The Actor's Book of Monologues for Women

by Stefan Rudnicki and Various

Book Overview

A diverse collection of monologues featuring the voices of women through the ages Drawn from poetry, fiction, diaries, journals, and documents of public record, these selections, although not originally intended for theatrical or cinematic performances, offer unique dramatic opportunities for actors, speakers, students, or anyone interested in women's studies. Stefan Rudnicki has brought together selections from well-known as well as obscure authors,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140157875
• ISBN13: 9780140157871
• Release Date: September 1991
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Not perfect, but certainly useful!

I am writing mostly to refute the previous reviewer. Unlike her, I found this book to be quite useful and interesting. Yes, it is heavily skewed toward older works, many of which would be unsuitable for auditions for contemporary plays, but there are many other uses for monologues besides auditions. As for the monologues being too short for auditions, in my experience these days, most auditions require a 2 minute monologue or less, with many requesting only one minute, and some directors prefer only 30 seconds! So I am happy to find shorter monologues. In addition, I found one of the best audition pieces ever in this book -- "Telling Mom" by Karen Dale Wolman. I wish this book contained more witty contemporary essays such as this one, but perhaps Mr. Rudnicki will grace us with another book that is more oriented toward modern pieces. That said, it is certainly useful to have a book full of monologues which you can be virtually sure that no-one else has seen, and I'm glad somebody thought of compiling a collection from "non-dramatic sources."

two thumbs up

I thought this was a great book!