In acting class, we have been working on learning to read, perform, and act out monologues. These monologues started off with simple sheets of paper we learned in class with small scenarios we had to act out, but then we had to pick and memorize our own monologue of our choosing. I chose a monologue from the FOX television series “Glee,” a show that takes place in Lima, Ohio and is about a high school glee club. This monologue in particular was between two main characters, Finn, a high school jock who didn’t know what to do with his life and passed away last year, and Rachel, his loving girlfriend who is a born star with Barbra Streisand flair, who though is becoming more and more famous, knows in her heart Finn with always be the one for her, her soul mate. The scene was at Mckinley High School on the stage where they had first kissed. Rachel had come to sadly end things with Finn because he had left in the middle of the night out of jealous of Rachel’s very attractive friend Brody, after being away for four months while Rachel though he was in the army. Finn wasn’t though, because after the first month he had left to go do something different, he just hadn’t figured out what. I think I performed this well even though there were some things I’d like to fix because no one is really perfect. I wish I had been able to pull off the nostalgic feelings Rachel was expressing during the first part of the monologue. I improved on the ending and the middle part though, and I really felt like I was able to show the anger, frustration, and sadness she was feeling. The most difficult part was after memorizing the words. I had memorized the words and I knew how to express the feeling, but I couldn’t put the two together. It eventually came with practice, but I couldn’t get out a word without laughing non stop for a few minutes.
My classmates also did monologues and it was really interesting to watch these monologues go from just being read off an iPad, to becoming an impressive performance. Sam did a monologue from “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” and even though I honestly and truly do not enjoy that play AT ALL, she managed to grab my attention and make me actually enjoy each of her performances. She made me laugh and that always makes me enjoy things more. Jemimah performed a monologue about a girl who was being asked for help by a person who used to torment and bully her. Jemimah showed her anger and hesitation very well and I thought she could actually be that person. Each word she said had pain and anger behind it and it was a cold slap to the face. Like doing the ice bucket challenge or jumping off the boat into the water during Titanic. Maddie did a piece about love and fate and I love her delivery with each word. She had this sassy thing to her that I don’t normally see from her and it was cool to see a new element to her. The memorization didn’t come as easily, but I didn’t even care whether she mixed up some words or skipped a line because I could listen to her sassy side all day long. Lindsey did a Shakespeare monologue that I couldn’t understand the first time she read it to me. Once she added the passion and betrayal to her voice, I really understood it better. She really did a great job at projecting and that grabbed my attention because when you hear her voice it’s really hard to just turn away. The best thing was that she stopped doing the “Pee Pee Dance” and made each movement purposeful which is something I had to do too. This assignment was super fun and it was very entertaining watching each performance evolve.
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