On with the Show: A Collection of Monologues for Teens - Paperback

by Susan Lynn Zenker (Author)

If you are a drama teacher, student actor, a participant in drama UIL or if you are simply looking for short, fun reads, you will enjoy my collection of fifty-two monologues for teens entitled On with the Show. These dialogues have been specially prepared to showcase the unique ability of a young actor to conjure up a number of emotions within each monologue. They may be used in a classroom or for performance when you contact the playwright for permissions and give credit to the source.

Topics include: family issues, relationships, shopping, cool jobs, holidays, breaking rules, complainers, bullies, moving, travel, self-esteem, coming of age, books, TV shows, school, death, and others.

Here is a sample monologue:

No Facilities
(Adriana is talking to her mother.)
Seriously, Mom? You've got to be kidding. No, I don't wanna rent a porta-potty for my Sweet Sixteen party. I can't imagine any of my friends using a porta-potty. Why wouldn't they use our bathroom? It's not like we don't have one.
(beat) Oh, I get it. You want to rent the porta-potty. Yes, I know you have a thing about people using your restroom. I understand your feelings, (beat) but this is my party. Mine. And you have to understand me. How am I gonna tell my friends they have to go outside to use a two-by-two construction workers' stink john when we have a perfectly good bathroom inside? A porta-potty at my birthday party? My friends are gonna be wearing dresses and heels. Some guys will have rented a tux. How would I ever go to school again? How? Everybody would laugh. Is that what you want?
I respect you 'cause you tell me to. Now you have to respect me. (beat) Laughing is not respect. I'm sixteen already. Almost. I deserve some consideration.

(beat) I'll sanitize our real bathroom if that's the issue. After the party, when all the guests go home. (beat) I will too clean it. I clean things. (beat) Well, things.

(beat) I don't care if couples rent them for weddings. I don't care if the porta-potty is deluxe and has a skylight. I don't care if the porta-potty's got wood floors or carpeting or comes with a big-screen TV. (beat) I'm sure all of my friends are, um, well, "healthy." Because I'm sure, that's all.

(beat) Where would we even get a porta-potty? VIP Restroom Rentals? Seven hundred and fifty dollars?

Okay. Okay, Mom. Forget it. (sarcastic) I'll be sure to write, "Please pee at home" on the invite. (beat) No, Mom, I am not serious about the "pee at home" comment.

(beat) Maybe I don't want a party after all. Maybe all I want is a car.

Some of the titles include: Boots and Loot, Embassy Brat, Grounded and Astounded, If Only I Had a Dollar, You Wanted a Boy, It's a Ham Sandwich or Nothing, Kidnapped by UFOs, The Spanking, and Stupid Topics to Fight About at Lunch.