High School Monologues — Select 1
Title:
The Crucible - Abigail
Female Actor:
Oh, John, the world’s so full of hypocrites! They pray in
jail! I’m told they all pray in jail
And torture me in bed while sacred words are comin’
from their mouths? Oh, it will need God Himself to
cleanse this town properly!
If I live, if I am not murdered, I surely will cry
out, until the last hypocrite is dead. You taught me
goodness, therefore you are good. It were a fire you
walked me through, and all my ignorance was burned
away. It were a fire, John, we lay in fire. And from that
night no woman dare call me wicked any more but I
knew my answer. I used to weep for my sins when the
wind lifted up my skirts; and blushed for shame because
some old Rebecca called me loose. And then you burned
my ignorance away. As bare as some December tree I
saw them all-walking like saints to church, running to
feed the sick, and hypocrites in their hearts! And God
gave me strength to call them liars, and God made men
listen to me, and by God I will scrub the world clean for
the love of Him! Oh, John, I will make you such a wife
when the world is white again!
Title:
Proof - Catherine
Female Actor:
I lived with him. I spent my life with him. I
fed him. Talked to him. Tried to listen when he talked.
Talked to people who weren’t there . . . Watched him
shuffling around like a ghost. Avery smelly ghost. He
was filthy. I had to make sure he bathed. My own
father . . .
After my mother died it was just me here. I tried to keep
him happy no matter what idiotic project he was doing.
He used to read all day. He kept demanding more and
more books. I took them out of the library by the car
load. We had hundreds upstairs. Then I realized he
wasn’t reading: he believed aliens were sending him
messages through the Dewey decimal numbers on the
library books. He was trying to work out the code . . .
Beautiful mathematics. The most elegant proofs, perfect
proofs, proofs like music . . .
Plus fashion tips, knock-knock jokes – I mean it was
nuts, OK?
Later the writing phase: scribbling nineteen, twenty
hours a day . . . I ordered him a case of notebooks and he
used every one.
I dropped out of school . . .
I’m glad he’s dead.
Title:
Jane
Female Actor:
It was two years ago today that my dad died. Yep,
already two years. And, you know, its still hard to
believe. I still look for him to come walking in the back
door every night with this big grin on his face.
He died unexpectedly. I mean, like he was always so
healthy and strong. He seemed like indestructible, you
know. I don’t remember him ever being sick a day. Then
one night he comes home complaining of this pain, this
burning sensation in his chest. Like, right here . . .
At first he thought it was the stomach flu or heartburn,
or something. So he got a whole bunch of stuff from the
drugstore and started watching his diet. But the pain
didn’t go away. In fact, it kept getting worse, to the point
where one morning he couldn’t go to work.
He finally broke down and went to the family doctor,
who sent him to this specialist who said he had to have
an operation because of this dark spot that showed up on
the x-rays.
The night before he went to the hospital was the first
time I ever remember seeing him afraid. The fear was in
his eyes; you could see it. We all sat up real late that
night because he didn’t want to go to bed. The poor guy.
He must have suspected something.
When they operated, they found that cancer was eating
him alive and they told us he had maybe six months. It
was a terrible thing. I remember how sick I got inside.
Mom decided to close up the house and rent us a place
in Florida so Dad could be someplace warm and sunny
till . . . Then, unexpectedly, he died three days later. Just
like that.
(Jane continued)
It really shook me up a lot and it took me a long time to
get over it. The shock of it nailed me down for a while,
you know. But I got over it, I mean the grieving part,
that is. You have to. After a while, you just have to let
go. But I still think of him and I still miss him. It just
isn’t the same without him around. Like there’s this
place inside me that’s empty, you know — a place he
filled. I really miss him. A lot. And I always will, I
guess. Hey, I mean, after all — he was my dad.
Title:
The Phone Will Explode at the ToneHarry
Male Actor:
Hi, Anne? This is Harry. That’s right, Harry! I was
wondering if you’d like to go out on Friday night. Catch
a movie? You would? That’s great. I’ll pick you up at
seven, babe. Bye! Now. All I have to do is actually dial
her number and I’ll have this down pat. Although . . .
I’ve asked the dial tone out so many times maybe shell
go out with me. Hi, everyone — this is my date: the dial
tone. Okay. I can do this. I’ll just take some deep breaths
and pick up the phone and call her. It’s just a phone! It’s
easy. Millions of guys do it every day. I mean, the
population would seriously decrease if guys didn’t ask
girls out on dates. And vice-versa. Oh, jeez, I could get
into trouble over that. What if she thinks I’m a sexist pig
because I want to ask her out on a date? I’m much too
young for this. At least I don’t have to see her face when
she rejects me. This way she can politely turn me down,
we can both hang up and I will quietly bang the receiver
against my head all night. Pick up the phone. Pick up the
phone. AHHHHH!! What is the worst she can say? She
can say no. Would that be so bad? It would be so bad. It
would ruin my very existence. As little existence as I
have . . . it would ruin it completely. Okay. Okay. Maybe
some pushups. I’ll do some pushups and get the blood
running to my head. Yeah! Hello, Anne, will you go out
with me? If you need some convincing feel my manly
arms! I do a hundred pushups every day! Or maybe two.
Enough, enough, enough! Its probably busy. That would
solve all my problems. That’s it. It’s busy. She’s
probably not even home. I could leave a message. I don’t
even have to talk to her! I have nothing to worry about.
I’m picking up the phone! I’m dialing her number! I’m . .
. oh my God — it’s ringing! Title:
Buried Child - Vince
Male Actor:
I was gonna run last night. I was gonna run and keep
right on running. Clear to the Iowa border. I drove all
night with the windows open. The old man’s two bucks
flapping right on the seat beside me. It never stopped
raining the whole time. Never stopped once. I could see
myself in the windshield. My face. My eyes. I studied
my face. Studied everything about it as though I was
looking at another man. As though I could see his whole
race behind him. Like a mummy’s face. I saw him dead
and alive at the same time. In the same breath. In the
windshield I watched him breathe as though he was
frozen in time and every breath marked him. Marked
him forever without him knowing. And then his face
changed. His face became his father’s face. Same bones.
Same eyes. Same nose. Same breath. And his fathers
face changed to his grandfather’s face. And it went on
like that. Changing. Clear on back to faces I’d never
seen before but still recognized. Still recognized the
bones underneath. Same eyes. Same mouth. Same
breath. I followed my family clear into Iowa. Every last
one. Straight into the corn belt and further. Straight back
as far as they’d take me. Then it all dissolved.
Everything dissolved. Just like that. And that two bucks
kept right on flapping on the seat beside me.
Title:
The Amen Corner - David
Male Actor:
You think I want to hate you, Mama? You think it don’t
tear me to pieces to have to lie to you all the time. Yes,
because I been lying to you, Mama, for a long time now!
I don’t want to keep on feeling so bad inside that I have
to go running down them alleys you was talking about
— that alley right outside this door! — to find
something to help me hide — from what I’m feeling. I
want to be man. It’s time you let me be a man. You got
to let me go. (A pause.) If I stayed here — I’d end up
worse than Daddy — because I wouldn’t be doing what
I know I got to do — I got to do! I’ve seen your life —
and now I see Daddy — and I love you, I love you both!
— but I’ve got my work to do, something . . . Every time
play, every time I listen, I see Daddy’s face and
and so many faces — who’s going to speak for
Mama? Who’s going to speak for all of us? I
home. Maybe I can say something — one
I can say something in music that’s never
before. Mama — you knew this day was
I
yours,
all that,
can’t stay
day — maybe
been said
coming.
Title:
Jack
Male Actor:
This is a mistake, Kate. A mistake we’ll both regret, as
God is my judge . . . Why this woman? Because she had
an interest in life besides working in a bank or taking
care of her house. To her, the world was bigger than that.
She read books I never heard of, talked about places I
never knew existed. When she talked, I just listened. And
when I talked, I suddenly heard myself say things I never
knew I felt. Because she asked questions that I had to
answer . . . Learning about yourself can be a very
dangerous thing, Kate. Some people, like me, should
leave well enough alone . . . The things you were afraid
to hear, I won’t tell you, because they’re true. It lasted
less time than you think, but once was enough to hurt, I
realize that . . . I never ate in that restaurant again, and I
have never once seen her again . . . if either one us feels
better now that I’ve told you all that, then shame on both
of us. If I killed a man on the street, you would probably
stand by me. Maybe even understand it. So why is this
the greatest sin that can happen to a man and wife?