<p>I am planning when I go to college to major in theater/acting. I know usually you have to have an auditon piece and I don’t where to find a legit place to buy scripts.
Help?</p>
<p>Well, we usually get everything from Samuel French. They are on the internet, or if you are in certain cities, like LA, you can actually browse their stores. Also, you can check out the internet and find lots of great internet bookstores.</p>
<p>The auditions for straight theatre (as opposed to musical theatre) consist of monologues. Each school that requires an audition (BFA’s generally do, BA’s generally don’t but there are exceptions for both) posts its audition and monologue requirements on its theatre department website. You generally need 2 monologues, some schools may require more and it is generally a good idea to have a couple of extras on call in case you are asked at an audition to do additional ones over the posted requirements. It is not necessary to buy the scripts of the plays from which your monologues come. You can simply buy the paperback copy of the play from your favorite bookstore and learn your monologue from that - including reading and digesting the entire play so as to thoroughly understand the relationship of your monologue and character to the rest of the work.</p>
<p>You don’t say what grade you are in but assuming you are a junior thinking about next year, now is the time to start perusing plays to find the right monologues for you. Talk to a trusted english teacher, theatre teacher, someone who has directed you, an acting coach who knows you to get some ideas of plays that have characters that may be a good match. Spend hours sitting on the floor of bookstores perusing plays and books with monologues from actual plays (it’s important that they be from actual plays) to get some ideas. Then when you think you have found something that interests you, read the entire play. It’s a time consuming process, but that is why you should start now.</p>
<p>^^In addition, there are paperback books of short monologues for use at auditions (not the entire script). They have names such as “Monologues for Girls” “Audition Monologues for Boys” so do an online search at a place like Amazon for such a book. Try to buy a used copy to save money!
These monologue books are sometimes found in the Drama or Theater sections of large bookstores, so there you can browse.</p>
<p>A good monologue is one in which the character makes a change or decision; for example, at the start of the passage they are in one frame of mind, but by the end they have somehow changed their view or feeling about something. It’s called an “arc.”</p>
<p>I believe this: don’t do Shakespeare unless you’ve been trained to do Shakespeare.
Others might disagree.</p>
<p>If it’s a part from a play you’ve performed, that might have some advantage for you.</p>
<p>If you end up choosing a monologue from a book of short monologues, it’s wise to then read the full play if you can find it. At least know the synopsis, so you have a larger context to imagine the character, even if you’re only performing a few minutes. You need to reflect on what motivates that character.</p>
<p>Assume that the people hearing your audition already know all of the classics and many newly-written plays by established playwrights. If it’s an unusual play, certainly be ready to answer, very briefly, any questions about the play’s basic plot or who is this character.</p>
<p>If someone famous has performed the same part in a movie, you don’t have to watch it to come up with a good interpretation. In fact, it’s a disadvantage if you
end up being overly influenced by, or copying, their interpretation. (Example: if you want to do a scene from “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” and your ma says you’ve ‘got to’ watch how Elizabeth Taylor did it in the movie, your ma’s advice is wrong there.)</p>
<p>my d has these books that catalogue all monologues by age, sex of the character, name of play, and other information. She is able to take these books into book stores, after highlighting what look to be “age appropriate” material, and then go to the plays, look at the plays and decide if the play is something she is interested in. She always reads the entire play (as well you should) before ultimately deciding if she wants to do the monologue. Most of the time, the plays run about $7.00 a copy. She has tons of them, and she and her friends share plays all the time.</p>