Items tagged "Monologue"

In "Working With Monologues For Rehearsal And Development" you will develop ten sessions of study on monologues. The study contains the definition and history of the monologue; monologue vocabulary; analysis of a practice monologue, staging a short monologue; working with musical theatre lyrics as a monologue; writing short autobiographical monologues.

At the end of this course, you will have a curriculum which can be used as introduction to monologue work.

Join Matt Banaszynski in this dynamic unit designed to introduce students to the process of starting, drafting, polishing, and performing a self-created, stand-alone monologue.

This unit introduces students to writing their own stand-alone monologues. Students will learn the steps involved in going from a simple idea to a written piece to performing that piece. They will also provide feedback to others and give themselves a self-assessment.

This unit has been prepared for a middle school drama class but could be adapted for high school. It was designed as a way to get non-theatre students more involved in theatre.

In the Monologue Unit, students will learn the building blocks of monologues while writing a simple monologue. This unit is divided into two parts.

In part one, the Monologue Writing Made Easy unit by Matt Banaszynski is reviewed or executed in full, depending on class needs.

In part two, students will dissect monologues as a vehicle for character and performance and will write more refined monologues based on existing fictional characters from fairytales or myths. Students will then rehearse and perform their monologues, as a final project for the unit.

In this unit, students will write a monologue authentic to their unique voice rather than to a Eurocentric canon model. We are going to decolonize the monologue. The goal in decolonizing monologues is to be inclusive of all voices in the classroom and to allow those voices to grow out of the unique style and cultural background of every student.

All students have something to say and a story to tell. They can relate to their personal stories better than anyone else. All students have a lot of material which can be used as part of an original monologue.

In this unit, students will write an autobiographical monologue based on their personal expertise, memories, distinct point of view, sense of truth, and life experiences.
Through the process, students will be encouraged to explore past stories, objects, and images and other personal material.

A monologue unit is an excellent way for students to demonstrate learned skills: vocal skills, movement skills, memorization skills, and character development. It also touches on soft skills such as communication, confidence, and attitude. That being said, monologues are not easy. A typical monologue is two minutes long. That is a lot of text to memorize, block, and develop into an engaging presentation. How often have you sat through a bad monologue performance with little to no characterization, wandering blocking, and a tenuous grasp of the lines?

Performing a monologue is a learned skill. And the best way to learn a skill is in steps. Instead of starting with the end goal—that two-minute piece—start at the beginning. This four-lesson unit will take students up the ladder toward the goal of a longer monologue.

Students will discuss and answer questions regarding the differences between a monologue and a story using The Legend of Sleepy Hollow as a model.

Students will understand how to uncover the directorial clues that Shakespeare left in his work by doing a textual analysis.

They will explore Emotional Outbursts, Action words, and Emotion words through a structured color coding analysis of a Shakespeare monologue.

The speech is a great gateway to teach students about how to write a monologue.

Use this lesson to identify the similarities between a speech and a monologue. Students will analyze a speech, identify what makes a good speech, and learn that the same qualities apply when it comes to writing a good monologue. They will write their own speech in pairs, and adapt their speech into a monologue.

Students will practice speaking in front of their peers as they explore personification and emotion in a monologue.

After seeing a model exercise, Students choose an object and an emotion as the base for their monologue. Students play the part of the object and decide on a story that explains why they feel their current emotion. Students demonstrate stage presence, vocal presence and creating a relevant story.

To demonstrate how modern character development exercises apply to Shakespearean characters.

Students apply exercises to a character from Shakespeare by examining at the character’s foreground and background, answering character questions, and creating the character’s physicality. This will demystify the process of preparing a Shakespearean monologue and give students the tools they need to prepare a monologue on their own.

Students will identify the elements of a good monologue through analysis and evaluation, focusing on a need to speak (Why does the character speak?), a specific character voice (Who is the character?) and a journey (Is there a beginning, middle, end?).

This is a great exercise when students are in the middle of preparing a monologue. Students will apply variety to a monologue in the following ways:
- Variety of pace (choosing a line to slow down or a place to pause)
- Variety of tone (choosing a line to deliver with an opposite tone)

Includes two sample monologues.

Students will learn the Rashomon plot device and put it into practice through improvised character monologues.

Includes scenario sheet, assignment sheet, and assessment rubric.

Students will complete exercises that demonstrate how a character’s need to speak results in a better monologue. They will then write a monologue that applies this knowledge.

Students will work on their critical thinking skills through close reading. Teachers will first model the technique with a sentence, students will practice the technique in groups and then apply their knowledge with a close reading of a monologue. This lesson comes with an individual assignment and close reading handout.

In this ELP, students build comprehension of a play and it’s characters through an external exercise.

Students will identify the elements that make a good monologue. Have student groups read aloud existing monologues and then discuss, answer questions, and evaluate the elements of the monologues. Do these existing monologues meet the criteria of a good monologue?

In this ELP, students will examine pictures with a person in them, infer what the person in the picture is going through based on their body language, create a character profile for the person, and then write two monologues. If you have a longer class, a Reflection is provided for students to then compare and contrast the two monologues.

Close reading is a text-dependent analysis tool that allows students to read a text for in-depth comprehension. Students focus on the text to understand what’s being said, how it’s being said, and why. In this lesson, students will use this analysis technique on a monologue. They will go through the process on a model and then apply what they have learned in a culminating activity.

Close reading requires students to analyze a text more thoroughly then they might naturally be inclined to, and because of this, students will be required to read the text three times. The first reading focuses on what the text says, the second reading focuses on how the text works, and the third engages students in evaluating the text, comparing it with other texts, or thinking about its implications in their lives in relation to the text.

This lesson applies the close reading technique to analyze a BIPOC-centred theatrical text.

A page of prompts for student-written monologues.

Teach students how to create a secret scene partner when they perform a monologue.

Use these two monologues from the movie Little Voice to discuss status and changing status with your students.

Use this rubric to assess monologue writing.

Use this rubric to assess monologue performance.

Lindsay Price's Monologue This workshop, video taken live via Periscope.

Use this exercise in the middle of a monologue project, to get students to the heart of the monologue, using improvisation techniques.

Use these first lines prompts (list of 35) for monologue and scene work.

This assessment tool for original monologues includes a rubric, a performance task outline, and a performer checklist.

This assessment tool for middle school monologues includes a rubric, a performance task outline, and a performer checklist.

This assessment tool for advanced monologues includes a rubric, a performance task outline, and a performer checklist.

This assessment tool for monologues includes a rubric, a performance task outline, and a performer checklist.

Use this monologue in your classroom for character study, monologue work, substitute teachers, performance, Individual Event competitions, and however else you can imagine.
Character: Still
Genre: Comedy

Use this monologue in your classroom for character study, monologue work, substitute teachers, performance, Individual Event competitions, and however else you can imagine.
Character: Tyne
Genre: Drama

Use this monologue in your classroom for character study, monologue work, substitute teachers, performance, Individual Event competitions, and however else you can imagine.
Character: Justice
Genre: Drama

Tips on monologue blocking for students.

We know that you’re always on the lookout for monologues. We also know you’ve no time to search for monologues.

Enjoy the material in this packet. Use them in your classes. Give them to your students for their next IE’s. The full scripts for all monologues can be found at theatrefolk.com.

Use this monologue in your classroom for character study, monologue work, substitute teachers, performance, Individual Event competitions, and however else you can imagine.
Character: Trina
Genre: Dramedy

Use this monologue in your classroom for character study, monologue work, substitute teachers, performance, Individual Event competitions, and however else you can imagine.
Character: Shrug
Genre: Drama

Use this template to track a monologue, including play details, character details, objectives, obstacles, tactics, and more.

Packet for a monologue writing project that students can do on their own without access to the internet or a computer.