Objective: Students will demonstrate their understanding of contrasting monologues through selecting a comedic monologue and analyzing their monologue in comparison with the dramatic monologue already selected.
Informal. Share with a partner the difference between comedic & dramatic texts.
Informal. Discuss in groups the place and appropriateness of each type of monologue.
Formal. Memorize their first monologue.
25 pts possible
Adaptations:
Practice memorizing a small section of your monologue (2-4 lines). This adaptation might need to be used if memorizing is overwhelming to our students.
Facets: Explanation, Interpretation, Application
Standards: TH.PR.5.HSI a. Use a variety of acting techniques to expand skills in a rehearsal or theatrical performance.
Everyone pull out a piece of paper and a pencil and write down your dramatic monologue. No looking at your script. Take your time. Use techniques we talked about last time to remember it. Get as much of it on the page as you can. When you finish, turn these in. Then turn to a partner and share/perform your monologue.
Transition
How did memorizing your first monologue go? Everyone feel ready to move on to part two? We have spent several days working on our first, dramatic monologues. At this point, we are going to shift gears a little bit and start working on the second half of this unit.
Activity
PP Slide:Have a short monologue on screen. It will be comedic, but do not tell students. Have one student read it aloud. Discuss whether it is comedic or dramatic. What features signify comedic/dramatic? Why?
Language. Happy? Sad?
Punctuation. Strong? Unsteady?
Descriptions. Positive? Negative?
Content. Light? Heavy?
Next slide, a short dramatic monologue. Don’t tell students it is dramatic. Have another student read it aloud. Again, discuss whether it is comedic or dramatic. What features signify comedic/dramatic? Why?
Discussion
Why does it matter to know the difference between dramatic and comedic monologues? Where/when is each one appropriate for use?
Auditions, type of play
Write It Out
Have students write down at least 3 features that distinguish their dramatic monologue as dramatic and not comedic.
Pull up the example comedic monologue from the beginning. Have students write down 3 features that make this a clearly comedic monologue.
Pair-Share
Share with a partner a situation outside of theatre that this concept information could be applied or found useful. How can our awareness of comedic and dramatic clues help us outside theatre class?
Transition
It’s good to know the differences between comedic and dramatic monologues, but what about everything else? Where do we find monologues? How do we know if they are good or not?
Strong Monologues
There are a couple important concepts we are going to focus on that clue us in to a strong monologue.
Active Voice – not passive, not narrative, not telling a story.
Working through a partner – does not have to be a continuous chunk of dialogue. Talks with and through a second character in the scene.
Cutting – time as well as content. In most professional settings, auditions—consisting of two contrasting monologues—are about 3 minutes long. So each monologue should be about a minute/minute and a half. Cut it, but make sure it still feels complete. Don’t just end it. Pick the essential lines that help move the story forward.
Character suits Actor – gender and age align.
Practice/Modeling
Before we set you loose to figure this out on your own, we are going to do some in class practice.
*Hand out copies of a two page excerpt from The Miracle Worker. One copy to each student. Read through the excerpt together.
What is happening in this piece? Why is it important? To whom is it important?
What is that character’s main objective or goal? Why?
What lines do we need to help us tell this story? What does the character need to fulfill their objective?
After class modeling is finished, pair the class into partners and *hand out copies of To Kill A Mockingbird excerpt. One copy to each partnership.
Let the partnerships decide how to cut the dialogue. They must cut it to where it creates a monologue that is no more than 60 seconds long. Have them consider:
What are the important lines?
Which are the storytelling lines?
What needs to be said, what doesn’t need to be said?
Which lines will present an appropriate arc?
(Write these questions on the board)
Make sure to save space and time for acting choices. Don’t just straight read through the lines.
Examples
When the students are done, ask for a few partnership volunteers to read their cutting. The other students will follow along. After each reading, analyze as a class why lines were cut and how that can be useful.
Most of these monologues are really long, but you can cut them down.
Remember: not all of the monologues on these websites will be great. You still need to read them and make sure that they are active, working through a partner, and appropriate for you as a person. And if a monologue is too long, you can cut out some lines to bring it back down, so it’s only 60-90 seconds long.
As you search through monologues tonight, make sure you keep in mind character traits. Don’t find a monologue for a 55 year old male if you are a 16 year old girl. It doesn’t have to be your real age, but an age that you could reasonably play.
Wrap Up
Can someone recap what makes a good monologue? What are some helpful things to keep in mind as we cut monologues?
Keep all this in mind because tonight you will be selecting your own comedic monologue. You will bring a copy to class next time we meet.
Along with your selection, you need to write 3-5 sentences justifying your selection.
