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Monologues to perform

Monologues you can learn tonight.

Four original monologues for teens and adults, comic and dramatic, and two Shakespeare speeches. Each one says who is speaking, what they want and what to play, so you can choose one and start working on it.

Choose a monologue
Six monologues · who, what they want, what to play

  1. Maya, 15 to 16

    • Teen
    • Comedic
    • About a minute

  2. Jordan, 16 to 18

    • Teen
    • Dramatic
    • About a minute

  3. Dana, 30s

    • Adult
    • Comedic
    • About a minute

  4. Walt, 50s to 60s

    • Adult
    • Dramatic
    • About ninety seconds

  5. Helena

    • Adult
    • Comedic
    • About ninety seconds

  6. Macbeth

    • Adult
    • Dramatic
    • About two minutes

How to choose

Pick the monologue you can play, not the one you admire.

A casting director learns most from a speech where you want something from the person in front of you and try more than one way to get it. Choose a character near your age, in a situation you understand, and a speech you can say in under two minutes. The famous ones are fine for class; in an audition room, a speech they have not heard twenty times that day gives you a better start.

The monologues

  • Teen
  • Comedic
  • LengthAbout a minute

Maya, 15 to 16

Who is speaking
Maya’s science fair volcano did not happen. She stands at her teacher’s desk the morning it is due, holding a potato with two wires in it.
What they want
To get an extension without admitting she started last night.
What to play
Build the case like a lawyer, then crack when the teacher does not smile.
The turn

You’re not smiling. Okay.

The case falls apart, and the truth comes out.

The monologue

MAYA

Okay. Before you say anything, I want you to know this potato has been through a lot. It was a volcano. Was. Last night at eleven, which is early for me, I put in the baking soda and the vinegar and it did not erupt. It sort of sighed.

So I pivoted. Scientists pivot. This is a potato battery. It powers a clock. Not this clock, the clock is at my house, but it powers it there, conceptually.

You’re not smiling. Okay. Okay. The truth is I forgot until Sunday, and then I panicked, and then I made a volcano that sighed. I can bring the clock Friday. I can bring my mom. Please don’t make me present the potato.

Make it yours in Plot

Open a monologue in Plot to mark its turn and cut it to time, or start a blank page and write one for yourself. Plot sets the character cue and dialogue as you type.

Opens as a new Plot project once you sign in or create a free account. Inkwell keeps this copy for 24 hours.

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Field notes

Getting a monologue ready

  • Keep it under two minutes

    Most auditions ask for one to two minutes, and many stop you at ninety seconds. Time yourself out loud at performance pace. If a speech runs long, cut from the middle and keep the first line and the turn.

  • Talk to one person

    Decide exactly who you are speaking to and place them just past the reader or above the panel’s heads, never at the panel itself. A monologue is half of a conversation; the other half is the person you are trying to change.

  • Play the want, not the mood

    Sad or angry is a result. Pick an action you can do to the other person: to warn them, to win them back, to make them laugh. Change the action when the speech turns, and the audience sees a person thinking.

  • Find the turn

    Every speech here has a moment where the character changes tactics or learns something. Mark it before you rehearse. That moment is what a casting director remembers.

  • Slate, then begin

    Say your name and the piece plainly, take a breath, and let the first line come from the situation. When you finish, hold the last moment for a beat before you look back up.

  • Shakespeare is verse

    Keep the line endings: take a breath at the end of each line, not in the middle of a thought. Look up any word you would not use in conversation, and know what every image means before you say it.

Already have a draft?

Bring your Word document or screenplay into Plot and keep developing it with save points and alternate drafts.

Import a draft

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