Gathers fifty-nine selections from plays suitable for use as audition monologues.

Selections from 43 plays staged in 2004 feature monologues designed to help male actors enhance their audition and performance skills.

This unique anthology provides a wealth of material for actors and acting students, and a wonderful overview of the best recent plays for anyone interested in theatre. The more than 150 monologues cover a diverse range of subjects, and offer a variety of dramatic styles and moods. Each monologue is introduced with a short description of the plot, setting, and character type by the leading plauwrights of our time. Featured dramatists include: Christopher Durang, Wendy Wasserstein, Lanford Wilson, Wallace Shawn, Tina Howe, Caryl Churchill, Athol Fugard, Beth Henley, Sam Shepard, David Henry Hwang, Harry Kondoleon, John Patrick Shanley, Larry Shue, Michael Weller, David Rabe, Marsha Norman, August Wilson, Albert Innaurato, Jules Feiffer, Harold Pinter, David Hare, Jose Rivera, Tom Stoppard, John Guare, David Mamet, Charles Fuller, William Matrosimone, Robert Patrick, Miguel Pinero

Drawing on conversations with hundreds of women about their genitalia, the author presents a collection of performance pieces from her one-woman show of the same name.

This latest in Smith and Kraus's popular series contains only material from published, readily available plays, all first published or produced in 2006/2007, and most appropriate for use by student actors and working actors in need of audition material. A partial list:BEL CANTO by Renee Flemings BFF by Anna Ziegler BLOOD ORANGE by David Wiener CAROL MULRONEY by Stephen Belber DARK PLAY; OR STORIES FOR BOYS by Carlos Murillo THE DARLINGS by Susan Eve Haar DEDICATION; OR by THE STUFF OF DREAMS by Terrence McNally DIRECT FROM DEATH ROW THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS by Mark Stein DISCONNECT by Rob Ackerman DRACULA RIDES AGAIN by Jeff Goode THE FIRST ANNUAL ACHADAMEE AWARDS by Alan Haehnel HOME FRONT by Greg Owens. Also gender-specific are The Best Men¿s Stage Monologues of 2007, and The Best Women¿s Stage Monologues of 2007, both edited by Lawrence Harbison. Some of the playwrights represented are familiar (Theresa Rebeck, A.R. Gurney, Terrence McNally), but much of the material is from new and emerging authors ¿ once again giving the performer access to well crafted, but not overexposed works. Stage Directions - Off The Shelf, May 2008

So well-liked was the first collection of these contemporary monologues that we offer this sequel by popular demand. The monologues are wildly funny, tragically sad and yet courageous. The ultimate journey for this collection is to create the possibility of living lovingly as equals in our modern world. The monologues are organised in chapter themes with brief sketches to set the scene. The collection features well-known playwrights - Arthur Miller, Wendy Wasserstein, August Wilson - and many superb, emerging new writers. There are several original monologues written especially for classroom discussion and exploration. Sample titles include: "The Last Yankee" by Arthur Miller, "Boy Meets Girl" by Wendy Wasserstein, "The Underpants" adapted by Steve Martin, "Romantic Fools2 by Rich Orloff, "Voices from September 11" by Lavonne Mueller, "Funnylogues for Women" by Mort Kaufman, Roger Karshner and Zelda Abel, "W.A.C. Iraq" by Mel Nieves and many more.