Monologue Work - Part 2 Name: _________________________ 

PA I B   

Making your choice -  

Now that you have read through your two monologues. Make the choice of one 
you will further develop and ultimately record a short section of. The work will 
begin on that monologue.  
Be sure to have a hard copy that you can mark up and write on. You will turn in 
your annotated monologue as well.  

Preparing The Monologue 

If you prep well, you'll achieve 60% toward amazing (and if you're playing along 
that leaves only 10% for performance. Chew on that for a moment) Remember 
20% was in the choice of a good monologue for you. (This is not how I am 
grading, this is just an estimation of the weight of that work in the process) 
You must prepare your monologue. You must prepare your monologue. And I'll 
say it again: You must prepare your monologue. Can an actor do a good job if they 
don't prepare? Depends on the actor and the monologue. It even depends on the 
mood of the particular audience.  
But why rely on luck when you can build a preparation method that will work 
every time, for every monologue, for every situation? 
Character 
Character development is key if you want to show off your skills. Here's a list of 
questions every actor should ask and answer regarding their monologue's character. 
If there isn't an answer for every question, think about whether the monologue is 
the right choice. 
Character traits, objectives and emotions: 
1. List all known character details (name, age, family, education, occupation, etc): 
Michelle, late teen, sister and dysfunctional family 
2. What do I think of this character? How do I relate to this character? 
She is frustrated because her sister just wants attention and is making the family resent 
eachother for it. 
3. What does my character want? 
For the sister to stop creating drama 
4. Do they get it? Why or why not? 
Kind of. They sit down after she has the utbursts and tries to work through her sisters problems. 
At the end they come to a mutual agreement that in the end them and their family will be okay. 
 5. What change happens to my character within the monologue? 
At first shes angry and upset but i feel like later i n the monologue she becomes pityful of 
her sister and wants her to make a change 
6. Who are they speaking to? What's the relationship? 
Her sister and they dont have a really good relationship. Michelle seems to resent her for 
her actions. 
7. What emotions does my character experience? 
Anger, resentment, sad, hate, pity, sympathy, hurt, frustrated 
8. What is my character doing, thinking, feeling the moment before the monologue? 
(its the first lines in the play so idk what happened before) I assume that she was feeling 
fed up and they were probably arguing. 
 
Vocal and movement considerations:  
 
9. What pace does my character speak? What style of speech do they use? 
At first its slower then i feel like it would pick when shes listing the things that makes her 
sister happy(like an emotional outburst) informal style of speech. 
10. What does the way they speak say about the character? 
She has been holding in her emotions for way too long and she really does care about her 
sister na dher family its just she is stressed and frustrated. 
11. What adjectives describe my character? How can I physicalize these adjectives? 
Upset, dissapointed, worried, caring, hurt, sad. Posture, hand mvmt, vocal ups and downs 
12. How does my character stand? 
I feel as if she wouldent be standing completely tall but taller than her sister is standing. It 
changes through out. I think she starts standing tall and slowly loses some of that posture 
but regains it in the end when she is getting all her feelings out. 
13. How does my character move? 
She is standing still but might walk a few paces. Ridgid and strong movements. 
Voice and Sound 
Pay attention to the sound of your monologue. You can have the best character 
development and the most interesting piece, but if you mumble, speak in a 
monotone or speak so fast no one can understand a word, it won't matter. Your 
voice is a powerful tool, use it well. 
Answer these questions for yourself as you work. You do not have to answer them 
for me.  
• Volume, dynamics and tempo - Project but do not yell. Yelling turns off an audience if 
you do it for long. Play with dynamics - where do you get louder and softer? Where 
might you speed up a little based on emotion or slow down for emphasis. ( mark these 
changes for yourself on the monologue if you need the reminder) 
• Record the monologue and listen back. Is every word clear (diction)? Is there variety in 
your inflection ( ups and downs - not flat delivery)? Is there variety in dynamics? Is there 
variety in tempo? Is the variety driven by the piece? 
• Warm up your voice before you perform. Never perform with a cold, unused voice. 
• Tongue Twisters are an excellent way of working on your diction. Really enunciate and 
articulate to make every word distinct. Make Tongue Twisters part of your warm up 
• Breathe! When you control your breath, you control your voice. 
 
Movement - ​Staging shouldn't be ignored simply because you're performing for a 
mere two minutes max. Two minutes is a long time for an audience to watch 
someone standing still. On the other hand, it's not appropriate to move chaotically 
about the space from beginning to end. Your movement must be carefully thought 
out, planned and practiced. 
There are two types of movement in a monologue performance. 
Good movement:​ Specific, character-driven blocking. A movement to impact the 
climax. A pose or gesture to establish character. Good movement will always add 
to the overall presentation. 
Bad movement:​ Wander-itis, vague gestures, movement and gestures that come 
from the actor instead of the character. Moving for the sake of moving because the 
actor thinks they're supposed to. 
How do you achieve the good and banish the bad? 
Avoid Wander-itis.​ Wander-itis (random, unmotivated wandering) is one of the 
most common movement issues. Practice your monologue pretending that your 
feet are welded to the floor. The more you practice, the more natural it will 
become. 
Less is more.​ Come up with one specific move, one pose and one gesture for the 
piece. Each must be character driven. Never move for the sake of moving.  
 
Now Mark up your monologue​ - ​ ( I suggest using pencil as some markings might change) 
a) First decide where your “beats” are. A beat is a section of your monologue with a unified 
objective. It is a like a paragraph in that between paragraphs the topic of discussion, the needs 
of the character, their focus or emotions or what they are trying to accomplish changes. ​Mark 
these with // between the beats. ​ You may find you have three or four within a monologue.  
b) ​Next, put a single / where you will pause longer​ than just the punctuation indicates. This 
means that you character is struggling with what to say next, is having a shift, or is thinking 
about something. It might also be due to some action they need to do.  
c) Next, ​write all emotions a character is feeling in the margin ​and indicate perhaps with 
parentheses or brackets where these are occurring.  
d)​ Write in the margin ​with arrows to parts of the monologue where the character might ​move 
and use stage directions - such as “rises from the chair”, “sits back down”, “ “leans forward”, 
“crosses slightly downstage left” …… 
e) ​write in the margin​ some gestures and facial expressions that the character will use as they 
connect to what they are saying or feeling - just the right amount - not too much - remember 
for d and e our rules for movement - especially that the movement must be motivated and 
delineate character. Gestures and facial expressions may include things like, “frown”, “clench 
fists”, “nervously rubs neck” … anything that will help get across your meaning, seems natural 
and is in character.   
Memorizing lines.​ The less time you spend with your monologue, the easier it will 
be to forget your lines. Write them out, say them out loud, learn them out of order, 
say them fast, say them slow, repeat, repeat, and repeat it again. 
Practice, practice, practice.​ The more you rehearse the monologue, the more 
you'll discover about your character, coming up with the exact right movement, the 
more ingrained the piece will become. BE CAREFUL THOUGH. The art of acting 
is to take something that is memorized and make it seem as if you are saying it for 
the first time. Think about PAUSES where the CHARACTER would think or deal 
with emotional shifts before continuing. Pauses are necessary and natural. Think 
about what the body and face are doing during those pauses, or where the actor 
might be moving to, to continue to act through those pauses. Try it different ways.  
Video​ your performance for yourself as a rough run. Watch it with the mute on to 
focus solely on your movement. Do you stand your ground or wander? What do 
you do with your hands? Are your movements character driven or are they things 
you do? Watch for adjusting of clothes, brushing hair away from the face, shuffling 
feet, and hands that wave about for no reason. 
Perform your piece in front of another person if you can: ​Get some feedback. 
Do you seem to stay in character? Do you seem to maintain focus and 
concentration? Are you speaking too fast or too slow? Is your movement and 
gesturing enough? Too much?  
 
Time the section of the monologue you will video to turn in.​ Make sure your 
choice of the section is a strong section and includes at least one shift in emotion if 
you can. I am looking for about 30 seconds - but some may want to do a little 
more - YOU DO NOT HAVE TO MEMORIZE THE WHOLE MONOLOGUE.  
Do your recording and submit to me ​- I am not looking for perfection - just real 
risks and effort. I will be the only one to see these and I know you will wow me!  
To summarize:​ What you need to do to finish our mini-monologue unit 
1. Make a choice between the two you identified last week.  
2. Answer all the 13 character questions in this document. Turn in this 
 document. 
3. Mark up your entire monologue copy with beats, pauses, emotions and 
movement notes as explained above. Turn in your marked up copy. 
4. Memorize and rehearse a 30 second section of your monologue and 
make a video of it and submit it to me.  
5. ALL of the above will be due Thursday 5/14.