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

1-Sentence Summary: Maddie pushes back against the notion that there are better places than bars to meet people.

Appreciated: Playwright has a great ear for dialogue (in this case monologue). I felt as if I were on that bar stool next to Maddie and we're old friends. Maddie has a solid wit and a healthy sense of humor on the total lack of viable places to meet guys outside of bars.
​
​Character's Age is 20's on up to any age.
​Character's gender is female.
Character's name is Maddie.
Monologue genre is comedic
Monologue is from the play "Pretzels and Longing" by Linda Eisenstein.
Find this monologue on page 77 of "Audition Book Vol 4: 222 Comedy Monologues 2 Minutes and Under"

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

1. ​Strong Want - 1. To meet a decent guy!!!!
2. ​High Stakes - 1. To NOT become a lonely spinster!
3. Tactical Variety - 0.
4. Hook Opener - 0.
5. Button Finish - 2. "At least in a bar you get pretzels with your longing"
6. Sensory - 1. Sight, taste.
7. Internal Obstacles - 0.
8. Past/Present Balance - 0.
9. Discovery - 0.
10. Restraint - 0. .

TOTAL "ELEMENT USAGE WEIGHT": 5

1-Sentence Summary: Mary Catherine Flynn reflects on the time she was drunk at a monastery and believes she saw and danced with the Pope.

Appreciated: The exuberance, joy, and awe she experiences in relating the incredible life changing moment that may (or may not have) actually happened. The clarity and simplicity of language used here. Conversational, natural.
​
​Character's Age is 30's
​Character's gender is female.
Character's name is Mary Katherine Flynn (nickname Kitty)
Monologue genre is comedic
Monologue is from the play Pius and Me by Joe Byers
Find this monologue on page 75 of "Audition Book Vol 4: 222 Comedy Monologues 2 Minutes and Under"

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

1. ​Strong Want - 0.
2. ​High Stakes - 1. In the past, she's afraid of being excommunicated.
3. Tactical Variety - 0.
4. Hook Opener - 1. Opens on her running into his holiness coming out of the bathroom.
5. Button Finish - 1. "This is heaven and I didn't have to die to get here."
6. Sensory - 1. Sight, Touch.
7. Internal Obstacles - 0.
8. Past/Present Balance - 0.
9. Discovery - 1. Within the story, big time. Huge surprise moment. And his holiness bucks her expectations.
10. Restraint - 0. .

TOTAL "ELEMENT USAGE WEIGHT": 4

1-Sentence Summary: Erika, a secretary, on the phone with her boss asks about the new break policy at work while going into personal details about her pregnancy, what the baby might look like, why she "just knows" the gender, and how her genes will likely dominate over her Korean husband's.

Appreciated: The dialogue effectively makes you feel the dynamic between her and the boss, who it seems is throwing little barbs at Erika that she is busy fending off.
​
​Character's Age is 20's
​Character's gender is female
Character's name is Erika
Monologue genre is comedic
Monologue is from the play Hold Please by Annie Weisman.
Find this monologue on page 52 of "Audition Book Vol 4: 222 Comedy Monologues 2 Minutes and Under"

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

1. ​Strong Want - 0.5. Wants those breaks.
2. ​High Stakes - 0.
3. Tactical Variety - 1.
4. Hook Opener - 0.
5. Button Finish - 0.
6. Sensory - 0.
7. Internal Obstacles - 0.
8. Past/Present Balance - 0.
9. Discovery - 0.
10. Restraint - 1. Trying to stay pleasant but worried about losing her breaks.

TOTAL "ELEMENT USAGE WEIGHT": 2.5

1-Sentence Summary: Aboard a boat bound for Albany, NY, Eliza, a southern actress, barges into a storage room occupied by a family of English immigrants, introduces herself, performs a Shakespeare monologue melodramatically, and then exits quickly insulting the "powerful aroma" in their cabin.

Appreciated: The physical comedy of Eliza as she exacts a scene of grieving from Shakespeare's Cymbeline on the father of the English family, who she has cast in the role of headless corpse. She manhandles the father as if he is a corpse during the scene. The total innaproprateness and intrusiveness of her behavior is awesome. She is the epitome of self-involved. Her insult to the family who she surmises "must be farmers" because their cabin smells like "a beast of the field which has sadly passed away."

​Character's Age is 20's but could be any age really for purpose of audition.
​Character's gender is female.
Character's name is Eliza
Character's dialect is southern.
Monologue genre is comedic
​Monologue is potentially hilarious if played right.
Monologue is from the play "Heading West" by Phillip Goulding
Find this monologue on page 49 of "Audition Book Vol 4: 222 Comedy Monologues 2 Minutes and Under"

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

1. ​Strong Want - 1. To convince the family she is an important and talented actress and show she is above them and better than them.
2. ​High Stakes - 1. Protecting her actually fragile ego.
3. Tactical Variety - 1. To demonstrate her acting ability, to speak as if she's very refined, to put the family down.
4. Hook Opener - 0
5. Button Finish - 1. The "beast of field which has sadly passed away" insult mentioned above.
6. Sensory - 1. Reference to smell, glare of sun, Shakespeare text full of sensory descriptors.
7. Internal Obstacles - 0.
8. Past/Present Balance - 0.
9. Discovery - 1. Monologue contains reactions to her environment, plus the Shakespeare piece is literally about the discovery of a headless corpse.
10. Restraint - 0. No this character is the opposite of restrained.

TOTAL "ELEMENT USAGE WEIGHT": 6