50 Audition Monologues
50 audition monologues for men and women: comedic, dramatic and classical pieces for college, theater and agent auditions, with tips on choosing one.
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50 Great Monologues For Auditions
The right audition monologue can make or break a college, theater or agent audition. These 50 pieces are split into female comedic, female dramatic, male dramatic and classical, so you can find one that fits your type fast. For more choice, search all 355 monologues in our database by age, gender, tone and length.
- Emotional Arc: A compelling monologue tells a story and takes the audience on an emotional journey. Look for monologues that showcase a character’s emotional arc, which will allow you to demonstrate your ability to convey a range of emotions and connect with the audience.
- Demonstrates Your Range: Choose a monologue that highlights your versatility as an actor. The piece should showcase your strengths and allow you to display a wide range of acting skills, from subtle moments to dramatic intensity.
- Suits the Project and Character: A great audition monologue should be tailored to the project and character you’re auditioning for. Consider the tone, style, and genre of the production, and select a monologue that aligns with the specific role.
- Appropriate Length: Keep your monologue brief and concise. Audition monologues should generally be no longer than two minutes, allowing you to showcase your acting skills without overwhelming the casting director.
- Originality: Stand out from the crowd by choosing a unique, lesser-known monologue. Avoid overused, clichéd pieces, and opt for a monologue that will leave a lasting impression on the casting director.
If you’re preparing for a college audition, you found the right page.
A good audition monologue should demonstrate your emotional range, versatility, and connection to the character. By choosing a piece that is tailored to the project and role, you’ll increase your chances of making a lasting impression on the casting director or college you are seeking admission into.
The right monologue can make or break your college audition, and depending on the program, you may need to memorize up to four monologues. Finding the right monologue can be tricky, but if you’re looking for inspiration, below are fifty great monologues for auditions.
How To Find A Good Monologue That Works
Before you explore the audition monologues below please watch this video from John Windsor-Cunningham for tips on finding monologues that work.
John Windsor-Cunningham trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and with Sanford Meisner in New York, where he now lives, acts and works as a Skype acting coach for Films, TV, Theatre and some drama school auditions.
When you are doing a monologue for an audition there are other people auditioning, quite a few of them usually. Someone has to sit through and watch them all. It can be incredibly boring sitting through watching lots of people doing a monologue. One time I watched 35 monologues and every single one was exactly the same. Imagine it, thirty five people doing a monologue and its exactly the damn same, of course I was bored. THEN one person came on and he did his monologue and it seemed to be about him. You’ve got to make the monologue about you. You’ve got to know how to make the lines about you.
John Windsor-Cunningham
Female Comedic Monologues For Auditions
All from published plays, here are some of our favorite comedic monologues for females:
01
Violet
Alcott · Adam Szymkowicz
Women 20s–40s Comedic Play About 1:15
“My name’s not Violet. My name has never been Violet. I always introduce myself as Elizabeth. It’s my name. It’s always been my name. Meredith called me Shrinking Violet once…”
02
Margaret
Good People · David Lindsay-Abaire
Women 20s–30s Comedic Play About 1:45
“Did I ever tell you the turkey story? Up at Flanagan’s? When I worked up there and she came in? She never told you that turkey story? Huh. She was…”
In this scene, Margaret takes a cigarette break during work and converses with her younger supervisor, who happens to be the child of her deceased friend, Suzie. She is characterized by her outgoing and sharp-witted nature, frequently employing humor to deal with her difficult life circumstances. In this adapted passage, Margaret shares an amusing anecdote to sidestep a serious discussion with her boss about arriving late for her shift. In the source material, Margaret skillfully navigates or evades her boss’s interruptions, which is a crucial element to emphasize in this portrayal
03
Eliza Doolittle
My Fair Lady · Alan Jay Lerner
Women 20s–30s Comedic Musical About 1:15
“My aunt died of influenza, so they said. But it’s my belief they done the old woman in. Yes Lord love you! Why should she die of influenza when she…”
This monologue is from the book by Alan Jay Lerner (Based on the play Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw
04
Amanda
The Glass Menagerie · Tennessee Williams
Women 40s–60s Dramatic Play About 1:45
“I went to the typing instructor and introduced myself as your mother. She didn’t know who you were. Wingfield, she said. We don’t have any such student enrolled at the…”
05
Dotty Otley
Noises Off · Michael Frayn
Women 30s–50s Comedic Play About 1:30
“It’s no good you going on. I can’t open sardines and answer the phone. I’ve only got one pair of feet. Hello…. Yes, but there’s no one here, love…. No…”
06
Lady Bracknell
The Importance of Being Earnest · Oscar Wilde
Women 50s Comedic Play About 1:15
“Mr. Worthing, I confess I feel somewhat bewildered by what you have just told me. To be born, or at any rate bred, in a hand-bag, whether it had handles…”
07
Lubov
The Cherry Orchard · Anton Chekhov
Women 50s Comedic Play About 1:00
“What truth? You see where truth is, and where untruth is, but I seem to have lost my sight and see nothing. You boldly settle all important questions, but tell…”
08
Original
Original · Joseph Arnone
Women 30s–50s Comedic Play About 0:45
“Don’t look at me. (points) You. Eh, eh, eh…when I address you, do not look at me. No eye contact. Is that understood? Look away. (beat) Okay, look at me…”
09
Lady Mary
The Admirable Crichton · J. M. Barrie
Women 20s–30s Comedic Play About 1:00
“I sighted a herd near Penguin’s Creek, but had to creep round Silver Lake to get to windward of them. However, they spotted me and then the fun began. There…”
10
Sally Brown
You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown · Clark Gesner
Women Kids–20s Comedic Musical About 1:15
“A ‘C’? A ‘C’? I got a ‘C’ on my coathanger sculpture? How could anyone get a ‘C’ in coathanger sculpture? May I ask a question? Was I judged on…”
11
Helena
A Midsummer Night’s Dream · William Shakespeare
Women Teens–30s Classical · verse Play About 1:00
“O, I am out of breath in this fond chase! The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace. Happy is Hermia, wheresoe’er she lies; For she hath blessed and…”
Female Dramatic Monologues For Auditions
Here are some more contemporary monologues for women that are more dramatic:
12
Anna
Anna Christie · Eugene O’Neill
Women 30s Dramatic Play About 1:45
“I s’pose if I tried to tell you I wasn’t- that- no more you’d believe me, wouldn’t you? Yes, you would! And if I told you that yust getting out…”
13
Nora
A Doll’s House · Henrik Ibsen
Women 30s Dramatic Play About 1:30
“You have never loved me. You have only thought it pleasant to be in love with me. It is perfectly true, Torvald. When I was at home with papa, he…”
14
Sasha
Ivanov · Anton Chekhov
Women 20s–50s Dramatic Play About 1:15
“Sasha What can you possibly have to tell me? That you are a man of honour? The whole world knows it. You had better tell me on your honour whether…”
15
Woman
Lungs · Duncan Macmillan
Women 20s Dramatic Play About 2:15
“Look. Alright. Listen, you have to understand, alright, I’m thinking out loud here so please just let me talk, just let me think it through out loud. Please, alright, don’t…”
16
Chrissy
In The Boom Boom Room · David Rabe
Women 20s–30s Dramatic Play About 1:45
“Shut up! I think I said for you to shut up! Did I not say I am not in the mood? I am not in the mood! I got stuff…”
17
Catherine
Proof · David Auburn
Women 20s Dramatic Play About 1:15
“I lived with him. I spent my life with him. I fed him. Talked to him. Tried to listen when he talked. Talked to people who weren’t there . …”
18
Jennie
Chapter Two · Neil Simon
Women 20s–30s Dramatic Play About 3:30
“You know what you want better than me, George… I don’t know what you expect to find out there, except a larger audience for your two shows a day of…”
19
Maggie
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof · Tennessee Williams
Women 20s–30s Dramatic Play About 2:00
“Maggie Brick, y’know I’ve been so God damn disgustingly poor all my life!- That’s the truth, Brick! Always had to suck up to people I couldn’t stand because they had…”
20
Isobel
Bull · Mike Bartlett
Women 20s–30s Dramatic Play About 1:30
“When she hears you’re out of work, her low estimation of you will drop even further. It will. I promise. She won’t be surprised. She won’t be like “oh my…”
Male Dramatic Monologues For Auditions
Here are some male dramatic monologues that are sure to wow the school of your choice:
21
Treplev
The Seagull · Anton Chekhov
Men 20s–40s Dramatic Play About 1:45
“Treplev She loves me – she loves me not…She loves me – she loves me not… Loves me, loves me not. (laughs) There you are – she doesn’t love me…”
22
Ian
Mercy · Adam Szymkowicz
Men 20s–40s Dramatic Play About 1:15
“I feel like such a fucking idiot. You come over looking for a friend and I’m . . . I guess I thought . . . I’ve always had this…”
23
Mark
Wink · Phoebe Eclair-Powell
Men Teens Dramatic Play About 2:15
“When dad died he had this shit blog he was really proud of – before Tumblr was even a thing and you would’ve thought he had just invented space travel…”
24
John
Cock · Mike Bartlett
Men 20s–30s Dramatic Play About 1:30
“I’m sorry I’m not speaking, I’m sorry, I know it’s weird but I’m trying to work out how to handle this who to be because I’m two different people with…”
25
Tom
The Glass Menagerie · Tennessee Williams
Men 20s–30s Dramatic Play About 1:45
“I didn’t go to the moon. I went much further–for time is the longest distance between two places. Not long after that I was fired for writing a poem on…”
26
Val
Orpheus Descending · Tennessee Williams
Men 20s–30s Dramatic Play About 1:30
“You know they’s a kind of bird that don’t have legs so it can’t light on nothing but has to stay all its life on its wing in the sky…”
27
Alfieri
A View From The Bridge · Arthur Miller
Men 30s–40s Dramatic Play About 2:30
“You wouldn’t have known it, but something amusing has just happened. You see how uneasily they nod to me? That’s because I am a lawyer. In this neighborhood to meet…”
28
Pale
Burn This · Lanford Wilson
Men 20s–30s Dramatic Play About 1:45
“Well, see, fine, you got these little social phrases and politenesses–all they show me is this–like–giganticness of unconcern with your “I’m sorrys,” man. The fuckin’ world is going down the…”
29
Jonathan
Snakebit · David Marshall Grant
Men 30s Dramatic Play About 1:45
“I can’t believe you never told me you slept with my wife three months before I was married. Don’t say anything. I don’t want you to say anything. I just…”
30
Amir
Disgraced · Ayad Akhtar
Men 30s Dramatic Play About 1:45
“You keep saying that like it means something. You still don’t get it. The Quran is about tribal life in a seventh-century desert, Isaac. The point isn’t just academic. There’s…”
Male and Female Classical Monologues For Auditions
Many programs ask you to include at least one classical monologue, so if you’re looking for classical monologues for women or classical monologues for men, here are ten to pick from:
31
Agamemnon
Agamemnon · Aeschylus
Men 20s–40s Dramatic Play About 1:15
“And what and I supposed to tell them? It’s too late for turning back. Too late. You Gods, How cleartell this heartache? How begin to break the binds Of these…”
32
Portia
The Merchant of Venice · William Shakespeare
Women 20s–30s Classical · verse Play About 1:15
“do, chapels had been churches and poor men’s cottages princes’ palaces. It is a good divine that follows his own instructions: I can easier teach twenty what were good to…”
33
Parolles
All’s Well That Ends Well · William Shakespeare
Men 20s–40s Classical Play About 2:00
“It is not politic in the commonwealth of nature to preserve virginity. Loss of virginity is rational increase, and there was never virgin got till virginity was first lost. That…”
Read full monologue
PAROLLES: It is not politic in the commonwealth of nature to preserve virginity. Loss of virginity is rational increase, and there was never virgin got till virginity was first lost. That you were made of is metal to make virgins. Virginity by being once lost may be ten times found; by being ever kept is ever lost. ‘Tis too cold a companion. Away with’t! ‘Tis against the rule of nature. To speak on the part of virginity is to accuse your mothers, which is most infallible disobedience. He that hangs himself is a virgin; virginity murders itself, and should be buried in highways out of all sanctified limit, as a desperate offendress against nature. Virginity breeds mites, much like a cheese, consumes itself to the very paring, and so dies with feeding his own stomach. Besides, virginity is peevish, proud, idle, made of self-love, which is the most inhibited sin in the canon. Keep it not; you cannot choose but lose by’t. Out with’t! Within ten year it will make itself ten, which is a goodly increase, and the principal itself not much the worse. Away with’t! ‘Tis a commodity will lose the gloss with lying: the longer kept, the less worth. Off with’t while ’tis vendible; answer the time of request. Virginity, like an old courtier, wears her cap out of fashion, richly suited, but unsuitable, just like the brooch and the toothpick, which wear not now. Your date is better in your pie and your porridge than in your cheek; and your virginity, your old virginity, is like one of our French withered pears: it looks ill, it eats drily. Marry, ’tis a withered pear; it was formerly better; marry, yet ’tis a withered pear! Will you anything with it?
34
Jason
Medea · Euripides
Men 30s–50s Classical Play About 3:30
“I ought not to be rash, it seems, in speech, But like the skilful pilot, who, with sails Scarce half unfurled, his bark more surely guides, Escape, O woman, your…”
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JASON: I ought not to be rash, it seems, in speech,
But like the skilful pilot, who, with sails
Scarce half unfurled, his bark more surely guides,
Escape, O woman, your ungoverned tongue.
Since you the benefits on me conferred
Exaggerate in so proud a strain, I deem
That I to Venus only, and no god
Or man beside, my prosperous voyage owe.
Although a wondrous subtlety of soul
To you belong, ’twere an invidious speech
For me to make should I relate how Love
By his inevitable shafts constrained you
To save my life. I will not therefore state
This argument too nicely, but allow,
As you did aid me, it was kindly done.
But by preserving me have you gained more
Than you bestowed, as I shall prove: and first,
Transplanted from barbaric shores, you dwell
In Grecian regions, and have here been taught
To act as justice and the laws ordain,
Nor follow the caprice of brutal strength.
By all the Greeks your wisdom is perceived,
And you acquire renown; but had you still
Inhabited that distant spot of earth,
You never had been named. I would not wish
For mansions heaped with gold, or to exceed
The sweetest notes of Orpheus’ magic lyre,
Were those unfading wreaths which fame bestows
From me withheld by fortune. I thus far
On my own labours only have discoursed.
For you this odious strife of words began.
But in espousing Creon’s royal daughter,
With which you have reproached me, I will prove
That I in acting thus am wise and chaste,
That I to you have been the best of friends,
And to our children. But make no reply.
Since hither Iolchos’ land I came,
Accompanied by many woes, and such
As could not be avoided, what device
More advantageous would an exile frame
Than wedding the king’s daughter? Not through hate
To you, which you reproach me with, not smitten
With love for a new consort, or a wish
The number of my children to augment:
For those we have already might suffice,
And I complain not. But to me it seemed
Of great importance that we both might live
As suits our rank, nor suffer abject need,
Well knowing that each friend avoids the poor.
I also wished to educate our sonsIn such a manner as befits my race
And with their noble brothers yet unborn,
Make them one family, that thus, my house
Cementing, I might prosper. In some measure
Is it your interest too that by my bride
I should have sons, and me it much imports,
By future children, to provide for those
Who are in being. Have I judged amiss?
You would not censure me, unless your soul
Were by a rival stung. But your whole sex
Hath these ideas; if in marriage blest
Ye deem nought wanting, but if some reverse
Of fortune e’er betide the nuptial couch,
All that was good and lovely ye abhor.
Far better were it for the human race
Had children been produced by other means,
No females e’er existing: hence might man
Exempt from every evil have remained.
35
Benedick
Much Ado About Nothing · William Shakespeare
Men 20s–40s Classical Play About 2:00
“This can be no trick: the conference was sadly borne. They have the truth of this from Hero. They seem to pity the lady: it seems her affections have their…”
36
Hecate
Macbeth · William Shakespeare
Women 30s+ Classical Play About 1:30
“Have I not reason, beldams as you are, Saucy and overbold? How did you dare To trade and traffic with Macbeth In riddles and affairs of death; And I, the…”
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HECATE: Have I not reason, beldams as you are,
Saucy and overbold? How did you dare
To trade and traffic with Macbeth
In riddles and affairs of death;
And I, the mistress of your charms,
The close contriver of all harms,
Was never called to bear my part
Or show the glory of our art?
And, which is worse, all you have done
Hath been but for a wayward son,
Spiteful and wrathful, who, as others do,
Loves for his own ends, not for you.
But make amends now: get you gone
And at the pit of Acheron
Meet me i’ th’ morning. Thither he
Will come to know his destiny.
Your vessels and your spells provide,
Your charms and everything beside.
I am for th’ air. This night I’ll spend
Unto a dismal and a fatal end.
Great business must be wrought ere noon.
Upon the corner of the moon
There hangs a vap’rous drop profound;
I’ll catch it ere it come to ground:
And that, distilled by magic sleights,
Shall raise such artificial sprites
As by the strength of their illusion
Shall draw him on to his confusion.
He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear
His hopes ‘bove wisdom, grace, and fear:
And you all know security
Is mortals’ chiefest enemy.
[Music, and a song.]
Hark! I am called. My little spirit, see,
Sits in a foggy cloud and stays for me.
37
Tecmessa
Ajax · Sophocles
Women 20s–40s Classical Play About 2:45
“You shall hear all that passed, Being sharers in the event. At dead of night, When the evening campfires no longer blazed, He grasped his two-edged weapon, and seemed bent…”
Read full monologue
TECMESSA: You shall hear all that passed,
Being sharers in the event. At dead of night,
When the evening campfires no longer blazed,
He grasped his two-edged weapon, and seemed bent
To sally upon some errand, objectless.
I, in surprise, said to him “What dost thou, Ajax?
Why thus unsummoned either by the voice
Of messengers, or any trumpet-call,
Goest thou forth? Now the whole host is sleeping!
“But briefly he replied and in cant phrase;
“Woman, a woman should be seen, not heard.”
I held my tongue, and he rushed forth alone.
What there befell him truly I cannot say;
But he came in and brought, bound all together,
Bulls, herdmen’s dogs and fleecy spoil of sheep.
Some he beheaded; of some, their heads bent upward,
He cut the throats and clave the chins in twain,
And some he bound and tortured, as if human,
(Though it was cattle he fell on;) and at last
Rushing out through the door he hurled up words
To a phantom, some against Atridae, some
About Ulysses, laughing loud and long
At all the outrage he had wreaked on them;
Then darting back into the hut, once more
Hardly and by degrees he comes to reason;
When looking on the chamber filled with havock
He shrieked, and smote his head. Then he sat down,
Flinging himself among the weltering wrack
Of sheep that he had butchered, and clutched hold
Upon his hair with his clenched fists. Since then,
Most of the time he sat, uttering no sound;
After, he threatened me–’twas terrible!
If I disclosed not all that had befallen,
And questioned me, what could have come to him.
O friends, in fear, I told him the whole story,
So far as I well knew it. Instantly
He burst out crying lamentably–cries
Such as I never heard from him before.
For clamour of the kind, he ever taught,
Belonged to base and pusillanimous spirits;
Rather, suppressing all shrill outcries, he
Would groan, low, like the rumbling of a bull.
Now, prostrate under such adversity,
He, without meat or drink, sits on the ground
Among the beasts his edge has dealt on, dumb.
And plain it is he meditates no good;
That way, at least, his words and wailings tend.
But O dear friends–for therefore was my errand-
Come in and help us, if by any means
You have the power; for such men as he
Are conquered by the counsels of a friend.
38
Octavia
Octavia · Seneca
Women 20s–30s Classical Play About 2:30
“Though I should endure what must be borne, ne’er could my woes be ended, save by gloomy death. With my mother slain, my father by crime snatched from me, robbed…”
Read full monologue
OCTAVIA: Though I should endure what must be borne, ne’er could my woes be ended, save by gloomy death. With my mother slain, my father by crime snatched from me, robbed of my brother, by wretchedness and grief o’erwhelmed, by sorrow crushed, by my husband hated, and set beneath my slave, the sweet light brings no joy to me; for my heart is ever trembling, not with the fear of death, but of crime — be crime but lacking to my misfortunes, death will be delight. For ’tis a punishment far worse than death to look in the tyrant’s face, all swollen with rage ‘gainst wretched me, to kiss my foe, to fear his very nod, obedience to whom my smarting grief could not endure after my brother’s death, most sinfully destroyed, whose throne he usurps, and rejoices in being the worker of a death unspeakable. How oft does my brother’s sad shade appear before my eyes when rest has relaxed my body, and sleep weighed down my eyes, weary with weeping. Now with smoking torches he arms his feeble hands, and with deadly purpose aims at his brother’s eyes and face; and now in trembling fright takes refuge in my chamber; his enemy pursues and, e’en while the lad clings in my embrace, savagely he thrusts his sword through both our bodies. Then trembling and mighty terror banish my slumbers, and bring back to my wretched heart its grief and fear. Add to all this the proud concubine, bedecked with our house’s spoil, as gift for whom the son set his own mother on the Stygian bark; and, when she had o’ercome dread shipwreck and the sea, himself more pitiless than ocean’s waves, slew her with the sword. What hope of safety, after crimes so great, have I? My victorious foe threatens my chamber, blazes with hate of me, and, as the reward of her adultery, demands of my husband his lawful consort’s head. Arise thou, my father, from the shades and bring help to thy daughter who calls on thee; or else, rending the earth, lay bare the Stygian abyss, that I may plunge thither headlong.
39
Medea
Medea · Euripides
Women 30s–50s Dramatic Play About 4:00
“O my sons! My sons! ye have a city and a house Where, leaving hapless me behind, without A mother ye for ever shall reside. But I to other realms…”
40
Phebe
As You Like It · William Shakespeare
Women Teens–30s Classical · verse Play About 1:15
“I would not be thy executioner: I fly thee, for I would not injure thee. Thou tell’st me there is murder in mine eye: ‘Tis pretty, sure, and very probable…”
Here are some additional tips from industry professionals:
- Choose a monologue from a play that you have seen or read. This will help you understand the character and the context of the monologue.
- Don’t be afraid to make the monologue your own. Add your own personal touches to the monologue to make it more interesting and engaging.
- Be confident and have fun! The most important thing is to enjoy the process and to let your personality shine through.
Final Thoughts
Finding good monologues for auditions or college audition monologues can be challenging, but any of the above options should impress your drama school! Thank you and hope you can find a piece out of the 50 Great Monologues For Auditions!
Know an actor who’d find this useful?
