MONOLOGUES FOR PLAYSTUDY

HALLOWEEN MIX-UP (girl)

Description: A girl on Halloween encounters someone with a really cool and realistic costume.
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Hi! I saw you from across the street, and I just gotta say, I love your Halloween costume! It looks so realistic! I mean the fur and the teeth are really authentic. The mask even moves when you talk. It’s such a convincing werewolf, you’d almost think it’s real! Hahaha!! Honestly, it’s kinda creepy. It looks like you could eat me and my grandma up. Get it? Because I’m Little Red Riding Hood? And her whole story was…whatever you get it. You know I DIY’d my costume, and it took me HOURS, but it’s nowhere near as good as yours. Seriously, yours puts mine to shame. Heck, it puts everyone’s costume to shame. So did you buy it or do it yourself? I ALWAYS make my own because I’m so creative, but I understand that not everyone is as talented as me! Speaking of which, yours is so good you should enter the costume contest. I’d bet you win, which sucks for me, but hey maybe I’ll get second, which is in some ways better than first. You’ll have to tell me where you got your costume, so I can win next year. If you tell me I’ll invite you to my Halloween Party, which is going to be like totally cool, but if you don’t you can’t come! JK!!! Hahaha, But not really. So, tell me where did you get it? Oh! You’re a real werewolf. Whatever, you can still come to my Halloween Party.

IS IT A FAIRYTALE  (boy/girl)

Description: A girl texts a boy that she likes him.

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Oh, what should I say? What should I say? Oh, I know! I’d like to tell you something. Just promise you won’t make fun of me. I’ve liked you for quite some time now and have decided to confess my feelings. Oh no!! I just sent it. What if he thinks I’m weird for liking him? What if he likes me back? ( to herself)Oh, stop it Linsay! You know he won’t like you back. This is real life, not a fairytale! I know! I’ll just try and make a cover story. Uh oh! He saw it! He’s typing!! He… stopped. I can’t believe I had hoped that he would like me. I mean look at me! I’m just the nerdy, smart girl that no one likes. (looks at the phone again and looks shocked) He likes me back! I think life just might be a fairytale!

THE AUDITION (boy/girl)

Description: A young person is nervous about a big audition. Girl or boy monologue 

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Don’t you get it? Today is the day of THE audition. The audition where all my dreams could finally become a reality. I’m totally pumped. Well, except for the fact I’m scared. But just a little. I mean just because it’s my first major audition doesn’t mean I should worry. I mean naturally, I’m a worry-free person. But what if I don’t make it? What if I don’t get the part? That would be so embarrassing. I would have to change my name. I would never be able to show my face in public. I might have to move to a foreign land and live alone with 2 cats in an abandoned warehouse because I can’t make a living because no one wants to hire the girl who couldn’t land the role she had prepared for, for so long. Ok so maybe I’m like totally petrified.

HALF BIRTHDAY (girl)

Description: A girl begs her parents for a special doll.

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Why can’t I have the doll? It’s my half birthday! I deserve it 100%. But I really want the 2022 Barbie girl doll! And there are only ten left in the whole world! What can I do to convince you to buy it for me? Okay, hear me out. So, I was thinking that I could do the dishes! And even dry them! I can’t reach the sink though, ummm, how about… I can make you BOTH, breakfast in bed for a full week! No?! Then a whole month! That’s the most I can do! Never mind, I don’t know how to cook… Ok then, I could give you five dollars from MY piggy bank, to help pay for the doll. Excuse me?! 100 dollars? That’s impossible! Last time I checked, it was ten dollars. But I may have read the number wrong… Fine then if you’re not gonna buy it for me, I guess I will have to buy it for myself! I am going to go pack my stuff, get a job, and move out! GOODBYE!!! (Starts to leave, but returns.) I’m sorry. I get it. I should be grateful for what I have. But could I HAVE IT, by any chance? Please!

THE CRUSH (boy/girl)

Description: A shy kid asks his friend for advice on how they can talk to a girl they like. 

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I need some advice. I kinda like the new girl Jessica. But you can’t tell anyone ok! I’m just not sure the best way to approach her. Statistics show that the easiest way to get someone to like you is to be popular. But I’m not popular. Science also shows that to become popular you should spend time with popular people. Wait a minute. Why don’t I talk to Jake? He is definitely the coolest kid in school. How can I impress him? Throw a football 20 yards? Break the school record in track and field? Do a backflip? Ugh! You’re right. Who am I kidding? I can’t do any of those things! I’ve got it. I’ll just give him the answers for the test. That’s easy. That will totally make him think I’m cool. Next thing you know, I’ll be popular. Maybe then I’ll get up the courage to talk to Jessica.

AM I THE ONLY ONE (boy/girl teen)

Description: A kid addresses their bullies in a video for the world to see. (Male/female can take out the make-up line if uncomfortable)

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I could come on here and say I am fine, and that today was an amazing day, but that would be lying. My life has been nothing but painful for the past two years, with names thrown at me from every direction and pranks pulled on me just to see me in pain and agony. My self-esteem has gone down, and half of the time I don’t even want to show up to school or be seen at a store or a mall. Bullying has been my life at school and even on the internet. People say such cruel and harsh things…and I believe them sometimes. What have I done to deserve this? Why can’t everyone just be accepted for who they are? I’ve been dieting and trying new styles just to make people like me more. But even then they make fun of me. Even when I lost ten pounds, or when the clothing was their style! I’ve started wearing baggy clothes because I am seen as overweight. I wear makeup due to the fact that I am seen as a monster with a bunch of acne. Will it ever stop? I literally come home in tears, but nobody cares what I think. The more bullying happens to me the more I become depressed. Anxiety hits me from every angle. I want to change schools and throw away social media to get away from the one thing that is stopping me from being happy. Bullies. If society keeps going on like this the teen world will be in shambles. I just have to say one more thing. Is bullying truly what the world needs? Or do we need to rebuild the world on peace and trust? 

WEST SIDE STORY (girl teen)

Description: Anita, a character from West Side Story is talking to her brother Bernardo. 

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Is that what you see? Is that really how you feel? We have barely been here for a year and you wanna give up now? I can’t believe it. We grew up with so little money and you wanna go back? I know you think Puerto Rico is amazing, and it is, but we struggled so hard to make a living there. Sure, it was fun going to beaches and being with friends and having the time of our lives, but we can’t go back. It’s time to grow up and live a life we dreamed about. I wanna work at this design store and show people my talent, and you wanna run away? No! We worked too damn hard to give up now! I don’t care if you don’t like it here, suck it up and deal with it. This isn’t just for us, it’s for our future. I regret having to leave our family but they’ll join us soon. You know that we need to do this, not only for us but for them too. Listen to me, we have never, ever had an opportunity like this before. We’ve never been given a chance to change how we live. Think about our siblings who are growing up how we did– is that what you want for them? To get bullied and called worthless– do you want that? I would regret that for the rest of my life if that ever happened. Stay. Please, I need you. They need you. We need you.

SISTER PARENT (boy/girl teen)

Description: A teen expresses anger at needing to share her room with a baby sister but decides to rise to the occasion because her mom was never a real mom.
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You’re telling me I have to share my room? This is outrageous. You know we live in a two-bedroom apartment, yet you still decided to get pregnant. Thank you for being so considerate, mom! I’m turning thirteen next month which means I’m basically a teenager. And what do teenagers need? Oh yeah…privacy! This just isn’t fair. None of my other friends have to share a room, and none of them have a mother like you. You don’t care about me, and you’re never there when I need you. Where were you when I needed help with my math homework? Why weren’t you there to make me dinner when I was too young to use the stove? Oh yeah-I remember now. You were too busy running around with guys that only stuck around for one reason and one reason only. Which one of them banged you up this time? Was it Carl? John? Someone I haven’t met yet?!? Is he going to watch the baby, change their diaper, feed them? No, he isn’t, and neither are you. You and I both know I’m going to be responsible for this child I didn’t even ask for. But you know what? I’m up for the challenge. I WILL share my room, but most importantly, I’ll give that kid the childhood I never got to have. As soon as I can get a job, I’ll use the money from my paychecks to spoil them with all the coolest toys on the market. I’ll make them feel loved. Make time for them. Give them everything you didn’t give me.

LOST IN NEW YORK (boy/girl young adult)

Description: A teen asks a stranger for help after missing a train stop while running away.

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Excuse me…excuse me… can I please use your phone? I promise that it’s not really a big deal. Yeah, I’m okay. I know, you’re wondering why but I promise I’m fine. Okay, three days ago me and my mom got into another big fight, and trust me it isn’t the first time we’ve gotten into a fight. She’d been yelling at me almost every day for the littlest things too. It obviously wasn’t my fault because why would I do things that would upset her on purpose? Since she wasn’t really around much with her work and everything, I decided that I could take the train from Ohio to Pennsylvania, to stay with my aunt because that seemed like my only option as long as I was away from home. I just couldn’t take it anymore, you know? It seemed okay, but I slept through the night on the train and had no choice but to get off when the train stopped in New York. I figured everything would be okay and I could find a cab to take me to my aunts’ but then I realized that I left my bag on the train which had my phone and all of the money that I could bring. New York always seemed nice too I guess, but now that I’m here, there’s too many people, and it’s crowded everywhere I go. I didn’t think that I would miss home, but I really do. I miss my friends, my dog, my house, and even my mom. So much and I would do almost anything to get back to it all. I know that she’ll be really disappointed, and I am too, in myself. The only thing I can do now is go home, because I can’t stay here. So, if I could just use your phone…

BUG STUDY (female/male 16-20’s)

A monologue from the play by Emma Goldman-Sherman

A father, an entomologist, spends years away from home working in a rain forest. Here, he has come home for a while, and finds out what his child’s feels about him being an absentee father.

Jane (twenty)-

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Are you getting a divorce? Cause if you’re getting a divorce, you haven’t changed a bit. Do you still spend your nights dozing over a textbook in that leather chair as if you’re really there?

At least when you are gone, you are gone. Now you’re supposed to be here, but you’re gone at the same time, sort of like . . . I know! I know! You’re Virtual Dad! Plug him in and pretend he loves you! Am I bothering you? Making you want to leave again? Go on. You’re good at it. It will be just like all the other times you’ve left, only this time, you’re already packed. I can hardly look at you standing by your bags.

I can’t tell if you’re coming or going. Do you know the difference, or is there only one way for you? It’s away, right?

This is the moment when you swing by to tell me you’re leaving again, on a longer trip with a bigger grant to study something even stranger than before, before I’m even used to having you around? I’m sorry. I guess I’m feeling cold and unwelcoming. Are you lonely for your long lost family, the one you never really wanted, or do people want families before they’re formed and then freak out that they can’t manage them once they get them? I don’t know. I’m just a kid. How would I know? All I know is that my adults, the ones assigned to me, they don’t seem to want me around, or I can put it differently, they don’t want to be around me. Ah, you say that isn’t true. You say you love me, but doesn’t love mean being available to a person? Most of my life I haven’t even been able to call you, and forget visiting. A person needs shots and a state department visa just to get to you. But you have a great excuse, because the rainforest isn’t wired for cell service. I have this thing about not seeing people in the flesh. My therapist, are you in therapy? You really should be. So Mary Beth, my therapist, says I flunked Peek-A-Boo. It’s that stage in development when a kid starts to trust her primary caretaker, to believe that he or she is there even if she can’t see him. I flunked that part, and if a person isn’t right before my eyes, I don’t necessarily believe they exist. So if you really are here, and you’re really not just stopping in to say you’re leaving again, you’re going to have to do better than this. Silence, your silence, isn’t working for me.

THE MOONLIGHT ROOM (female/male 13-17)

A young person talks about the burden of living with a severely depressed mother. 

Sal Sal 

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What do you know? Your mom’s with someone. She’s happy. My mom barely goes out. She says she’d rather stay home and clean the apartment. 

I’m not even allowed to have friends over because they’ll interfere with her depression. And she doesn’t want to wash her hair. Sometimes she goes a whole week. I tell her that if maybe we had people around she would start to feel better. But she doesn’t listen. She’ll sit there watching ‘Jeopardy’ and bad-mouth my dad. The same speech I’ve been hearing since he left. On and on and on and on. And then when he comes over to pick me up, she puts on lipstick! She doesn’t wash her hair, and she has on the same outfit she’s worn for three days, but she puts on lipstick! I swear one night I’m going to go out, and I’m just not going to come home. (They sit in silence for a few beats. Sal becomes embarrassed.)

I just don’t want to have to call her. (Pause.) You don’t realize how lucky you are. You do whatever you want. 

You could come home tomorrow and it’s fine. I come home tomorrow and I’m on the back of a milk carton.