Walk n’ monolog work with Cecily tonight.
…She: prepping for next audition, brought the script to review, plucking out the key focus monologue…both of us character Q & A-ing before beginning the attack.
I love monologues.
…I love that inner sanctum of information they dispel, the challenge of beats and variety of layers that can be added…like seasoning a good piece of meat. To break down the thought process, negotiate the change of emotions, the gestures indicating words you have to look to find, the maybe stammer or lingering on a juicy adjective…the seduction and savoring…the confusion and frustration…the arriving at metaphors as if such a suggestion has just this moment occurred to you, opening an entirely new perspective…in this instant: now. Immediate. With no filters.
A good monolog is a showpiece of thought process, motivation, desire, fear, eagerness, earnestness, hope, despair, and every other form of emotion coinciding with humanity. When breaths are taken, pauses are earned, and words are searched for: there the homework begins.
…To deliver a “speech” as NOT a rehearsed word-for-word recitation, but as a word-to-word invented inspiration, takes time…takes hours scouring the script for alternate clues…takes breaking down the text into main ideas and beats…word stresses, setting of seamless shifts in emotion and intent, playing with the energy and tempo, manipulating the affections and emotions…
A good monolog is a story unto itself…an intimately shared experience of what it is to be in the mind and/or circumstance of a character.
A good monolog is a living, breathing entity, ripe for the picking, ready to explore, and infuse with interpretation.
…It’s the first step on the road to our final destination as an audition piece…our calling card we leave at the door and in the mind, slating who we are as performers and artists.
…It’s the well-rehearsed solo in the orchestral piece of a show’s actual culminated performance.
…And with all that, it has the power-potential to make or break you…in two minutes or less.
Whoever says theater isn’t a brutal sport, has clearly never played. It’s like our own little Hunger Games, out here…amidst a giant casting cornucopia.
…May the odds be ever in your favor.
~D
