Suggested Monologues
Students auditioning for the BFA in Acting, BFA in Musical Theatre, or the BA in Theatre Performance must audition with one 2-minute contemporary monologue (written after 1945).
Audition material must be selected from published plays; please do not audition with original material. Choose a monologue that you connect with personally and that best demonstrates your acting abilities.
Please do not prepare monologues that are caricature, extremely broad comedy, require an accent, or that are not from a play or film. If you need assistance in finding a monologue, please consult the lists of suggested monologues below. At the bottom is a list of monologues to avoid.*
| FEMALE | MALE | ||
| Play | Author | Play | Author |
| All Over | Albee | The Zoo Story | Albee |
| Tiny Alice | Albee | Blues for Mr. Charlie | Baldwin |
| Independence | Blessing | Suburbia | Bogosian |
| Suburbia | Bogosian | Road | Cartwright |
| Abington Square | Fornes | Look Homeward, Angel | Frings |
| Fefu and Her Friends | Fornes | A Soldier’s Play | Fuller |
| Hello and Goodbye | Fugard | Snakebit | Grant |
| Snakebit | Grant | Eastern Standard | Greenberg |
| House of Blue Leaves | Guare | Six Degrees of Separation | Guare |
| Six Degrees of Separation | Guare | Slow Dance on the Killing Ground | Hanley |
| The Colored Museum | Wolfe | A Raisin in the Sun | Hansberry |
| The Autumn Garden | Hellman | The Indian Wants the Bronx | Horovitz |
| As Is | Hoffman | Orphans | Kessler |
| Coastal Disturbances | Howe | Boys’ Life | Korder |
| Painting Churches | Howe | Search and Destroy | Korder |
| Picnic | Inge | Indians | Kopit |
| Oh Dad, Poor Dad… | Kopit | Angels in America | Kushner |
| Angels in America | Kushner | Bash | LaBute |
| Bash | LaBute | This Is Our Youth | Lonergan |
| Extremities | Mastrosimone | American Buffalo | Mamet |
| A Member of the Wedding | McCullers | The Woods | Mamet |
| Getting Out | Norman | All My Sons | Miller |
| In The Blood | Parks | Short Eyes | Pinero |
| Spike Heels | Rebeck | Streamers | Rabe |
| Loose Knit | Rebeck | Spike Heels | Rebeck |
| Sunday on the Rocks | Rebeck | a dreamer examines his pillow | Shanley |
| Marisol | Rivera | An Italian American Reconciliation | Shanley |
| a dreamer examines his pillow | Shanley | Danny and the Deep Blue Sea | Shanley |
| Danny and the Deep Blue Sea | Shanley | Curse of the Starving Class | Shepard |
| Buried Child | Shepard | Buried Child | Shepard |
| A Lie of the Mind | Shepard | Action | Shepard |
| Cowboy Mouth | Shepard | A Lie of the Mind | Shepard |
| Stop Kiss | Son | The Food Chain | Silver |
| How I Learned to Drive | Vogel | Free Will and Wanton Lustz | Silver |
| Baltimore Waltz | Vogel | Home | Williams |
| Burn This | Wilson | Joe Turner’s Come and Gone | Wilson |
| Lemon Sky | Wilson | Two Trains Running | Wilson |
| Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom | Wilson | The Colored Museum | Wolfe |
* Please refrain from presenting monologues from the following plays as these have been used quite often by prospective students in auditions during the past year: any play by Christopher Durang, Night Luster (Harrington), Laramie Project (Kaufman), Catholic School Girls (Kurtti), Oleanna (Mamet), The Woolgatherer (Mastrosimone), Lone Star (McClure), Laundry & Bourbon (McClure), Star-Spangled Girl (Simon), Days & Nights of BeeBee Fenstermaker (Snyder), and Nuts (Topor).