Audition monologues selected from plays first published in American theatre magazine since 1985.

Here you will find a rich and varied selection of monologues for women, most of which are from plays which were produced and/or published in the 2017-2018 theatrical season. Many are for younger performers (teens through 30s) but there are some excellent pieces for older women as well. The age of the character is indicated in each monologue, but you will find that many may be done by actors of different ages. Some are comic, some dramatic. Some are rather short, some rather long. All represent the best in contemporary playwriting. The monologues include those by Anna Ziegler, Chelsea Marcantel, Joshua James, Lindsey Ferrentino, Tira Palmquist, Clare Lizzimore, Greg Kalleres, Jacqueline Goldfinger, Don Nigro, Clare Barron, Joshua James, Deborah Laufer, Dominque Morisseau, Boni Alvarez, Sandra Daley-Sharif, Julie Myatt, Molly Metzler, Aaron Posner, Tanya Saracho, Rinne Groff, Steven Haworth, Anton Dudley, Meghan Gambling, Libby Emmonds, Gerry Sheridan, Sarah Ruhl, Kayla Cagan, Brooke Berman, Anna Wilcoxen, Torben Betts, Catherine Filloux, Guillermo Calderon, Andre Biss, Adam Szymkowicz, Alena Smith, Irene Kapustina, John Cariani, C.S. Hanson, Emma Goldman-Sherman, Sam Graber, Meghan Kennedy, Maura Campbell, Beau Willimon, Jeff Tabnick, Lauren Ferebee, Karen JP Howes, A.J. Ciccotelli, Susan Eve Haar, David Simpatico, Chisa Hutchinson, Susan Soon He Stanton, Mora Harris, Greg Kalleres, Merridith Allen, Deborah Savadge, Dana Goldstein, Lynn Nottage, Cayenne Douglas, Susan Bernfield, Paola Lazaro, Martha Patterson, Amy witting, Catherine Weingarten, Daniel Guyton, Bara Swain, David MacGregor, Nandita Shenoy, Wendy MacLeod.

It's 1909 and the shirtwaist industry in New York is making profits of $50 million. But the young girls who work in the factories earn barely enough to live on, and their working conditions are brutal. When their pleas for help are rejected by the male-dominated union, the young girls who work at Johannsen's Shirtwaist Factory band together to fight for a better life. They endure beatings, starvation, and even prison but ultimately prevail ... This play is based on real people and actual events.

This year Smith and Kraus has decided to combine its annual best monologues and best scenes anthologies. The scenes included in this book are either for two men or for one man and one woman. The latter are scenes in which the male role is predominant.Here you will find a rich and varied selection of monologues and scenes from plays that were produced and/or published in the 2008-2009 theatrical season. Most are for younger performers (teens through thirties), but there are also some excellent pieces for men in their forties and fifties, and even a few for older performers. Some are comic (laughs), some are dramatic (generally, no laughs). Some are rather short, some are rather long. All represent the best in contemporary playwriting.Several of the monologues are by playwrights whose work may be familiar to you, such as Don Nigro, A. R. Gurney, Sam Bobrick, Terrence McNally, Adam Rapp, Steven Dietz, Itamar Moses, Stephen Belber, Keith Reddin, Naomi Iizuka, Michael Weller, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Richard Vetere, Bruce Graham, Jacquelyn Reingold, Sam Shepard, and Nicky Silver; others are by exciting up-and-comers like Octavio Solis, Lydia Stryk, Michael Vukadinovich, Liz Flahive, John Kolvenbach, Sylvia Reed, Barton Bishop, Padraic Lillis, Michael Golamco, and Lucy Thurber.The scenes are by master playwrights, such as Itamar Moses, Noah Haidle, Aguirre-Sacasa, and Silver, and by exciting new writers, such as Saviana Stanescu, E. M. Lewis, Jonathan Rand, Kolvenbach, Golamco, Larry Kunofsky, and Susan Bernfield. About the AuthorFor over thirty years Lawrence Harbison was in charge of new play acquisition for Samuel French, Inc., during which time his work on behalf of playwrights resulted in the first publication of such subsequent luminaries as Jane Martin, Don Nigro, Tina Howe, Theresa Rebeck, Jose Rivera, William Mastrosimone, Charles Fuller, and Ken Ludwig, among many others; and the acquisition of musicals such as Smoke of the Mountain, A...My Name Is Alice, Little Shop of Horrors and Three Guys Naked from the Waist Down. He is a now a free-lance editor, primarily for Smith and Kraus, Inc., for whom he edits annual anthologies of best plays by new playwrights and women playwrights, best ten-minute plays and best monologues and scenes for men and for women. For many years he wrote a weekly column on his adventures in the theater for two Manhattan Newspapers, the Chelsea Clinton News and The Westsider. His new column, On the Aisle with Larry, is a weekly feature at the Smith and Kraus website. He works with individual playwrights to help them develop their plays (visit Lawrence's website for details). He has also served as literary manager or literary consultant for several theatres, such as Urban Stages and American Jewish Theatre. He is a member of the NYC press corps and is an Outer Critics Circle member. He has served many times over the years as a judge and commentator for various national play contests and lectures regularly at colleges and universities. He holds a B.A. from Kenyon College and an M.A. from the University of Michigan. He is currently working on a book, Masters of the Contemporary American Drama.

Renowned editor Lawrence Harbison brings together approximately one hundred never-before-published women’s monologues for actors to use for auditions and in class, all from recently produced plays. The selections include monologues from plays by both well-known playwrights such as Don Nigro, Saviana Stanescu, and Len Jenkin and future stars such as Lia Romeo, Steven Hayet, Lori Fischer, Will Arbery, and Carey Crim. There are terrific comic and dramatic pieces, and all represent the best of contemporary playwriting. This collection is an invaluable resource for aspiring actors hoping to ace their auditions and impress directors and teachers with contemporary pieces.

Welcome to our new book of monologues for women, chosen for you by the team at True Acting Institute. The monologues that have been chosen are presented here in the book along with details about the playwrights.