And before I grew up and knew what it meant
I had no words for it, except
That I was frightened and told my Mother;
And that my Father got a pistol
And would have killed Charlie, who was a big boy,
Fifteen years old, except for his Mother
Nevertheless the story clung to me.
But the man who married me, a widower of thirty-five,
Was a newcomer and never heard it.
Till two years after we were married.
Then he considered himself cheated,
And the village agreed that I was not really a virgin.
Well, he deserted me, and I died
The following winter.
Dora Williams
When Reuben Pantier ran away and threw me
I went to Springfield.
There I met a lush, whose father just deceased
left him a fortune.
He married me when drunk. My life was wretched.
A year passed and one day they found him dead.
That made me rich. I moved on to Chicago.
After a time met Tyler Rountree, villain.
I moved on to New York. A gray-haired magnate
Went mad about me - so another fortune.
He died one night right in my arms, you know.
I saw his purple face for years thereafter.
There was almost a scandal.
I moved on, this time to Paris.
I was now a woman, insidious,
subtle, versed in the world and rich.
My sweet apartment near the Champs Elysees
Became a center for all sorts of people,
Musicians, poets, dandies, artists, nobles,
Where wespoke French and German, Italian, English.
I wed Count Navigato, native of Genoa.
We went to Rome. He poisoned me, I think.
Now in the Campo Santo overlooking
the sea where you Columbus dreamed new worlds,
See what they chiseled: "Contessa Navigato
Implora eterna quiete." **
**'Contessa Navigato Implora eterna quiete' translated means 'Countess Navigato asks for eternal peace.'
Amelia Garrick
Yes, here I lie close to a stunted rose bush
In a forgotten place near the fence
Where the thickets from Siever's woods
have crept over, growing sparsely.
And you, you are a leader in New York,
The wife of a noted millionaire,
A name in the society columns,
Beautiful, admired, magnified perhaps
By the mirage of distance.
You have suceeded, I have failed
In the eyes of the world.
You are alive, I am dead.
Yet I know that I vanquished your spirit;
And I know that lying here far from you,
Unheard of among your great friends
In the brilliant world where you move,
I am really the unconquerable power over your life
That robs it of complete triumph.
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If you have any great experiences with this material, or if you just have any questions, feel free to contact me. It gives me great joy to hear how I've helped young actors and actresses succeed in this very trying industry.
I wish you all the best in your acting endeavors and always remember...
You can't fail if you don't quit!