List by Character Name | List by Author & Play | Favorites/Suggestions | Newest Additions Subscribe to Mailing | Created By Kellie Powell | These Aren't My Shoes Productions B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z The monologues are listed below in alphabetical order by character name. You can also sort them by author's last name. Monologues will open in a new window, with black text on a white background for easy printing. Search the Monologue Database Show your support...

Character/Play/Author Time/Place	Summary	Excerpt
Alceste/Misanthrope/Moliere Classical	A jealous boyfriend's subtle accusations.	"No, madam, there is no need for a stick, but only a heart less yielding at their love-tales."
Alice/Closer/Marber Contemporary London	Alice attempts to get her ex-lover back, by persuading his new girlfriend to go back to her husband.	"That's the most stupid expression in the world. 'I fell in love' - as if you had no choice."
Amy/And Turning, Stay/Powell Contemporary High School	Amy attains closure, attacking for the last time the guy who led her on and let her down.	"You're running from what I've searched for all my life."
The Angel/Angels in America/Kushner Supernatural	The Angel attacks Prior's decision to return to Earth despite the impending doom the planet faces.	"You only think you want to return. You have not seen what is to come. We have."
Angela/Just Looking/Powell Contemporary High School	Angela advises, rants, and ultimately reveals the true reason for her emotional tumult in this set of four short monologues.	"I need to stop feeling people's pain for them. I keep trying to step between my friends and their scars."
Angie/Patter for the Floating Lady/Steve Martin Contemporary	Angie explains to her former lover that, though she loved him deeply, she has no choice but to leave him in these two monologues.	"you wanted the part of me you cannot have; you wanted the part that no one should have of another person."
Anna/Closer/Marber Contemporary London	Anna shares some perspectives on men and relationships with Alice.	"Men... They spend a lifetime fucking and never know how to make love."
Anna Petrovna/Ivanov/Chekhov Classical	A sick and depressed woman defends her husband, who she loves despite his poor treatment of her.	"I am beginning to think that fate has cheated me, Doctor."
Anne/The Psychic Life of Savages/Freed Contemporary	A disturbed poet prepares for her suicide as though for a first date.	"You've rained your constant acid kisses down on my poor flesh. And now I understand that it's because you love me."
Annie/Taken in Marriage/Babe Contemporary	Annie describes the ordeal of leaving her first live-in boyfriend.	"He said to me: If anything happens, you know, to me... you might be a little to blame."
Ariel/Tempest/Shakespeare Classical	Ariel, a powerful androgynous spirit, returns with good news to his master, Prospero, and takes the opportunity to brag.	"I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak, Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin, I flam'd amazement."
Artie/Eleemosynary/Blessing Contemporary	Artie talks about her upbringing and the daughter she gave up in these two monologues.	"I think a woman has a right to be irrational about her children."
Audrey/Little Shop of Horrors/Ashman Semi-Contemporary	A young woman who grew up on Skid Row dreams of suburban domestic bliss.	"And all the houses are so neat and pretty... 'Cause they all look just alike."
B		Top
Belize/Angels in America/Kushner Contemporary	Belize condemns Louis's callous dependence on philosophy over reality.	"You are so full of crap that the mention of your name draws flies."
Ms. Belzer/When She Danced/Sherman Paris 1923	Ms. Belzer, a shy Russian translator, recalls the time she saw Isadora Duncan dance.	"I thought I saw the face of my mother as she lay dying."
Betty/Cloud Nine/Churchill Contemporary London	Betty tells the audience about her newfound freedom and self-awareness after leaving her husband, Clive.	"I thought if Clive wasn't looking at me there wasn't a person there."
Bonnie/The Last Schwartz/Laufer Contemporary	Bonnie talks about an upsetting episode of "Oprah" and her five traumatic miscarriages in these two monologues.	"I just started screaming. Not even aware of it. I heard this horrible, hurt animal sound echoing through the hospital."
Brady/Inherit the Wind/Lawrence 1920's	Brady, the Conservative, defends the laws that keep Evolution out of public schools.	"I tell you, if this law is not upheld, this boy will become one of a generation, shorn of its faith by the teachings of Godless science!"
C		Top
Callie/Stop Kiss/Son Contemporary	Callie's first kiss with a woman ends with a beating in the park. She tells the police the whole story.	"He pushed her against the building and started banging her head against the building. She was trying to breathe."
Carla/Kennedy's Children/Patrick 1974	Carla discusses her 1960's desire to give meaning through the world by being the next Marilyn Monroe.	"I wanted to be a sex goddess."
Carol/Don't Look and it Won't Hurt/Peck Contemporary	Carol, 15, talks about living in a small town called "Claypitts" and about her single mother and two sisters.	"There was a time when I thought the whole world began and ended right here."
Cassandra/Agamemnon/Aeschylus Classical	Cassandra forsees her own brutal death.	"Brewing a poisoned cup, She will mix my punishment while sharpening, The dagger for her husband."
Cavale/Cowboy Mouth/Shepard Contemporary	Cavale tells her hostage a childhood memory about being the Ugly Duckling in a school play.	"I never got to be the fucking swan. The lousy fucks."
Celimene/Misanthrope/Moliere Classical	Celimene is a gossip, and she insults a boring elderly woman behind her back for the entertainment of others.	"You may consult the clock, or yawn twenty times, but she stirs no more than a log of wood."
Charles/The Adding Machine/Rice Contemporary	Lt. Charles explains reincarnation to Mr. Zero, an archetypical white-collar slave.	"You're a failure, Zero, a failure. A waste product. A slave."
Cheryl/Dos Corazones/Hellesen Contemporary	Cheryl wakes up in the maternity ward and ends up telling her roommate about her post-partum depression.	"I want her inside, where she's safe... and... she's mine... and I can hold her with my whole body, all the time."
Colleen/Catholic Schoolgirls/Kurtti Contemporary	Sixth-grade Colleen shares the trauma of her first period and being beaten by her teacher.	"I put my hands over my face, but she kept hitting me."
Cynthia/A Girl's Guide to Chaos/Heimel 1980's NYC	Cynthia shares her dread of re-entering the dating pool.	"Please, God, no, don't make me do it!"
D		Top
Dan/Down the Road/Blessing Contemporary	Dan is tormented by the lingering presence of the serial killer who he and his wife are interviewing for a book.	"The scariest thing is that his upbringing wasn't scary."
Dennis Shepard/Laramie Project/Kaufman Contemporary Wyoming.	Dennis Shepard's statement before the Court, his announcement that his son did not die alone, and the family's decision to not seek the death penalty.	"I would like nothing better than to see you die, Mr. McKinney."
Dogface/Dogface/Powell Contemporary	Dogface confronts her friend, Ethan, demanding to know why he has been ignoring and avoiding her ever since they had sex.	"How am I supposed to act casual about something this intense, this rare? You're the first person to see me - how can that not be a big deal?"
Doreen/The Dianalogues/Haines Contemporary	Doreen tries to convince a counselor to expel her from the fat camp she has been attending for six summers.	""
Dorothea/Eleemosynary/Blessing Contemporary	Dorothea tells the audience about discovering eccentricity and tries to convince her daughter to have an abortion in these two monologues.	"You won't be you anymore. You'll just be something a child needs. You could be so much more."
Dorothy/42nd Street/Bramble 1920's	A stuck-up and aged Broadway actress surrenders her starring role to a younger, prettier, and more talented girl from the Chorus.	"Get out there, and be so swell you'll make me hate you!"
Dr. Cantway/Laramie Project/Kaufman Contemporary Wyoming.	Dr. Cantway talks about the night Matthew Shepard, a victim of a brutal hate crime, was brought into the ER.	"For a brief moment... I wondered if this is how God feels when he looks down at us."
Drew/Richard Fisher's Funeral/Powell Contemporary	Drew explains why she can never forgive her dead father.	"You don't get it. I've been afraid of my father all my life."
Drummond/Inherit the Wind/Lawrence 1920's	The world's "celebrated agnostic" argues that it's unconstitutional to keep Darwin out of public schools.	"Are we now to halt the march of progress because Mr. Brady frightens us with a fable?"
E		Top
Echo/Eleemosynary/Blessing Contemporary	After the death of her grandmother, who raised her, Echo returns to her mother and insists on staying with her.	"I am a prize among women. I'm your daughter. That's what I choose to be."
Ed/Fall of the House of Usher/Hoppe Contemporary	In two monologues, Ed talks about how he has failed to notice the dullness of his own life.	"I was just lying awake up there, thinking how years can just slip by without anything ever really happening."
Edmund/Long Day's Journey Into Night/O'Neill Semi-Contemporary	Edmund embraces his madness, and talks about his delusions of being a ghost.	"Who wants to see life as it is, if they can help it?"
Ellen/Two Rooms/Blessing Contemporary	Ellen works for the State Department and describes the young martyrs in the Middle East.	"The boys didn't go out and dig up the mines. They ran over them."
Ellie/Better Than Running at Night/Frank Contemporary College	A young art student tells the story of the night she danced with The Devil.	"The Devil's face paint was all splotchy... especially around his mouth."
Eliante/Misanthrope/Moliere Classical	Eliante mocks love, and those who it captures.	"Thus a passionate swain loves even the very faults of those of whom he is enamoured."
Elizabeth/Catholic Schoolgirls/Kurtti Contemporary	First-grade Elizabeth explains church and the death of Christ.	"Now in hell, it is real hot and you sweat a lot and little devils come and bite you all over."
Enrique/School for Wives/Moliere Classical	Enrique speaks to the sister of his dead wife.	"As soon as I saw you, before anyone could tell me, I should have known you."
Estelle/No Exit/Sartre Supernatural	Estelle, now dead, watches the world slip away from her - and she reveals herself to be manipulative, selfish, and vindictive.	"What's that she's said? "Poor Estelle wasn't exactly- " No, I wasn't exactly - True enough."
Ex (Xavier)/Sophistry/Sherman Contemporary College	Xavier Reynolds, 20, threatens an administrator and proposes to his ex-girlfriend in these opposing monologues.	"Whitey's an aberration. He doesn't fit in with your conservative plan. He's homosexual. He's alcoholic. Too bad he's not Jewish and black and crippled as well. You'd really have a field day, then."
F		Top
Ferris/The Diviners/Leonard 1930's	A rural Indiana mechanic talks about the love of his life, his wife Sara who drowned when his children were young.	"I mean, when I went to marry I didn't know a damn thing. I can tell you that now 'cause I'm older, you see, but at the time I thought I was a genius."
Foreman/Audience/Havel Communist Czechoslovakia	A brewery foreman reacts to a perceived slight after one of his employees, a blacklisted playwright, accuses him of having no principles.	"The gentleman has principles, and everyone else can go screw themselves. Putting principles before people. That's you intellectuals all over."
G		Top
Gabe/Dinner With Friends/Margulies Contemporary	Gabe confronts his best friend, Tom, who has just left his wife for a younger woman and new life.	"We were all there, we were all a big part of that terrible life you had to get the hell away from."
Garcin/No Exit/Sartre Supernatural	Garcin brags about abusing his wife, puts on a brave face for the valet, attempts to find salvation, and failing, laments the cunning cruelty of his torturers.	"So this is Hell. I'd never have believed it."
Gene/Author's Voice/Greenberg Contemporary	Gene, a deformed and sickly "gnome," lives with Todd, a vain hack, and writes the prose that will someday make Todd famous. Here, he confesses to an unauthorized trip into the world outside Todd's apartment.	"It's not a place I want to be anymore, the world. I promise."
George/Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?/Albee 1950's	A drunken, middle-aged history professor explains his irrational fear that one of the houseguests, Nick, is going to take over the world through cloning.	"I will fight you, young man... one hand on my scrotum, to be sure... but with my free hand I will battle you to the death."
Georgie/Spike Heels/Rebeck Contemporary	A young secretary defends her decision not to quit her job after being sexually harassed by her boss.	"I can take care of myself; I've been doing it for years. I don't need you to like, worry about me."
Grace/FOB/Hwang Contemporary	Grace, a Chinese immigrant just out of high school, talks about resolving her issues of identity and belonging.	"I said, "I'm lonely. And I don't like it. I don't like being alone." And that was all."
H		Top
Hannah/Bargaining/Powell Contemporary	Hannah, an immortal being, offers her boyfriend a chance to live forever.	"Most people, when they say forever, they mean... well, they don't really mean forever. But I do."
Hannah/Angels in America/Kushner Contemporary NYC	Hannah, an aging Mormon, commands a crazy homeless woman on the streets to give her directions to Brooklyn.	"I am sorry you're psychotic, but just make the effort!"
Harper/Angels in America/Kushner Contemporary	In 3 Monologues, Harper muses about the coming millenium, chooses to return to Earth from Heaven, and flies to San Francisco armed with the truth that only devastation causes human progress.	"I hope you come back. Look at this place. Can you imagine spending eternity here?"
I		Top
Igor/Sophistry/Sherman Contemporary College	Igor, 20, drunk at a party, insists that he is not trying to pick up his friend Robin, and ends up telling her a lot more about himself than she ever wanted to know.	"Sensitive guys sound good in theory, but most of the women I observe are attracted to men who treat them like shit."
Inez/No Exit/Sartre Supernatural	In two monologues, sardonic and sadistic lesbian Inez fights with and antagonizes Garcin.	"I prefer to choose my hell; I prefer to look you in the eyes and fight it out face to face."
Iris/Down the Road/Blessing Contemporary	A young woman talks to serial murderer/rapist Bill Reach about the way that interviewing him has changed her life.	"I wanted to prove that I could listen to the worst crimes. That I could hear what killers did from the killers themselves."
Ivanov/Ivanov/Chekhov Classicalal	Ivanov talks about the combination of guilt and emptiness he feels about the impending death of his wife, whom he has inexplicably lost interest in.	"I am in no way remarkable, and I have sacrificed nothing."
J		Top
Jack/Sophistry/Sherman Contemporary College	Jack, 20, a drug user, talks about the night he was molested by his philosophy professor.	"I was terrified, the door was locked... He said he'd kill me if I tried to leave."
Jamie/Just Looking/Powell Contemporary High School	The character explains her cynical view that dating is pointless.	"We'd stop being people to each other and start being obligations. And, I love you too much to let that happen."
Jason/A Quiet End/Swados Contemporary	Jason, 25, discusses his life since the death of his boyfriend, Max, of AIDS.	"I never knew anyone who died. I always figured it was something I'd have to deal with when I was sixty."
Jedadiah/Laramie Project/Kaufman Contemporary Wyoming	A straight Wyoming Theatre major wrestles with issues of family and morality.	"They felt so strongly that they didn't want to come see their son do probably the most important thing he'd done in his life."
Jennifer/Amateurs/Griffin Contemporary	Jennifer, 28, a small-time actress, talks about her last trip to Hollywood, and the death of her dream.	"I didn't have the guts. It wasn't the talent. It was the guts."
Joan/Spilled Milk/Powell Contemporary	Joan confronts her friend Helen almost a year after Helen failed to protect Joan from a possible threat of sexual assault.	"He could have raped you! And you... you sent him back to me! How generous. How benevolent. Why didn't you fucking warn me?"
Joe/Angels in America/Kushner Contemporary	Joe is a sensitive Republican Mormon lawyer, not to mention a married closet homosexual. In five short monologues, we witness him talking to his Valium-addicted wife, his boss, and his new lover, Louis.	"Anything. Whatever you want. I can give up anything."
Josh/Bang Bang You're Dead/Mastrisomone Contemporary	Josh re-lives the morning he murdered his parents, and talks to them as though they can only now truly hear him.	"I guess I'm just sick of you being disappointed in me all the time."
Julie/Passing Game/Tesich Contemporary	Julie expresses her craving for change to her husband, whom she believes is still sleeping.	"There is a beautiful life dying inside both of us and it is not in my power to counteract what's happening."
K		Top
Kate/Later/Jacker Contemporary	Kate describes her relationship with her now-dead father, and the inadequacy she felt because of her gender.	"I knew he meant that if a man was going to get stuck with daughters, he might as well have one like me."
Kim/Absence of Gray Matter/Weckesser Contemporary High School	Weckesser's Kim, a minor character lacking much in the way of common sense, speaks about her aspirations and hallucinations.	"Would Keanu Reeves please stand up?"
Kim/Collaboration/Powell Contemporary	Kim, 20, confesses to her friend-with-benefits that she has been in love with him for several years.	"I wanted whatever time and affection you could give me. No matter what it cost me."
Kimberly/Patient A/Blessing Contemporary	Kimberly describes the day she discovered she was HIV+, and the ordeal of breaking the news to her parents.	"He kept saying it had to be a mistake..."
L		Top
Laurie/Later/Jacker Contemporary	Laurie muses on death and insomnia after the death of her father.	"I never should have looked at him, at the mortuary... you could see the stitches, where they sewed his lips together."
Leah/Like Dreaming, Backwards/Powell Contemporary	Leah talks about her daughter's history with depression and her eventual suicide.	"Why didn't she come to me? I would have done anything for her. Didn't she know that?"
Lee/Patient A/Blessing Contemporary	Lee Blessing wrote himself into this play to serve as the ambivalent narrator in the story of Kimbery Bergalis.	"Dr. Acer was dead, and all that was left was a blood sample and a tiny, black-and-white photo."
Leeann/A Piece of My Heart/Lauro 1960s-1980s	An Asian American nurse talks about her reasons for volunteering for the Red Cross during the Vietnam war - and the devastating consequences.	"I was anti-war! I hated Nixon! Knew he was a liar and evil!"
Leona/Small Craft Warning/Williams Contemporary	After seeing her live-in boyfriend in a bar with another woman, she kicks him out and explains why she'll be leaving town.	"You refuse to grow up and that's a mistake that you make."
Libby/Blue Window/Lucas Contemporary	Libby talks about her first marriage and its traumatic ending.	"And I didn't black out. I thought - very clearly... This is bad. This is real."
Li'l Bit/How I Learned to Drive/Vogel Contemporary	Li'l Bit describes meeting and bedding a younger man, and the appeal of being "the first, the teacher."	"Oh. Oh - this is the allure. Being older. This is how the giver gets taken."
Lili/The American Plan/Greenberg Contemporary	Lili tells Nick that she loves him, and insists that she isn't crazy - and if she is, it's her mother's fault.	"The hospital was her idea. I wasn't really sick. I was fine."
Lindsay/What Are the Chances?/Powell Contemporary	Lindsay is at her ex-husband's art exhibition, when she is forced, by one of his pieces, to confront her past.	"I think... I think he was happier when he was pining for me... than when I was actually his."
Lindsay/Waiting/Soland Contemporary	Lindsay, extremely pregnant, is waiting for her second contraction, and for her husband to arrive.	"We've waited ten months, three days, and twelve hours, and I am ready to get this thing out of my body!"
Lisabette/Anton in Show Business/Martin Contemporary	A young actor describes why she loves acting, and the kind of play she would like to be in.	"It's so stupid, but I love to act. It always feels like anything could happen."
Louis/Angels in America/Kushner Contemporary	Louis talks about tolerance in America and the guilt he feels over leaving his dying lover, Prior in three different monologues.	"And underneath all the tolerance is intense, passionate hatred."
Lucy/Soap Opera/Pape Contemporary	Lucy describes how her first love, Johnny, changed her life by showing her that she could inspire love and lust in another person.	"I'll tell you something: when someone really believes what he's saying, you believe it, too."
Lydia/Spike Heels/Rebeck Contemporary	Lydia attacks her fiancee's neighbor after he postpones the wedding.	"I don't know you. You and I have never met. And you are wreaking havoc on my life."
M		Top
Madeline/Fall of the House of Usher/Hoppe Contemporary	Madeline talks about her insomnia and her despair. She is truly mad, and has violent mood swings.	"You can go STRAIGHT TO HELL if you think I'm afraid of dying!"
Magician/Patter for the Floating Lady/Steve Martin Contemporary/Expressionist	A Magician describes his plan to hypnotize and levitate his former lover, Angie.	"Tonight I give her this pathetic gift."
Maggie/Cat on a Hot Tin Roof/Williams Contemporary	Maggie the Cat, 28, rants about her sister-in-law's monster-children, and grieves for the loss of her husband's love.	"You have that rare sort of charm that usually only happens in very old or hopelessly sick people, the charm of the defeated."
Maria Theresa/Catholic Schoolgirls/Kurtti Contemporary	Fourth-grade Maria Theresa talks about her poor math skills and hard family life.	"My favorite dream is that I live with someone else's family."
Martha/Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?/Albee 1950's	Martha, in various stages of drunken rage, discusses her ongoing fight-to-the-death with her husband George.	"I'm going to make the biggest damned explosion you ever heard."
Martha/A Piece of My Heart/Lauro 1960s-1980s	A Navy nurse describes volunteering for the Red Cross during the Vietnam war, and later wanting revenge against the people responsible for the war.	"I WANT YOU TO BURN FOREVER IN THE HELL OF VIETNAM!"
Martha/Strange Snow/Metcalfe Contemporary	Martha fends off compliments and reveals deep insecurities that have haunted her all her life.	"My brother David had to even get me a date for my high school formal."
Marvel Ann/Psycho Beach Party/Busch 1962 Malibu	Marvel Ann, "petulant but still pleasant" chastises surfer Star Cat.	"I think it's a horrid shame that you're throwing away a great future as a great psychiatrist."
Marjorie/The Tale of the Allergist's Wife/Busch Contemporary NYC	Marjorie, a pretentious Manhattan intellectual, defends herself agains the accusation that she should "do some volunteer work." Comic in its ridiculousness.	"What about my needs? Who's gonna volunteer to save me?"
Aunt Mary/How I Learned to Drive/Vogel Contemporary	Aunt Mary defends her husband (Uncle Peck) from accusations that he has taken advantage of his niece, Li'l Bit.	"And I want to say this about my niece. She's a sly one, that one is."
Maryjo/A Piece of My Heart/Lauro 1960s-1980s	A USO singer during the Vietnam war reveals that she was raped by servicemen during her journey.	"We got stranded - up the coast near Nha Trang - then the grunts - but they apologized - well, one apologized."
Masha/Seagull/Chekhov Classical	Masha has resolved to kill her unrequited love for Treplev by marrying someone else. She tells her plan to Trigorin, a writer who she has just met.	"My schoolmaster is none too clever, but he's kind, and a poor soul, and he loves me very much."
Molly/Later/Jacker Contemporary	Molly relates her husband's recent death, and the sense that he still haunts their home.	"I won't ever be alone. He's here. Still. He's still all the way through everything."
Matthew/Patient A/Blessing Contemporary	Matthew describes the American injustice of classifying AIDS as "the gay disease" in the 1980's.	"Because no matter how many thousands of us die, we will never be visible to you."
Max/A Quiet End/Swados Contemporary	Max, 28, dying of AIDS, tells his ex-boyfriend Jason about his sickness and helplessness.	"There's been great comfort - great safety - in my isolation. I'm very used to my life now."
Michael/Two Rooms/Blessing Contemporary	Michael describes being taken hostage and his eventual death at the hands of his captors.	"God, Lainie, I love you. I wish this was a real letter.."
Miss Bickworth/The Dianalogues/Haines Contemporary	Miss Bickworth discusses the late Princess Diana in history class at America's last finishing school.	"Princess Diana: Fairy-Tale Princess or the Devil's Slut? What happened? Where did she go wrong?"
Mormon Mother/Angels in America/Kushner Supernatural	Harper asks one of her hallucinations, a mannequin from a Mormon History display, how people change.	"It has something to do with God so it's not very nice."
Mother/How I Learned to Drive/Vogel Contemporary	A mother provides her Guide to Social Drinking - while growing progressively drunk herself.	"If you must, wet your face and head with tap water. A wet woman is still less conspicuous than a drunk woman."
Mother Teresa/The Dianalogues/Haines Contemporary	Now in heaven, the late Mother Teresa reveals that she never liked Princess Di.	"Why, in newspapers around the world, did the death of Princess Diana get top billing over mine?"
Mr. Mushnik/Little Shop of Horrors/Ashman Contemporary	Mr. Mushnik is an aging bachelor who runs a doomed flower shop on Skid Row. Hassles his employee, Audrey, about being late - and being a pushover.	"Don't tell me good morning, what morning? It's two o'clock in the afternoon."
Mrs. Morehead/The Women/Boothe 1937	Mrs. Morehead gives her daughter advice about her husband's affair.	"There's nothing like a good dose of another woman to make a man appreciate his wife. Mother knows!"
Myra/The Mineola Twins/Vogel Contemporary	Myra, "the bad twin" has just slept with her sister's fiancee.	"Don't you sometimes feel like you're gonna jump out of your skin?"
Myrna/The Mineola Twins/Vogel Contemporary	Myrna, "the good twin" tells her son her jaded version of the story of the prodigal son.	"This man had two sons, right, and one never gave his parents cause to worry. The other son was a real fuck-up."
N		Top
Nan/Three Days of Rain/Greenberg Contemporary NYC	Nan is "the sane one," and here she shares her version of her parents' reasons for marrying.	"...he probably thought she wasn't crazy, just Southern."
Nancy/Calm Down Mother/Terry Contemporary	Nancy tells her friend Sally about her mother's terminal illness.	"They gave her six months. 180 days. I can't accept it."
Natalie/Like Dreaming, Backwards/Powell Contemporary	Natalie talks about the night her friend Nell committed suicide.	"She seemed normal. She seemed happy. Well, not happy, exactly. But like usual herself."
Natasha/Proposal/Chekhov Classical	Natasha wants nothing more than to get married, and fears Lomov might be her last chance. Lomov comes to propose, and Natasha babbles like a schoolgirl.	"You know, you're looking kind of cute these days."
Nathan/Guys and Dolls/Burrows 1950's	Nathan, runner of the "oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York," exaggerates about Sky Masterson and begins to form a plan.	"I am perfectly willing to take the risk, providing I can figure out a bet on which there is no chance of losing."
Ned/Three Days of Rain/Greenberg 1960 NYC	Ned struggles against his stutter, his shyness, and his guilt, to tell Lina, his best friend's girl, the truth about his feelings.	"I shouldn't tell you this. I ca-can't stop, though. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Nell/Like Dreaming, Backwards/Powell Contemporary	Nell tries to explain what being suicidal feels like.	"I can make everyone think I'm normal, that I'm coping, that I'm okay. But I've never been okay. I'll never be okay."
Nessa/A Weekend Near Madison/Tolan Contemporary	A lesbian feminist makes the radical claim that if women want equality, they should stop "sleeping with the enemy."	"The only way to change that is for women to return to the source. To each other."
Nick/The American Plan/Greenberg Contemporary	Nick describes the aftermath of his mother's death and his father's eventual suicide.	"He wasn't crazy, I don't think... just surprised..."
Nina/One Hundred Women/Halvorson Contemporary	Nina admits that she misses her roommate, Kelly, who spends all her time with her boyfriend.	Something has changed. Suddenly I'm lonely. Suddenly I want her near me.
Nina/Seagull/Chekhov Classical	Nina, a young Russian actress, left her boyfriend Kostya long ago to have an affair with a world famous playwright. Several years later, she returns, and shares the truths she has learned the hard way.	"I've been walking around, walking around and thinking, thinking and even believing that my soul grows stronger every day."
Norma/The Diviners/Leonard 1930's	A rural Indiana shop-owner talks to her neighbors about the town's need to rediscover Christianity.	"Without a Church here in Zion I don't know where we're goin'... one day's the same as the days all before..."
O		Top
Ondine/Ondine/Giraundoux Classical	Unable to remain in a world vastly different from her own, Ondine says goodbye to her lover, Hans, before returning to the sea.	"Among the wild Ondines there will be one who will forever be your wife."
Orsino/Twelfth Night/Shakespeare Classical	Orsino laments his lost cause - his love for the fair Olivia.	"If music be the food of love, play on..."
P		Top
Peter/Eastern Standard/Greenberg Contemporary	A gay man in his twenties describes what it was like to be promiscuous in New York city.	"Clicking onto people like magnets - That's how it was, entering a room... Lovers everywhere."
Phil/Boy's Life/Korder Contemporary	Phil, slightly neurotic, discusses his latest obssession with a girl and his feeling that he is "waiting for something to happen."	"I'm saying I love you, is that so wrong? Is that not allowed anymore?"
Phoebe/Eastern Standard/Greenberg Contemporary	A Manhattan stockbroker describes breaking up with a sleazebag and falling in love with a good man in two separate pieces.	"He's a wonderful man! I've never known any wonderful men, what do you do with them?"
Pip/Three Days of Rain/Greenberg Contemporary	Pip tells the story of his parents' meeting on a park bench.	"...the worst day of her life had become the best."
Princess Diana/The Dianalogues/Haines Contemporary	A professional Princess Diana impersonator takes a cigarette break and tries to remember who she is under her costume and wig.	"I've gotten rich off this gig. I couldn't stop, even if I wanted to. I can't do anything else."
Prior/Angels in America/Kushner Contemporary	Prior, a gay man in New York City, recently diagnosed with AIDS, talks about his ancestors, his destiny, his ex-boyfriend and his "contribution to all this theology."	"Then I'm crazy! The whole world is, why not me?"
Q		Top
Quintana/Sophistry/Sherman Contemporary College	Quintana Matheson, President of the University, defends herself as an authority figure and as a human being.	"You try to be as fair as possible, but - inevitably - somebody feels slighted..."
R		Top
Rabbi Chemelwitz/Angels in America/Kushner Contemporary	The Rabbi eulogizes the late Sarah Ironson, a Jewish immigrant. In the second monologue, he too is among the dead.	"She fought so that you would not grow up here, in this strange place, in the melting pot where nothing melted."
Rachel/That Was Then/Powell Contemporary High School	Rachel remembers high school - a time in her life when her friends meant the world to her.	"I'm very lucky, because not everyone still has a friend who knew them when they were seventeen."
Reach/Down the Road/Blessing Contemporary	Serial killer Bill Reach discusses "what it feels like" to commit murder and rape.	"If you don't want her to breathe - what do you do? You kill her. That's logic."
Reva/Hurrah at Last/Greenberg Contemporary	A proto-typical Jewish mother tells her son that she wishes he would die (in his fever dream).	"I admit it. I want you to go. And take your sister along with you while you're at it."
Rhonda/Women of Manhattan/Shanley Contemporary NYC	Rhonda has become convinced that her ex-boyfriend never existed.	"I think I just got overheated... and fell in love with that wall right there."
Robin/Sophistry/Sherman Contemporary College	Robin, a Journalism major, breaks up with her boyfriend and gives her commencement address in two polar monologues.	"I've tried to find some truth during my time here, some wisdom, beyond food and sleep and sex and showers. What's worth giving to? I don't know."
Roderick/Fall of the House of Usher/Hoppe Contemporary	Roderick discusses with his houseguest, Ed, the way that the House of Usher has affected him.	"Time means nothing. There are clocks, but they just spin around to no particular purpose."
Rona/Kennedy's Children/Patrick 1974	Rona fondly remembers being a peace activist and LSD user in the early 1960s.	"Hallucinogens helped us to decide to make ourselves forces for good!"
Rosannah/Brilliant Traces/Johnson Contemporary Alaska	Rosannah describes her desire for an extraterrestrial encounter, as a metaphor for her desire to find a kindred spirit.	"I have often wondered what it would feel like to be greatly relieved."
Rose/Fences/Wilson Contemporary	Rose reacts to the news that her husband Troy is going to be the father of another woman's child.	"I took all my feelings, my wants and needs, my dreams, and I buried them inside you."
Roy/Angels in America/Kushner Contemporary	Roy, a hardened Conservative lawyer, in four monologues gives advice to his would-be protege, dies, and advises God on an approaching paternity suit.	"You'll find, my friend, that what you love will take you places you never dreamed."
Ruth/Collected Stories/Margulies Contemporary	An aging writer tells her young student some of her regrets.	"I should have had children of my own. It's my own damn fault."
Ryan/Bargaining/Powell Contemporary	Ryan explains why he had to leave the woman who gave him eternal life.	"Being with you... was the most meaningful thing I've ever done. It was magic, and it was every day."
S		Top
Sarah/Guys and Dolls/Burrows 1950's	Sarah Brown is a naive but kind soul who has devoted her life to saving those who do not wish to be saved. The charm of being innocent is that you don't realize how ridiculous you are.	"Brothers and sisters, resist the Devil and he will flee from you."
Scarlet/Coyote Ugly/Siefert Contemporary	Scarlet, a feral twelve-year-old redneck nutcase, narrates the day she was born.	"Right then, when she was least expecting me, I popped out like Danny Dog's eyeball."
Seath/Glass Houses/Powell Contemporary	Seath reassures her best friend, Ken, that recent events have left her wiser and stronger, not in a well of despair.	"I've never been so completely on my own before, and right now, I wouldn't trade nights like last night for any amount of security."
Seth/That Was Then/Powell Contemporary High School	Seth describes having to lie to his parents and hide the fact that he is gay.	"I have to keep lying so they don't throw me out of the house."
Seymour/Little Shop of Horrors/Ashman Semi-Contemporary	Seymour talks about his boss, Mr. Mushnik, and how he was brought in off the streets.	"He gave me a warm place to sleep, under the counter. Nice things to eat like meatloaf and water."
Shane/Collaboration/Powell Contemporary	Shane must convince his friend and collaborator, to sign off on a production of his re-write of a script she wrote.	"I've got the chance of a lifetime here - Christ, you too. You may never get another opportunity like this one."
Showers/The Diviners/Leonard 1930's	A former preacher tries to describe his reasons for abandoning his profession.	"My Daddy... now he was a preacher. Man took to a Bible like he was there just to shout it."
Shylock/Merchant of Venice/Shakespeare Classical	In this world-famous monologue, Shylock attacks Anthony, of whom he demands a pound of flesh, and defends his brutality and his rage.	"Hath not a Jew eyes?"
Sky/Guys and Dolls/Burrows 1950's	Sky Masterson, known gambler, talks about the advice his father gave him.	"When I was a young man about to go out into the world, my father says to me a very valuable thing."
Stephen/Eastern Standard/Greenberg Contemporary	A Manhattan architect describes his recent suicide attempt to his friend over lunch.	"I realized that if I didn't do anything to reverse my actions, I would die. Which was amazingly interesting."
Sue/Calm Down Mother/Terry Contemporary	Sue is arguing about birth control and religion to her younger sister and mother.	"Who the hell are these priests and all to scream about pills and controls? Tell me that!"
T		Top
Teresa/The Advertisement/Ginzburg Contemporary	Teresa tells her estranged husband's new lover that she plans to shoot herself.	"I bit his hand. He slapped me. My ears were buzzing, my nose was bleeding."
Theo/Three Days of Rain/Greenberg 1960 NYC	Theo, an architect, hovers and babbles while Ned calmly inspects a series of his drawings.	"Tell me the absolute truth. Tell me what I want to hear. The absolute truth that I want to hear. Say nothing. Talk!"
Thomas/Gray Matter/Weckesser Contemporary High School	Thomas Moore, the recent high school grad, not the dead philosopher and saint, expands on his disillusionment in the opening and closing monologues of Weckesser's one-act.	"Whatever you do in your life, do it with love."
Tim/It Came From Texas/Weckesser Contemporary High School	Tim, frustrated by the ignorance of those around him, blows up at Beth, attacking her pathetic attempts to recapture her ex-boyfriend.	"Do you enjoy the heartache? He'll be there only when he is bored with himself. Run, Beth, run while you can."
Tod/Life and Limb/Reddin Contemporary	An energetically evil teenage profiteer working as an orderly in a military hospital during the Korean War describes his enterprises and employees.	"'Course I sell a lot of the shit on the black market so's I make out like a bandit most of the time."
Todd/Author's Voice/Greenberg Contemporary	Todd, gorgeous and charming and without a talented bone in his body, tries to apologize to (and manipulate) his new "roommate," a deformed but brilliant gnome named Gene.	"I'll study how they see me and live inside it... Fame will be a kind of home."
Treplev/Seagull/Chekhov Classical	Treplev, an aspiring playwright, laments his poor relationship with his famous-actress mother and his disgust for traditional theatre values.	"When I'm not there, my mother is only thirty-two, but when I am, she's forty-three - and for that, she hates me."
U		Top
Uncle Ted/Breezeblock Park/Russell Semi-Contemporary	Sandra's Uncle Ted, a conservative... hick, if you will... talks about his one and only visit to the theatre.	"His name's not there in the programme y'see, this Godot's."
V		Top
Vincent/Remedial English/Smith Contemporary	A Catholic high school senior speculates internally as to his teacher, Sister Beatrice's, motives for pulling him out of study hall.	"Sister, I think it's very rude of you to keep me waiting like this."
W		Top
Wallace/Women and Wallace/Sherman Contemporary	Wallace describes his childhood and his mother's suicide.	"It's a rare photograph, because I'm smiling."
Walker/Three Days of Rain/Greenberg Contemporary NYC	Walker is the eccentric son of a famous architect still trying to understand his dead father. Now with a third monologue.	"My parents married because by 1960 they had reached a certain age and they were the last ones left in the room."
Wanda/The Waiting Room/Loomer Contemporary	Wanda tells a modern woman's fairytale.	"Once upon a time, there were three sisters. All of them stupid."
Wanda/Catholic Schoolgirls/Kurtti Contemporary	Fourth-grade Wanda talks about how she's going to be famous - and does a little dance.	"Even if it is a sin, I don't care, I'm going to be famous."
Whitey/Sophistry/Sherman Contemporary College	Whitey, an aging philosophy professor accused of molesting a student, defends himself while intoxicated and attends an AA meeting in two wandering monologues.	"A college campus is one of the best places to cultivate and sustain a drinking problem."
Whitney/A Piece of My Heart/Lauro 1960s-1980s	A Vassar graduate describes volunteering for the Red Cross during the Vietnam war and her subsequent reluctance to become romantically involved with men.	"I don't care how I get out of here! But somebody just get me out! I am going to start screaming and never stop!"
Wife/Table Settings/Lapine Contemporary	An archetypical WASP has married into an archetypal Jewish family in this archetypal Jewish family comedy. The ultimate shiksa claims that she is always happy.	"Unlike some people I know, I count my blessings and not my problems."
Willy/Sophistry/Sherman Contemporary College	Willy, 20, has just admitted his fear of graduating college, and is left alone with his bong and his nostalgia.	"Happiness is... a Cran-Blueberry bong hit."
The Writer/Good Doctor/Simon Contemporaryish	Neil Simon's version of Anton Chekhov talks about his life's work and his loneliness.	"And so it will be to my dying day... Charming and clever, charming and clever, nothing more."
Yale/Like Dreaming, Backwards/Powell Contemporary	A college student reacts to the suicide of a casual acquaintance.	"I couldn't have known what she was feeling. But then, I didn't ask, did I?"
Z		Top
Zap/Angels Fall/Wilson Contemporary	A 21-year-old tennis pro describes the day he discovered his life's purpose: tennis.	"Once you know what you are, the rest is just work."
Mrs. Zero/The Adding Machine/Rice 1950's	A 50's housewife archetype rants at her husband, an archetypical white-collar slave.	"There's no five-thirty for me. I don't wait for no whistle."