Contemporary Monologues from Published Plays offers actors, drama teachers, and creators original story material to explore and express.

Working on monologues from published plays is a rewarding approach to your craft as an actor. Spending time developing a monologue will help you practice using your imagination, creative choices, and script analysis skills.

What is the importance of studying monologues from published plays?

Let’s go over a few ideas as to the overall benefits of monologue practice.

Building Character:
A monologue an effective way to get good at building character. By studying a monologue, you will gain insight into your character’s backstory, what motives them, and what emotional beats take place.

Building a Repertoire for Auditions:
Having a collection of comedic and dramatic monologues from published plays can ben extremely helpful in an audition room if a casting professional asks to see something else from you.

Versatility:
A good monologue may provide opportunity for you to reveal your versatility as a performer. Being able to express different aspects of your humanity as an actor is always a positive thing.

Learning Styles of Writing:
By studying different playwrights, you will open yourself up to discovering not only to such various aspects of writing, but also monologues.

Emotional Connection:
Oftentimes a monologue conveys deep insight into the world of your character within the overall arc of the story’s narrative.  This can provide positive creative challenges that will stir your creative imagination, making room for you to connect to your monologue emotionally, and express the material fully.

Training and Technique Development:
Drama workshops and drama schools work with actors to develop monologue performance. The training and exercises provided when working on your monologue covers a vast range of technique. You can develop your voice, imagination, emotional expressions and script analysis. In acting school you will have the opportunity to develop your concentration, pacing, and overall delivery.

Research and Context:
A monologue from a published play give the actor a larger canvas to practice on because the story may have specific cultural references and historical references. Understanding your monologue’s societal norms and language of a specific time period, is a strong way to practice your acting.

18 Monologues from Published Plays

I’M SORRY YOU’RE SO BEAUTIFUL
Amanda is concerned that the guy she’s been seeing is interfering with her professional work.

GONE TOO SOON
Tarva has been trying to break her father free from his emotional depression, ever since her mother passed on.

UNDERWHELM
Wilma works in the mailroom and expresses her disdain to a co-worker with regard to her boring life.  She wishes there was a place for her to escape to that will satisfy her desire for adventure.

THE GOLDFISH
Kimmie shares a personal story from her childhood, in order to help Cameron realize the damage he is creating for himself.

THE BEAR
Never knowing if you are on the right life track.

ROSE TO ASH
Aggie desperately tries to talk to her uncle about how difficult her life has been, but he doesn’t seems to be to concerned about her woes.

MIND TRICK
This monologue focuses on coping with an abundance of strange thoughts that enter the mind.

HIGH PLACES
Harrison seeks out and finds the woman he instantly had a connection with, only to find out that she isn’t everything she claimed to be.

DAY FOLLOWS NIGHT
Tyra explains to her friend how she wishes to die and come back a better version of herself.

EYE OF THE WHALE
Gene comes back after a two year disappearance and discusses his spiritual journey.

CHARADE
Philip is highly insulted that Reginald pretended not to see the dinner check on the table.

ACHE AND MOAN
Kendra gives her new worker a reality check over the world she left behind.

VIN ROGUE
Cosmo expresses his feelings poetically to his girlfriend Rianna.

RAISON D’ETRE
Marlo talks to his dear friend about his unlucky life and the misery that always stays with him.

COFFEE TABLE
Being a patient in a psycho ward brings about a confrontation between what is real and what doesn’t exist.

THE GARDEN MAZE
Anna speaks with her Uncle Toby about how she can’t seem to figure out her mother’s behavior.

KILLING YOU
A serial killer may have a change of heart with his latest victim.

SHADOWS OF MY MIND
Naomi opens up to her favorite Aunt about the inner battles she suffers with depression.

Published Plays: Traditional and Digital

1. Traditional Published Plays: Traditionally, you will find plays published in physical books, often available through:

• Publishing houses for theater.
• University Presses or Academic Publishers.
• Libraries and Bookstores.

2. Digital/Online Published Plays: In the digital age, plays can also be published and accessed online. This includes:

• Online Play Publishing Platforms like Monologue Blogger.
• Online Platforms for Digital Performances.
• Digital Libraries and eBooks.
• Self-Publishing and Blogs.

CONCLUSION

Studying monologues from published plays provides an additional resources for actors who wish to dive into the script and understand the world and structure of the overall story.

Both traditional and digital forms of play publishing work for the actors needs.