Monologue of the Month for Kids

Auditions anyone? Perhaps for a summer theater show? We're getting ready to hold auditions, too, and so this time we're including 4 monos to pick from even if you're auditioning for someone else. Pick one and read the Tips. Rehearse your monologue. It's best to have it memorized.
I don't know what other directors look for but here's what I look for:

  1. Projection (talking loud enough to be heard in the back of the room);

  2. Energy;

  3. Movement;

  4. Expression

I hope you do great on your audition. Break a leg!

Tips for preparing a monologue:

 

  • Imagine the person you're speaking to. If you're supposed to be speaking to the audience, imagine who they are--friends? enemies? the doorman?

  • Imagine where you are and the things that are around you.

  • Create a set by using real objects that are handy--chairs, benches, fake tree, etc.

  • You can use real objects for props, too--book, wallet, football, etc.

  • Be expressive--get mad or happy or sad or just have some attitude as you perform your monologue.

  • Movement & Gestures--use them. Don't just stand still while doing a monologue.

  • If there are stage directions—in parenthesis—in the monologue below, use them or come up with your own. They're just suggestions. If a monologue has ellipses (three dots in a row), act as if you’re listening to someone else responding or speaking to you. But those ellipses might also just mean there's a slight pause. Read through the monologue and see if you're listening to someone or just pausing for effect.

  • Break a leg! (That's theater talk for "good luck." It's bad luck to say "good luck" in the theater so you say "Break a leg!")

 

The Secret Frog

Mom said that there would be no more pets in the house. But I thought that a frog couldn’t really be a pet because I didn’t exactly bring it in. After I put the frog on the deck, I got it to hop by touching it with my shoe—not my hand! I never touched it with my hands. It hopped into the house because I must have forgotten to close the sliding glass door. It managed to find my room and the container of water I accidentally left on the floor earlier. There was a real-live, wild frog—which was not a pet—in my room. I was happy. Until 10 pm when it woke up the whole house with its ribbiting. I learned that as loud as frogs can be, moms can be louder. Much louder.

 

I Asked My Best Friend

I asked my best friend if she thought the new guy had a crush on me. She told me she wasn’t sure so she’d go and ask. I stopped her right there. If she was going to ask, then I had to hide somewhere. She told me to just go into the bathroom and wait there. I stopped her again and told her she had to wait three minutes before she asked him. But my other best friend heard us and asked loudly which boy we were talking about and before I could say, “Sh,” the whole table knew. Another friend who I don’t talk to any more stood up and asked the new guy if he had a crush on me. Now the whole lunchroom knew. I tried to leave with my head held high but it didn’t work because I tripped on my own shoelace. My life is ruined.

 

No Driver License

Dad was at work and when I called him, he said he couldn’t come back just to drive me to the library. My grandma was at some volunteer training, so she couldn’t pick me up either. Why can’t kids my age get a driver license? I go more places than most people—the library, the playground, the ice cream shop, grandma’s house when she’s home, the skate park, and most of my friend’s houses. I’ve seen small cars on the street. I could drive one of them. Except I don’t have a driver license. This is ridiculous. Now I’m going to have to walk all six blocks to the library. I need a license. (exits)

 

Grocery Shopping

I told Mom “How hard can grocery shopping really be?” She was whining about having to go to the store again. So she parked at the store and made me get out, handing me a list with a budget. “Just signal me when you’re done, and I’ll come in and pay,” she said. I’ve already been in the store for an hour. I tried to figure out what to do about the vegetables because if I choose something my mom can’t cook, she’ll might make me cook it. When I weighed the fruit to figure out the cost, a nice lady told me to weigh only one type of fruit at a time, so I got one bag of oranges. That’s when she asked if I had weighed the vegetables the same way. I decided not to get vegetables. The meat was too expensive for my budget, so I bought a few cans of tuna fish. The eggs! There are dozens of eggs. I mean, there are all kinds of eggs—small, medium, large and extra-large; brown and white. I just grabbed a carton and walked away. I texted my mom to come save me. It’s a jungle in here.