Trista asks her best friend from 8th grade to be her maid of honor. Problem is, they haven't been friends since 8th grade.

Great comedic premise and well executed. Stakes are beautifully high with Trista desperate to have a friend be there for her as her maid of honor. Trista is socially clueless, unintentionally offending her 8th grade bestie at every turn.

​Find this monologue for women in "105 Five-Minute Plays" within the play "Favor" by Christina Luzarraga.

Start the monologue on page 188 with the line "Anyway I invited you here because there's something I wanted to ask you." Cut interjection lines and finish on pg 189 with "...it was like you had an extra hand. Get it?"

I want to talk to you right now about a fundamental threat to American democracy. In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. We are at a turning point in our history. There are two paths to choose. One is a path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. All the traditions of our past, all the lessons of our heritage, all the promises of our future point to another path -- the path of common purpose and the restoration of American values. That path leads to true freedom for our nation and ourselves. For the sake of our nation, it is time for us to join hands in America. Let us commit ourselves together to a rebirth of the American spirit.

1-Sentence Summary: After the Liberty Bell 7 Capsule is lost at sea, Al Harrison, head of the NASA space task group, has to defend his program at a Senate Hearing.

Monologue starts with: "Let me say first ... discovery is never just for the sake of discovery, gentlemen ... but for the sake of human survival."
​
​Time and Place: April 1961, NASA campus Virginia. Monologue is a fictionalized account of what leadership at NASA might have said to the NASA Space Task Group after the Russians beat the US to put the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin, on April 12, 1961.
Character's age is 40's-50's.
​Character's gender is male.
Character's name is Al Harrison (played by Kevin Costner) a fictionalized character created as a composite of various leaders at NASA at the time including Robert C. Gilruth, the head of the Space Task Group at Langley Research Center
Monologue genre is dramatic, historic.
Find this monologue 1 hour 16 minutes into Oscar nominated movie "Hidden Figures"
​2-Minute monologue

​Monologue Writing 101 Elements (0 = Not Used. 1 = Used. 2 = Strong Usage)

1. ​Strong Want - 2. To win the Space Race.
2. ​High Stakes - 2. Survival of the country.
3. Tactical Variety - 1. Defend, inspire, win confidence.
4. Hook Opener - 1. Thesis/arguement type.
5. Button Finish - 1. Inspiring close.
6. Sensory - 0
7. Internal Obstacles - 1. Could be hiding his own doubts to project confidence.
8. Past/Present Balance - 0.
9. Discovery - 1. This is Al's monent, he digs deep into himself and speaks. Not rehearsed but strong and passionate and level headed.
10. Restraint - 1. Al may be holding back anger, hiding a crisis of confidence, or containing his passion for space exploration in order to make his points clearly to the senators and come off level headed.

TOTAL "ELEMENT USAGE WEIGHT": 10

​

1-Sentence Summary: After finding out they just lost the race to get the first human into space, Al Harrison, head of NASA's Space Task Force, gathers his team in his office.

Monologue starts with: "I want to thank everyone for staying. I know it's late and after what I just saw I'm sure everyone's probably anxious to just go home. Before we do, I just have to ask a question. The same one I've been asking myself all the way over here... which is ...How the hell did we find ourself in second place in a two man race?"
​
​Time and Place: April 1961, NASA campus Virginia. Monologue is a fictionalized account of what leadership at NASA might have said to the NASA Space Task Group after the Russians beat the US to put the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin, on April 12, 1961.
Character's age is 40's-50's.
​Character's gender is male.
Character's name is Al Harrison (played by Kevin Costner) a fictionalized character created as a composite of various leaders at NASA at the time including Robert C. Gilruth, the head of the Space Task Group at Langley Research Center
Monologue genre is dramatic, historic.
Find this monologue 58 minutes into Oscar nominated movie "Hidden Figures"
​2-Minute monologue

​Monologue Writing 101 Elements (0 = Not Used. 1 = Used. 2 = Strong Usage)

1. ​Strong Want - 2. To win the Space Race.
2. ​High Stakes - 2. Survival of the country.
3. Tactical Variety - 1. Scold, motivate, defend.
4. Hook Opener - 0.
5. Button Finish - 0.5.
6. Sensory - 0.5
7. Internal Obstacles - 1. Fighting against sense of defeat to stay hopeful.
8. Past/Present Balance - 0.
9. Discovery - 1. Character is partially finding the words he needs in the moment to reach his team.
10. Restraint - 0.5. Keeping feeling of defeat pushed down.

TOTAL "ELEMENT USAGE WEIGHT": 8.5

​

1-Sentence Summary: When a mother is asked by her son if Santa is real, she begins to tell him the truth, but as she sees the psychological damage it will have and flashes back to the moment in her own childhood when she found out, she decides to play it off as a joke and keep the magic alive.
​
​Character's Age is 20's-40's.
​Character's gender is female.
Monologue genre is comedic
Monologue is from the collection of monologues Women's Monologues That Are Actually Funny

​Monologue Writing 101 Elements (0 = Not Used. 1 = Used. 2 = Strong Usage)

1. ​Strong Want - 1. To be honest with her child.
2. ​High Stakes - 1. Child's well being.
3. Tactical Variety - 1. To be honest, to be educational, to explain rationally, to misdirect..
4. Hook Opener - 0.
5. Button Finish - 0.
6. Sensory - 0.
7. Internal Obstacles - 1. Tell truth vs. keep magic alive.
8. Past/Present Balance - 1. Actively engaged with and reacting to her son's reactions to whet she's saying. Flashback to her own childhood drives present action.
9. Discovery - 1. She'd forgotten how young she was when she found out.
10. Restraint - 0.

TOTAL "ELEMENT USAGE WEIGHT": 6

1-Sentence Summary: A woman in the "matching bra and panties" stage of her relationship is mortified when her boyfriend decides to do her laundry and discovers her most unsexy and worn out of underwear.

Appreciated: How the character is freaking out internally throughout the interactions with her boyfriend about the underwear, while outwardly trying to pretend nothing is wrong.
​
​Character's Age is 20's to 50's.
​Character's gender is female.
Monologue genre is comedic
Monologue is from the collection of monologues Women's Monologues That Are Actually Funny

​Monologue Writing 101 Elements (0 = Not Used. 1 = Used. 2 = Strong Usage)

1. ​Strong Want - 1.
2. ​High Stakes - 1.
3. Tactical Variety - 1.
4. Hook Opener - 0.
5. Button Finish - 0.
6. Sensory - 1. Taste, sight.
7. Internal Obstacles - 1.
8. Past/Present Balance - 0.
9. Discovery - 0.
10. Restraint - 1.

TOTAL "ELEMENT USAGE WEIGHT": 6

1-Sentence Summary: In pursuit of an engineering position at NASA, Mary Jackson has to convince a judge to let her take night classes at an all-white segregated high school in Virginia.

Excerpt: "Your Honor. You of all people should understand the importance of being first. You were the first in your family to serve in the Armed Forces. U.S. Navy. The first to attend university. George Mason. And the first state judge to be recommissioned by three consecutive governors. (What's the point?). The point is, Your Honor ... no negro woman in the state of Virginia ... has ever attended an all-white high school. It's unheard of. And before Alan Shepard sat on top of a rocket, no other American had ever touched space. And now, he will forever be remembered as the U.S. Navy man from New Hampshire, the first to touch the stars. And I, sir, I plan on being an engineer at NASA, but I can't do that without taking them classes at that all-white high school. And I can't change the color of my skin. So I have no choice but to be the first. Which I can't do without you, sir. Your Honor, out of all the cases you're gonna hear today ...which one is gonna matter 100 years from now? Which one is gonna make you the first?"
​
​Time and Place: 1950's, courtroom, Hampton, Virginia.
Character's age is 30's.
​Character's gender is female.
​Character's race is African American.
Character's name is Mary Jackson
Monologue genre is dramatic, historic.
Find this monologue 1 hour 11 minutes into Oscar nominated movie "Hidden Figures"
​2 Minute monologue

​Monologue Writing 101 Elements (0 = Not Used. 1 = Used. 2 = Strong Usage)

1. ​Strong Want - 2. To take classes so she can be an engineer at NASA
2. ​High Stakes - 2. A career at NASA, her potential actualized.
3. Tactical Variety - 1. Get personal and speak to listener's self interest (judge's own background), inspire.
4. Hook Opener - 0.
5. Button Finish - 1. Pays off repetition of theme of being first.
6. Sensory - 0.
7. Internal Obstacles - 0.
8. Past/Present Balance - 1. All the past references are tactics to convince judge in the present.
9. Discovery - 0.
10. Restraint - 0.

TOTAL "ELEMENT USAGE WEIGHT": 7

1-Sentence Summary: When Katherine's boss reprimands her for taking long breaks, she tells him the reason "there's no bathrooms for me here" and makes him aware that the nearest colored bathroom at NASA is half a mile away from their office.

Excerpt: "There's no bathroom for me here. (What do you mean there's no bathroom?). There is no bathroom. There are no colored bathrooms in this building. Or any building outside the West Campus, which is half a mile away. Did you know that? I have to walk to Timbuktu just to relieve myself. And I can't use one of the handy bikes. Picture that, Mr. Harrison. My uniform. Skirt below my knees, my heels, and a simple string of pearls. Well, I don't own pearls. Lord knows you don't pay coloreds enough to afford pearls! And I work like a dog, day and night, living off of coffee from a pot none of you wanna touch. So, excuse me if I have to go to the restroom a few times a day."
​
​Time and Place: Early 1960's, NASA campus Virginia.
Character's age is 30's.
​Character's gender is female.
​Character's race is African American.
Character's name is Katherine.
Monologue genre is dramatic, historic.
Find this monologue 36 minutes into Oscar nominated movie "Hidden Figures"
​1-Minute monologue

​Monologue Writing 101 Elements (0 = Not Used. 1 = Used. 2 = Strong Usage)

1. ​Strong Want - 2. To stand up for her basic human dignity.
2. ​High Stakes - 2. Her job at NASA. The money takes care of her kids, she's a single mom.
3. Tactical Variety - 1. Elicit understanding and empathy, scold/shame her boss and coworkers for how she is treated.
4. Hook Opener - 2.
5. Button Finish - 1.
6. Sensory - 1. Visual.
7. Internal Obstacles - 0.
8. Past/Present Balance - 0.
9. Discovery - 1. She did not plan to say any of this. She's put on the spot in front of whole office and has to defend herself.
10. Restraint - 1. Possible she's holding back tears.

TOTAL "ELEMENT USAGE WEIGHT": 11

1-Sentence Summary: When Katherine's suitor, Lieutenant James Johnson, makes a sexist comment about women doing "heady" work at NASA, Katherine stands up for herself and the 20 other African American women she works with as human "computers" whose calculations will soon put the first U.S. manned spacecraft into orbit.

Excerpt: "Mr. Johnson. If I were you I'd quit talking right now. I will have you know I was the first Negro female student at West Virginia University Graduate School. On any given day I analyze the manometer levels for air displacement, friction, and velocity and compute over 10,000 calculations by cosine, square root, and, lately, analytic geometry. By hand. There are 20 bright, highly capable Negro women in the West Computing Group. And we're proud to be doing our part for the country. So, yes. They let women do some things at NASA, Mr. Johnson. And it's not because we wear skirts. It's because we wear glasses. Have a good day."
​
​Character's age is 30's.
​Character's gender is female.
​Character's race is African American.
Character's name is Katherine.
Monologue genre is dramatic, historic.
Find this monologue 36 minutes into Oscar nominated movie "Hidden Figures"
​1-Minute monologue

​Monologue Writing 101 Elements (0 = Not Used. 1 = Used. 2 = Strong Usage)

1. ​Strong Want - 1. To win Mr. Johnson's respect and set boundaries/expectations for how she expects to be treated and viewed if they're to enter into a relationship.
2. ​High Stakes - 1. Potential relationship with a accomplished man she's attracted to.
3. Tactical Variety - 1. To scold, to gain respect by demonstrating her high competence/intelligence, to shame him for sexism but playfully using wit (not skirts, glasses line).
4. Hook Opener - 1. Within first 15 seconds she's rattling off mathematical terms that shows her intellectual prowess.
5. Button Finish - 2. "So, yes. They let women do some things at NASA, Mr. Johnson. And it's not because we wear skirts. It's because we wear glasses."
6. Sensory - 0.
7. Internal Obstacles - 0.
8. Past/Present Balance - 0.
9. Discovery - 0.
10. Restraint - 1. She's tempering her anger at his sexist comment, because she's attracted to Mr. Johnson, who put his foot in his mouth but is also is a good man with redeeming qualities. She wants to let him know she's offended but not discourage him completely from pursuing her.

TOTAL "ELEMENT USAGE WEIGHT": 7