As you search for monologues, try to find more options than you think you need. That way, if we have to rule something out for any reason, you won't be left scrambling to find something else. Try to stay away from "overdone" playwrights such as Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Neil Simon, etc., unless you are pulling from lesser-known plays by well-known playwrights. For your Shakespeare choices, please try to avoid the extremely well-known plays like Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth and so on. The people for whom you will be auditioning have seen monologues from these plays over and over and over again. When a female student does, say, a Juliet monologue, unless she delivers an absolutely brilliant performance, her monologue choice may make her look like a novice. I'm quite certain that is not the message any of you would like to send in your auditions. Instead, try looking at Shakespeare's histories, and less-produced plays like Troilus and Cressida, Cymbeline, Pericles, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and that list goes on as well. I just think you send a message of professionalism and sophistication when you put together an audition package of monologues that the auditors haven't seen time and time again.
If you would like me to look at any of your potential monologue choices and give you my input, you can show them to me at school or email me over the summer at [email protected]. Once we come back in the fall, I am happy to offer monologue coaching sessions and pre-screen tapings to any and all of our students. Just make sure that you are diligent about pre-screen due dates and requirements, as the schedule is very tight and you don't want to wait until the last minute...or even worse, tape your pre-screen and find out after-the-fact that you didn't accurately follow their instructions. To help in this matter, Drama 4 will be conducting research in the fall on a long list of colleges, and their findings will be posted to a database that any of our students can access. This should only be considered a helpful tool, however, and cannot substitute for your own research on your schools of interest.
Best of luck to you all as you look forward to your senior year and beyond. Please let me know if you have any questions. I am happy to help you in this process in any way I can.