The GotAuditions Academy · Monologues

Monologues for Actors

A monologue is a single-character speech you perform alone, usually 60 to 120 seconds, to show casting your range. Choose one that sits inside your age and type, that you can say honestly, and that is legally free to perform. This section gives you 34 free monologues — original pieces plus Shakespeare and the classics — and 11 guide chapters on picking and performing them.

Guide + Library

11 Chapters

34 Monologues

Pairs with: Coach Me

LIBRARY
34 pieces

All free to perform

SHAKESPEARE

ORIGINAL

TYPE ×
GENDER

Browse the wings

1 min / 2 min

PUBLIC DOMAIN

What you'll learn

How to pick a monologue that is active — not a story told to the air

The pieces casting directors are sick of — and what to bring instead

How to cut to one or two minutes, and where to put your eyes on camera

A browsable library: comedic and dramatic, for women and men, teens and adults

Pairs with this tool

Coach Me

A monologue is a two-person scene where the other person never speaks. Getting it to land alone, on camera, is the whole skill — and it is exactly what Coach Me is for.

Read First

The Guide

The one test that separates a real audition piece from a pretty dead end.

Pick a Monologue

The overdone list, the myths, and why our library skips the copyrighted warhorses.

Overdone Monologues

One-minute and two-minute cuts that keep the arc instead of gutting it.

What “classical” really means, why it’s mostly verse, and how to build both halves.

Classical vs Contemporary

Comedy tests timing, drama tests control — and panels want proof of both.

Comedic vs Dramatic

Beats, the ladder method, writing by hand — real techniques, not folklore.

Memorize a Monologue

The eyeline question actors get wrong — off-lens, and the one exception.

Slate, place your partner, land the last beat — the on-camera mechanics.

Perform on Tape

Two contrasting pieces, usually classical plus contemporary — the convention.

College Auditions

The four-to-six-piece kit you keep audition-ready and refresh for years.

The mechanical errors that quietly tank auditions — and how to kill each one.

Mistakes That Sink You

34 Monologues

The Library

Every piece below is free to perform. Browse them all, or jump in.

Browse the full library →

Lady Macbeth · Macbeth

Lady Macbeth — “Come, You Spirits”

Lady Macbeth · Macbeth

Lady Macbeth — “Out, Damned Spot”

Juliet · Romeo and Juliet

Juliet — “The Potion Speech”

Viola · Twelfth Night

Viola — “The Ring Speech”

Rosalind · As You Like It

Rosalind — “Epilogue”

Emilia · Othello

Emilia — “Their Husbands’ Faults”