Monologue based play
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URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5305
Printed Date: 10/30/25 at 9:17pm
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Topic: Monologue based play
Posted By: leoknite
Subject: Monologue based play
Date Posted: 4/28/12 at 5:30pm
Hey folks, I am doing a show on a very very small stage with very very limited lighting. I have a 15ft x 5 ft stage set on a corner with 2 lights that can dim down.
I want to do something super simple. Monologue based plays usually follow that criteria. I have Exonerated but its hard to find African American casts. The Vagina Monologues was done recently and I have one point in my life directed Laramie Project. Other then these 3 is there other monologue heavy plays?
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If I was a resonable person, I would have chosen the life of a politician or a chemist, but I not reasonable so I'm a theatre major.
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Replies:
Posted By: edh915
Date Posted: 4/28/12 at 6:15pm
Faith Healer, a drama by Brian Friehl
2 men, 1 woman
Molly Sweeney, another drama by Brian Friehl
2 men, 1 woman
Love Letters, a drama by A.R. Gurney
1 man, 1 woman
Visiting Mr. Green, a comedy-drama by Jeff Baron
2 men
A Walk in the Woods, a comedy-drama by Lee Blessing
2 men (has been done with 1 man, 1 woman)
Art, a comedy by Yasmina Reza
3 men
Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, a drama by Frank McGuinness
3 men
Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol, a new take on the timeless classic by Tom Mula
1 man - also available in a 4 character version, which I did using 6 actors
The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me, a comedy-drama by Dan Butler
Written as a one-man show, but can easily be done with 2, 4, 6, or 8
Shakespeare's R&J, a re-telling of Romeo and Juliet by Joe Calarco
4 men
All of these shows will fit very, very well into the size space you have described. All are excellent. I have personally acted in or directed most of them. The ones I haven't yet done are currently on my "to do" list; so if you have any specific questions about any of them, feel free to ask.
P.S.
You might also consider Don Juan in Hell by G.B. Shaw - also known as the third act dream sequence in Man and Superman
3 men, 1 woman
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Posted By: leoknite
Date Posted: 4/29/12 at 5:33am
Thanks a lot.
Art sounds fun. Someone who'll watch over me is a play I actually heard of.
I oddly feel more comfortable working with people in the age range 20s-40s. (I am 26) Some people have age bias in my community.
Love Letters should be performed with older actors right?
Shakespeare R&J, looks nifty probably something I would consider doing.
What is the run time on these productions and who has which rights.
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If I was a resonable person, I would have chosen the life of a politician or a chemist, but I not reasonable so I'm a theatre major.
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Posted By: edh915
Date Posted: 4/29/12 at 1:03pm
Faith Healer and Someone Who'll Watch Over Me are Samuel French.
All the rest are Dramatists Play Service.
All of the shows are in the 90 minute, plus intermission, category.
Love Letters covers a romance spanning the ages of 10 and 50-plus. In my opinion, the optimal age for actors in this play is 35 to 40 - still young enough to play the youth scenes, but with enough gravitas to handle the mature scenes.
Two other shows came to mind since yesterday. You just need to have enough room backstage to stash a bunch of props:
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) by Jess Borgeson, Adam Long, and Daniel Singer
3 actors on a comedic romp through the entire Shakespeare canon
Broadway Play Publishing, Inc.
Then there's it's holiday-themed cousin:
Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) by Michael Carlson, Jim Fitzgerald, and John K. Alvarez
3 actors there, too
Playscripts, Inc.
Another two plays occurred to me while writing the above:
Somewhere In Between by Craig Pospisil - Dramatists Play Service
A romantic comedy about love in the big city. Minimal set (I did it with six stools and a cityscape backdrop). Six to ten actors with doubling.
Almost, Maine by John Cariani - Dramatists Play Service
Twelve conversations about love (viewed consecutively, but all, in fact, taking place simultaneously) in a tiny town in rural Maine. As few as four, or as many as twelve actors.
Oooops! - One more...
Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology by Charles Aidman - Samuel French
Terrifically popular when I was your age, but now pretty much faded from view. Tricky, but stunning when done well.
Four, six, eight, ten, twelve actors
One more thought (sorry, I'm on a roll here)...
There are a couple of plays available that tell their stories as a radio show; so all you need is actors standing around a few microphones and a guy doing sound effects. I know there's one for It's A Wonderful Life and another for A Christmas Carol. There's also one for The 39 Steps - also a few mysteries, too. - - - In that same vein, there's a group in my area that travels around performing old radio scripts, complete with hokey commercials. Dramas, mysteries, comedies - the whole spectrum. I'm told there are free, non-royalty scripts available on-line.
If you have a piano...
Gutenberg! The Musical! A hilarious two-man show.
Check out www.gutenbergthemusical.com
The Fantasticks should also work well in your space.
Don't be afraid of "real" Shakespeare either. The originals were done without sets. And six guys on a small stage can be just as impressive as twenty on a large stage. Just last year I saw a production of Henry V performed in an art gallery by a cast of eight women; and it was wonderful theatre.
Your only real limitation is your imagination - something that is potentially boundless.
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Posted By: bnk01
Date Posted: 4/30/12 at 10:23am
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Might want to read "Love Plays On" -a collection of one short comedies, just down by the Randall Theatre in Oregon. Very funny, heartwarming plays about love & relationships - almost all monologues or duologues. ( I think one 3 person play.) Simple to stage & went over well.
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Posted By: ozzieparker
Date Posted: 4/30/12 at 10:34am
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try "Second Samuel" https://www.facebook.com/pages/Second-Samuel/136948816381236 - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Second-Samuel/136948816381236 http://www.dramaticpublishing.com/product_info.php?products_id=2820 - http://www.dramaticpublishing.com/product_info.php?products_id=2820
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You never know what's comin' for you.
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Posted By: jayzehr
Date Posted: 4/30/12 at 1:38pm
We just did Jeffrey Hatcher's Three Viewings and had good feedback.
Three monologues by three actors set in a funeral home.
One caveat in general is that I think "monologue" might not be a good selling point when publicizing a show.
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Posted By: pdavis69
Date Posted: 5/01/12 at 8:30am
If you have one really good actor, I might suggest "Barrymore's Ghost" by Jason Miller (He is the same actor who played Father Damien in the Exorcist).
BARRYMORE'S GHOST opens up the life of the legendary
actor, John Barrymore, in a unique, theatrical manner. Mr. John Barrymore, or
Jack Barrymore or Jake Barrymore, is presented as a ghost haunting an unknown
theater which, at the moment, is in rehearsal for a play. The gods have
sentenced Barrymore to this purgatorial existence as penance for his abandonment
of the theater and the squandering of his talents in the pursuit of fame, greed
and dissipation. Barrymore disputes these assertions of the gods as he painfully
and humorously examines the spectrum of his life. He chronicles his ascendancy
to the throne as the finest classical actor of his generation; his arrival to
the pinnacle of movie stardom; his intimate and compassionate relationships to
his sister, Ethel, and his brother, Lionel; and the explosive debacles of his
four marriages. The play has wit, terror, agony and hope, as we watch a
mythological character explore the truths and deceptions of his extraordinary
life.
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Patrick L. Davis
Fort Findlay Playhouse
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Posted By: edh915
Date Posted: 5/01/12 at 11:33am
I agree with Mr. Davis Barrymore's Ghost is a wonderful play.
Another play to look at is All In The Timing by David Ives. - Dramatists Play Service
An evening of six comically surreal one-acts - my two favorites being The Philadelphia and The Universal Language, although all are wonderful.
Here's the description from Dramatists' catalogue:
SURE THING is a classic of contemporary comedy: Two people
meet in a cafe and find their way through a conversational minefield as
an offstage bell interrupts their false starts, gaffes, and faux pas on
the way to falling in love. (1 man, 1 woman.)
WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
recalls the philosophical adage that three monkeys typing into infinity
will sooner or later produce HAMLET and asks: What would monkeys talk
about at their typewriters? (2 men, 1 woman.)
THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE
brings together Dawn, a young woman with a stutter, and Don, the creator
and teacher of Unamunda, a wild comic language. Their lesson sends them
off into a dazzling display of hysterical verbal pyrotechnics-and, of
course, true love. (2 men, 1 woman.)
PHILIP GLASS BUYS A LOAF OF BREAD
is a parodic musical vignette in trademark Glassian style, with the
celebrated composer having a moment of existential crisis in a bakery.
(2 men, 2 women.)
THE PHILADELPHIA presents a young man in a restaurant
who has fallen into a Philadelphia, a Twilight Zone-like state in which
he cannot get anything he asks for. His only way out of the dilemma? To
ask for the opposite of what he wants. (2 men, 1 woman.)
VARIATIONS ON
THE DEATH OF TROTSKY shows us the Russian revolutionary on the day of
his demise, desperately trying to cope with the mountain-climber's axe
he's discovered in his head. (2 men, 1 woman.)
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Posted By: Shanahan
Date Posted: 5/02/12 at 11:05am
If you've got a strong male lead who can play late 30s, you might want to check out my show, One Before Forty. First act is available at http://johnshanahan.net/playwright.
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Laughter guaranteed. Plays by John Shanahan
http://www.johnshanahan.net
Dinner for Several
One Before Forty
Bob's Date
Brushstroke
Worst Possible Time for Writer's Block
& more!
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Posted By: jayzehr
Date Posted: 5/02/12 at 4:14pm
Originally posted by edh915
Another play to look at is All In The Timing by David Ives. - Dramatists Play Service
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That's a really fun show. It seems like it would be tough to do it on a 5' x15' stage but maybe it could be pulled off.
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Posted By: drose
Date Posted: 2/05/13 at 3:39pm
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Talking With might be worth looking into. It's a great vehicle for strong females. http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/2777/talking-with - http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/2777/talking-with
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Posted By: falstaff29
Date Posted: 2/08/13 at 8:56pm
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This Lime Tree Bower by Conor Macpherson is worth a look.
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Posted By: JGrigsby
Date Posted: 2/19/13 at 2:37pm
I did Voices from the High School back in 2002 - great success. We set new attendance records with the play. There are a lot of monologues and vignettes. This play lets you do a lot with a little space.
Good luck.
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