<p>I take part-time acting classes and my teacher emailed my group this morning asking us to bring a 3 minute extract from one of our favourite (American) novels to read out to the rest of the students. </p>
<p>The piece has to include two characters (no more) speaking, alongside the narrator (but with minimal narration). It also has to be a modern classic (so at least 30 years old but not too old).</p>
<p>Whilst I read lots of plays, I am ashamed to admit that my reading of classical novels has been limited to school (The Scarlet Letter etc.).</p>
<p>So I would really, really like some suggestions of great authors/books - and if you could possibly think of a section in the book where two characters are speaking that would be great too.</p>
<p>To Kill a Mockingbird–Scout talking to her father, Atticus
Little Women–Jo talking to Laurie or her mother
Grapes of Wrath–I can’t remember the names of the characters, but it’s probably full of good conversations</p>
<p>There is an amazing piece from Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I quote it to my parents at back to school night each year…Here it is</p>
<p>“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or flower you planted, you’re there.
It doesn’t matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.”
Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451
I know it’s not 3 minutes but there are some other great parts of this book. Take a look</p>
<p>If it doesn’t have to be a “classic,” check out John Green’s “The Fault In Our Stars” (which they are currently making into a movie). Excellent dialogue, age-appropriate characters.</p>
<p>A lot of young people like the Twilight series. Perhaps you could talk to friends who have read these books and have them suggest appropriate passages.</p>
<p>I have read both ‘The Fault In Our Stars’ and ‘Twilight’ - but unfortunately I can’t use either as the novel does have to have been written at least 30 years ago.</p>
<p>I am not sure about using a children’s classic as some of the people in my group are much older than me (it’s 18+ and I’m the youngest)?</p>
<p>This is a wonderful short story about a young couple. Although it is never explicitly stated, the young man is trying to convince his girlfriend to get an abortion. She doesn’t want to. It’s quite compelling.</p>
<p>If you can get around the requirement that the book be over 30 years old, The Help is an amazing work of art with wonderful pieces to choose from.</p>
<p>The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
East of Eden (Steinbeck)
My Antonia (Willa Cather)
The Prince of Tides (Pat Conroy) was actually written over 30 years ago–I feel old-- so it would work
Run with the Horsemen (Ferrol Sams) has some hilarious dialogue in it–mostly boys talking, don’t know if that matters</p>
<p>austinmt, these books all look great - thank you.</p>
<p>My teacher didn’t specify whether a female could do an entirely male piece - however he wouldn’t let my friend perform a poem by Charles Bukowski last week (she gave him a lecture on feminism!) so I would prefer to do a piece with at least one female character in it for this reason</p>
<p>It sounds to me as if your teacher wants you to pick a scene with dialogue between 2 characters rather than a monologue. It sounds like this would be a great reason to go to a library and shuffle through a lot of books to take a look at different pages of dialogue that will interest you. I’m sure the librarian will be very knowledgeable and will enjoy the project. One of my favorite books to read is Les Mis. The prose in this book is spectacular, but it may be too familiar for a theatre class looking to give you an exercise in reading dialogue from a novel to a classroom.</p>
<p>Look into some Jean Shepherd fiction. He is very funny! He wrote Christmas Story, but he has other stuff that you could surely pick out a funny scene!</p>
<p>Interesting suggestion, the Hemingway classic Hills Like White Elephants. But it was written in 1927 and the assignment apparently calls for something in the past 30 years, and from a novel, not a short story. </p>
<p>I thought I had read “at least” 30 years old. Most classics are much older than 30 years so I am glad Hemingway would be included as well as many of the other authors mentioned. It’s a great piece, hope you can use it.</p>