7 Ways to Find Your College Audition Monologues

Finding the right monologues for college auditions is one of the biggest challenges facing teen actors, but here are some easy ways to start your search for the perfect college audition monologue. Remember, college auditors want to see the real you, so let your genuine self-shine through.

  • Try searching The Monologuer right at Backstage.com, which has a varied library including classical material.

  • Subscribe to email lists of Samuel French and Dramatists Play Service. You will receive regular updates with the newest published script. And they provide character and plot summaries.

  • Bookmark the NY Times’ theater section and read reviews daily. Read the reviews each day and, in addition, familiarize yourself with what is playing in regional theaters.

  • Regularly visit the Drama Book Shop’s website. They have a “play of the week” including a synopsis that may be of interest.

  • Peruse the Playwrights Horizons online bookshop. A small but significant collection of new plays recently produced

  • Search Playscripts.com. They have a section called “high school category” with age-appropriate scripts.

  • Go to the library and thumb through scripts. Look for large blocks of text and note the
    monologues that speak to you. The words should feel like something you yourself would say in a way that you would say them.

Enjoy the process. It is every actor’s responsibility to have material at the ready. You might also want to stockpile evergreen audition material you can use for later auditions or classwork once you get into college. And it’s always a good idea to have extra pieces in case the college auditors ask if you have anything else? You want to be able to say, “Why yes I do!”

BY MARY ANNA DENNARD