Dangola.....what a predicament. I know! I'll make up my own naughty words!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Monologs....
My pal and I spent two days at the PATA auditions. We heard some very interesting monologs (or monologues if you prefer more letters). But some of them were just awful. I've often considered writing monologs as a way to get a thought out of my head, quickly. I might just do that. 'Not having any luck getting full-length plays published.....maybe a book of monologs? The only trouble is......my work won't contain all the gratuitous F-bombs and SH** expletives that seem to be rampant in today's theater.
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3 comments:
I can help with that!! I can't swear in front of the kids so I say things like "Shishkabob!" And "Doggone be-jabbin' flippity floppin' dirty rotten lousy sunny peaches!"
The second one is what my brother Duane used to say. He added a lot more to it before he died, but I didn't get to learn the revised edition. :(
during the audition classes, I was often asked where to find monologUEs (I can never get enough of those letters...lol!) and aside from saying 'read a lot of plays' I never had a great answer, because so many of the monologue books out there are not great and often overused! I think an original book of monologues by: YOU is a great idea :) I'd buy it.
The problem with most original monologue books is that the monologues have no context. When I was in graduate school, we had a class where everyone had to audition with a new monologue every week. The hardest part was finding fresh material. Our professor was distainful of original monologues written for audition purposes only. His argument was that the material did not give the actor enough information about the character to inform a good performance, and that the material was untried in production.
I suggest you keep writing plays, and give your characters a chance to speak their minds. Then collect these monologues in a book. You can even edit some two character scenes where one character is doing most of the talking into monologues. Then publish the book. Even self-publish it.
The people who use your monologues then have the option to refer to the original play to understand the full context, or choose to use them without doing the research (which happens all the time with monologue collections anyway.) You can post the text of your plays online and charge a nominal fee for the download, kinda a self-publishing scheme. It could be like shareware, you control the rights for your work, but if someone performs your play, you use the honor system and suggest they send you a royalty check depending upon how much money they would be able to afford.
You are right, there is a need for your voice, and your plays. Continue to provide an alternative and many producers will seek you out.
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