First of all, let me say that in my 43 years in the business of theatre, the most often asked questions that I get concern monologues. Of course they are a fundamental of the industry, whether you are auditioning for a role, a scholarship or a school. Why then is it then, that so many people don't know how to do it?
My favorite book on monologue preparation is Larry Silverberg's wonderful, Loving to Audition. If you have this book, what are you doing reading this blog? Run get it. Do it now! If you don't have it, most of what I have to say about monologue preparation is the same kind of stuff. When I was performing, I used this book and I had a 50-60% casting ratio. That's pretty good, ask anyone who is out there running the gamut.
The first step is finding a monologue that you absolutely love. If you don't love it, you are not going to perform it well. Trust me, I have seen thousands of monologues in my lifetime and you can ALWAYS tell. So where do you find a monologue? Some people buy a ton of books (and keep the Borders I am sitting at in business). that's not what I do, however (sorry free wi-fi and mint tazo tea). To find the perfect monologue, I plan an afternoon at the downtown library. Quite methodically, I go through the stacks of plays and pull out a bunch of them--either ones I know but had forgotten about or ones that are new to me--and then I scan them for long passages. The ones the meet the length criteria, then get added to the "read pile". (After making sure that they are gender appropriate, of course.) When I have narrowed my search down to ten or twenty plays, I begin to read them. Yes, luv, I said READ them. I read the play from cover to cover. I contextualize my character that way.
Usually this narrows my choices down to one or two. Those are the scripts that I check out. The whole library experience might take two hours--usually its about five. I like to be thorough!
The selections that I take home I then read again. I read them in one complete sitting--if I am interrupted, I begin the process again. It is important that you get the total feel of the character's world and their place in that world.
Once I have decided that this is The One, I write that monologue out longhand. Having another brain bubble at that thought? I grab a couple of sheets of notebook paper and write my monologue down, and here's the rub: I take out all punctuation and capitalization! Why? Because that allows me to interpret the character in my own way and to make discoveries about her that are unique. I never would allow the grammar police to interpret my performance. As I rehearse and prepare my piece, I may add my own punctuation and diacritical markings. This is the first phase of making the character come to life within me.
This is Pretty good advice, especially for a newbie like me :)
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